Fragmentary Latin inscription, possibly from an altar, probably with a poem referring to something located near 'blessed bones'/ossa beata. Found in the ager Veranus, via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably from the cemetery of Cyriaca. Probably 5th or 6th c.
Evidence ID
E05334
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Literary - Poems
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
[- - - s]antos orare mu[- - -]
[- - -] plus enim post ing[- - -]
[- - -] hos qui merue[re - - -]
[- - -] D̅(e)i̅ stare ha[- - -]
[- - - a]d ossa be[ata (?) - - -]
[- - -]tar[- - -]
[- - - - - -]
1. mu[nimen: de Waal || 2. ing[ens: de Waal || 4. ad thronum (?)] D(e)i stare: de Waal || 6. TAB: de Waal
'[- - -] that the saints pray [- - -] because more, after, [- - -] those who deserve [- - -] of God stand [- - -] near the blessed bones [- - -].'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 19748b = EDB31451.
Cult PlacesAltar
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Altar
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Burial ad sanctos
Composing and translating saint-related texts
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Bodily relic - bones and teeth
Source
Fragment of a marble plaque. The upper margin is preserved. There is no published description.The stone comes probably from the cemetery of Cyriaca. Found during the digging of a modern tomb in the ager Veranus, on the via Tiburtina, and sold to the Museum of the Collegio Teutonico del Campo Santo in Rome. Seen in the Museum and first published by Anton de Waal in 1894. Antonio Ferrua, however, did not find it in the Museum’s collection, and it is presumed to be lost
Discussion
The first editor, Anton de Waal, supposed that the fragment came from an altar. According to de Waal's restoration, line 5 may refer to something located near 'blessed bones'. As the inscription is very fragmentary, it is difficult to say if this is a reference to specific relics and a burial ad sanctos, an altar erected over a martyr's tomb, or just a vague reminiscence of saints' bodies. De Waal believed that the reference is to the martyrs buried in the cemetery of Cyriaca (cf. E00679).Dating: De Waal dated the inscription to the 5th or 6th c.; the editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari narrow down the date to the 5th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB31451, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/31451
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria viae Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 19748b.
de Waal, A., "Eine monumentale metrische Martyrer-Inschrift", Römische Quartalschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte (1894), 335-336.
Images
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From: ICVR, n.s., VII, 375.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
13/04/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E05334 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05334