Latin epitaph invoking the holy spirits/spirita sancta on behalf of a deceased girl. Found in the cemetery of Novatianus on the via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably 3rd or 4th c.
Evidence ID
E05359
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
Antonia Irene spirita sancta
pue(lla) in pacae boviscum
VII idus
nobembres
nobenbres: Josi
'Antonia Irena. O holy spirits, may (this) girl be in peace with you! (Buried) on the 7th day before the ides of November.'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 20353 = EDB10264.
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
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
Saint as patron - of an individual
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Children
Source
The inscription is executed in red letters on the white plaster coating of brickwork from a tomb in the cemetery of Novatianus, area N. Letter height 0.025 - 0.07 m. The text is accompanied by images of a palm branch, a horse wearing a crest, and a dove holding a branch.First published by Enrico Josi in 1934. A revised edition was published in 1980 by Antonio Ferrua. A good photograph is offered in the Epigraphic Database Bari.
For a description of the cemetery, see E05358.
Discussion
The holy spirits invoked in this epitaph are probably the souls of other Christians buried in the same cemetery, or, more specifically, of the martyrs venerated there. It is, however, not clear if the epitaph records a proper burial ad sanctos, that is a burial meant to aid the deceased by the physical closeness of holy relics.Dating: Anita Rocco (in EDB) dates the inscription to the 3rd c. The earliest dated tomb in this cemetery is, however, of 266, and it is supposed that the complex was established only a little earlier, but not before the 250s; so late 3rd or 4th c. constitute a more precise timeframe.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB10264, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/10264
de Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 20353.
Josi, E., "Cimitero alla sinistra della via Tiburtina al viale Regina Margherita. II", Rivista di archeologia cristiana 11 (1934), 26, no. 87, fig. 48.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
23/04/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | spirita sancta | Uncertain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | spirita sancta | Uncertain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E05359 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05359