Small fragments of two or three inscriptions probably related to the cult of *Agnes (virgin and martyr of Rome, S00097), probably from a poem by Pope Damasus (366-384). Found in the cemetery of Agnes on the via Nomentana, Rome.
E05745
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Literary - Poems
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
Damasan and pseudo-Damasan poems
The three fragments are published and discussed together in one entry by Antonio Ferrua in the eighth volume of the Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae. Only parts of several letters can be read on them:
A: IS
B: VI
C: IA
The dimensions of the fragments and the letter height differ greatly in each case. Ferrua notes that the text on Fragment A imitates Philocalian script and is almost certainly from an inscription postdating the pontificate of Pope Damasus. He identifies Fragments B and C as remnants of one or two genuine Damasan inscriptions, probably related to the cult of Agnes, which is based on their find-spot.
Armellini implausibly argued that Fragment C came from the first verse of the lost inscription of Constantina, dedicated to Agnes (E07863).
Cult building - independent (church)
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 ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
Three small fragments of marble plaques. Fragments A and C are broken and lost on all side. Fragment B has its upper margin preserved. Dimensions: A: H. 8.5 cm, W. 15.5 cm; Th. 3.5 cm; letter height c. 5 cm; B: H. 8.5 cm; W. 7 cm; Th. 2 cm; letter height c. 8 cm; C: H. 25 cm; W. 16 cm; letter height c. 8 cm.Fragment B was known already to Mariano Armellini in the later 19th c., and published by him in 1889. Armellini reportedly found it at the site of a vineyard at the basilica of Agnes. Fragment C was recorded and copied (a squeeze) by Giovanni Baptista de Rossi, but published only by Antonio Ferrua in 1983, from de Rossi's squeeze. It is now lost. Fragment A was first recorded by Ferrua and published by him in 1942. Fragments A and B are now in cubiculum Ce of the cemetery of Agnes.
Bibliography
Editions:Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB38030, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/38030
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB38031, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/38031
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB14241, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/14241
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 8: Coemeteria viarum Nomentanae et Salariae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1983), no. 20754 (Fragments A-C).
Ferrua, A. (ed.), Epigrammata Damasiana (Sussidi allo studio delle antichità cristiane 2, Rome: , 1942), nos. 38 (fragment B) and 38(1) (fragment A).
Armellini, M., in: Cronachetta mensuale di scienze naturali e d'archeologia (1889), 24 (fragment B).
Paweł Nowakowski
15/06/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00097 | Agnes, virgin and martyr of Rome | Uncertain |
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