Painted label, identifying a frescoed figure as *Saturus (martyr of Carthage, companion of Perpetua, S00009), in wall paintings in a baptistery in Carthage (central North Africa), 4th/7th c.
Evidence ID
E07373
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
s[a]n[ct]us Saturus
Use of Images
Public display of an image
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
The underground baptistery was discovered in 1955 in Carthage, on the slope of the hill of Sayda (the hill of St Monica). The room adjacent to the room with the baptismal basin itself was decorated with wall paintings. Three figures were partly preserved, in a painting measuring in all about 80 cm in height by 140 cm in width. Only cruciform haloes are preserved of the lateral figures, but the central one is a torso of a young bearded man in a white tunic with blue bands and a pallium, identified as 'Sanctus Saturus' - one of the companions of Perpetua. There is also an inscription 'sanctus' under the unpreserved figure on the right.Bibliography
Edition and discussion:Duval,Y., Loca sanctorum Africae: Le culte des martyrs en Afrique du IVe au VIIe siècle (Rome: École Francaise de Rome, 1982), vol. 1, 12, no. 5.
Further reading:
Duval, Y., Lézine, A., "Nécropole chrétienne et baptistère souterrain à Carthage," Cahiers archéologiques 10 (1959), 71-147 (120-121).
Record Created By
Stanisław Adamiak
Date of Entry
29/01/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00009 | Perpetua, Felicitas and their companions, martyrs of Carthage | Saturus | Uncertain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Stanisław Adamiak, Cult of Saints, E07373 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07373