Latin inscription recording the purchase of a tomb situated near *Felicitas (martyr of Rome, S00525), probably a burial ad sanctos. Found in the cemetery of Feilicitas/Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably mid-4th c. [provisional entry]
Evidence ID
E07499
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
[- - - Ian]uarius et S[- - -]
[- - - loc]um besom[um sibi - - -]
[- - -]nt at sancta Fel[icitatem - - -]
'[- - -] Ianuarius and S[- - -] tomb apt for two bodies [for themselves - - -] near Saint Felicitas [- - -]'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 23546 = EDB21738.
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Burial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Source
Fragmentary marble plaque, broken and lost at both ends. H. 0.295 m; W. 0.40 m. Letter height 0.035 m. Found in 1856 in an unspecified crypt under the basilica of the Cemetery of Felicitas/Cemetery of Maximus. After the discovery it was reportedly displaced (seen by Tongiorgi in a vineyard in 1862), and eventually lost, but later recovered. Orazio Marucchi placed it back in the basilica.First published by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1863.
Discussion
It would be interesting to see the names of the owners of the tomb, apparently given in line 1, as Ianuarius and Sil(v)anus, i.e. identical with those of two of the seven sons of Felicitas (and likewise martyrs venerated in this cemetery). This would point out that the owners were driven by the desire to be buried close to their holy namesakes.The other face of the plaque bears an earlier Greek inscription (ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 23744: [- - -] Τειμόλαος [- - -] | Σαβεινια[νῇ? - - -]/’[- - -] Timolaos [- - -] to Sabiniana [- - -]’).
Dating: The editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari date the inscription to the mid-4th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB21738.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/21738
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. 23546 (with further bibliography).
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
30/03/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00525 | Felicitas, martyr of Rome, with her sons, buried on the via Salaria | Felicitas | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E07499 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07499