Record | The Cult of Saints

Very fragmentary Latin inscription containing an imperative clause, just possibly a request for the intercession addressed to a saint whose name is lost. Found in the cemetery of Feilicitas/Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably 4th or 5th c. [provisional entry]

Evidence ID

E07500

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

[- - -] pete (palm) [- - -]
[- - -]IṚ.[- - -]

'[- - -] intercede (?) [- - -]'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 23656c = EDB21896.

Cult Places

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 Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Fragment of a marble plaque. Broken and lost at both ends, and on bottom. The upper margin is preserved. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.15 m; W. 0.12 m; Th. 0.02 m. Letter height 0.043 m.

First published by Antonio Ferrua in 1983. Ferrua notes that a squeeze is kept in the records of the cemetery's supervisors, but the whereabouts of the discovery of this fragment are obscure. Now in a crypt under the basilica of Saint Felicitas.

Discussion

The imperative 'pete' may refer to Saint Felicitas, martyr of Rome (S00525) or one of her seven sons, venerated in this cemetery. Alternatively it may be a request addressed to an ordinary deceased, a habit which was also practized in Roman suburban cemeteries.

Bibliography

Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB21896.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/21896

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. 23656c (with further bibliography).

Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

30/03/2019

Related Saint Records

ID	Name	Name in Source	Identity
S00525	Felicitas, martyr of Rome, with her sons, buried on the via Salaria		Uncertain
S01744	Saints, name lost or very partially preserved		Certain

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E07500 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07500

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world

Very fragmentary Latin inscription containing an imperative clause, just possibly a request for the intercession addressed to a saint whose name is lost. Found in the cemetery of Feilicitas/Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably 4th or 5th c. [provisional entry]

E07500

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

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)

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Paweł Nowakowski

30/03/2019

Very fragmentary Latin inscription containing an imperative clause, just possibly a request for the intercession addressed to a saint whose name is lost. Found in the cemetery of Feilicitas/Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably 4th or 5th c. [provisional entry]

E07500

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

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)

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

Paweł Nowakowski

30/03/2019

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)