Fragmentary Latin inscription commemorating a donation made by a woman of senatorial rank named Anastasia and her husband to a building, probably a baptistery, constructed by Pope Damasus (366-384) at the basilica of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) on the Vatican. Found in the Vatican grottoes, Rome. Written 366/384.
Evidence ID
E08592
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Donation inscription of Anastasia, Vatican (ICVR II, 4097)
[...] et Anastasia c(larissima) f(emina) eius
[...] basilicae apostoli Petri
[...]i item coelum
[...Da]masus vir sanctus in
[...sumpt]u proprio marmoru[m]
[...] decorarunt
'[...] and Anastasia, clarissima femina, his
[...] of/for the basilica of the apostle Peter
[...] also a dome
[...] the holy man Damasus in
[...] own expense ... of marbles
[...] they decorated'
Text: Ferrua 1942, 94.
Translation: David Lambert.
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Construction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Aristocrats
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Source
Conjoining fragments of a marble panel. It was published in the mid 19th century after having been used for an unknown period as paving in the Vatican grottoes (Sarti and Settele 1840, 91-2; Ferrua 1942, 94). The right hand side of the inscription was under a sarcophagus (Sarti and Settele 1840, 91), whose edge is marked by the thick line of damage down the middle (see Images). Dimensions: height – 110 cm; width – 120 cm; height of letters – 4 cm (Ferrua 1942, 94). The inscription is now on display in the Vatican grottoes.Ferrua identifies the lettering as Philocalian, and argues that the inscription therefore cannot 'prudently' be dated later than 384 (Ferrua 1942, 95), although it is not clear from the text itself whether Damasus was still alive when it was written.
For attempts to reconstruct the entire inscription, see its EDB entry or the reconstruction printed by Ihm 1895, 10, though both depend on conjectures about the nature of the building being decorated and/or the identity of Anastasia.
Discussion
The prose inscription records a donation by a senator, whose name was in the lost part of the inscription, and his wife Anastasia (their senatorial status is indicated by the letters 'CF', clarissima femina, after Anastasia's name). The name Anastasia, while not particularly common as an upper-class name in the 4th century, is not distinctive enough to identify her in the absence of any other information (PCBE 2, 'Anastasia 1').Their contribution was towards the decoration of a building with a dome (the meaning of caelum in an architectural context) constructed at St Peter's by Pope Damasus (366-384). The inscription has generally been taken as confirmation that Damasus constructed a baptistery at St Peter's, implied by his own Epigrammata 3 and 4 (E07149), although no physical remains have been identified and its exact location remains unknown (see discussion in E07149).
Bibliography
Editions:Sarti, A., and Settele, I., Ad Philippi Laurentii Dionysii opus de Vaticanis cryptis appendix (Rome, 1840), 91-92.
Ihm, M., Damasi epigrammata (Anthologiae Latinae Supplementa 1, Leipzig: Teubner, 1895), 10.
de Rossi, G.B., and Silvagni, A., Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores [ICVR], n.s., vol. 2: Coemeteria in viis Cornelia Aurelia Portuensi et Ostiensi et tabulae Nr. 1-34 (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1935), no. 4097.
Ferrua, A., Epigrammata damasiana (Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1942), 94-95, no. 41.
Epigraphic Database Bari, EDB14385:
https://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/14385
Further reading:
Pietri, C., Pietri, L., and Desmulliez, J., Prosopographie de l'Italie chrétienne (313-604) (Rome, 2000). [PCBE 2]
Images
)
The surviving fragments of the inscription (reproduced from Ferrua 1942, p. 95)
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
25/07/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08592 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08592