The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under Rome, Italy,
of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. Though most famous
for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, they began in
the 2nd century AD, mainly as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land.
The Christian catacombs are extremely important for the art history of Early Christian art,
as they contain the great majority of examples from before about 400 AD, in fresco and sculpture,
as well as gold glass medallions. The Jewish catacombs are similarly important for the
study of Jewish art at this period. A number of dubious relics of catacomb saints were
promoted after the rediscovery of the catacombs.
History
Precursors The Etruscans, like many other European people,
used to bury their dead in underground chambers. The original Roman custom was cremation, after
which the burnt remains were kept in a pot, ash-chest or urn, often in a columbarium.
From about the 2nd century AD, inhumation became more fashionable, in graves or sarcophagi,
often elaborately carved, for those who could afford them. Christians also preferred burial
to cremation because of their belief in bodily resurrection at the Second Coming.
Christian catacombs The first large-scale catacombs were excavated
from the 2nd century onwards. They were carved through tufo, a soft volcanic rock, outside
the walls of the city, because Roman law forbade burial places within city limits. Previously,
the pagan custom had been to incinerate corpses, while early Christians and Jews buried the
dead. Since most Christians and Jews at that time belonged to the lower classes or were
slaves, they usually lacked the resources to buy land for burial purposes. Instead networks
of tunnels were dug in the deep layers of tufo which occurred naturally on the outskirts
of Rome. At first, these tunnels were probably not used for regular worship, but simply for
burial and, extending pre-existing Roman customs, for memorial services and celebrations of
the anniversaries of Christian martyrs. There are sixty known subterranean burial chambers
in Rome. They were built outside the walls along main Roman roads, like the Via Appia,
the Via Ostiense, the Via Labicana, the Via Tiburtina, and the Via Nomentana. Names of
the catacombs – like St Calixtus and St Sebastian, which is alongside Via Appia – refer
to martyrs that may have been buried there. Excavators, no doubt slaves, built vast systems
of galleries and passages on top of each other. They lie 7–19 metres below the surface in
area of more than 2.4 square kilometres. Narrow steps that descend as many as four stories
join the levels. Passages are about 2.5 by 1 metres. Burial niches were carved into walls.
They are 40–60 centimetres high and 120–150 centimetres long. Bodies were placed in chambers
in stone sarcophagi in their clothes and bound in linen. Then the chamber was sealed with
a slab bearing the name, age and the day of death. The fresco decorations are the main
evidence we have for Early Christian art, and initially show typically Roman styles
used for decorating homes with secular iconography adapted to a religious function. The catacomb
of Saint Agnes is a small church. Some families were able to construct cubicula which would
house various loculi and the architectural elements of the space would be a support for
decoration. Another excellent place for artistic programs were the arcosoliums.
Decline and rediscovery
In 380, Christianity became a state religion. At first, many still desired to be buried
in chambers alongside the martyrs. However, the practice of catacomb burial declined slowly,
and the dead were increasingly buried in church cemeteries. In the 6th century catacombs were
used only for martyrs’ memorial services, though some paintings were added as late as
the 7th century, for example a Saint Stephen in the Catacomb of Commodilla. Apparently
Ostrogoths, Vandals and Lombards that sacked Rome also violated the catacombs, presumably
looking for valuables. By the 10th century catacombs were practically abandoned, and
holy relics were transferred to above-ground basilicas.
In the intervening centuries they remained forgotten until they were accidentally rediscovered
in 1578, after which Antonio Bosio spent decades exploring and researching them for his volume,
Roma Sotterranea. Archeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi published the first extensive professional
studies about catacombs. In 1956 and 1959 Italian authorities found more catacombs near
Rome. The catacombs have become an important monument of the early Christian church.
Today Currently, maintenance of the catacombs is
in the hands of the papacy, which has invested in the Salesians of Don Bosco the supervision
of the Catacombs of St. Callixtus on the outskirts of Rome.
Responsibility for the Christian catacombs lies with the Pontifical Commission of Sacred
Archaeology, which directs excavations and restorations. Study of the catacombs is directed
by the Pontifical Academy of Archaeology. Typology
Roman catacombs are made up of underground passages, out of whose walls graves were dug.
These loculi, generally laid out vertically, could contain one or more bodies. Another
type of burial, typical of Roman catacombs, was the arcosolium, consisting of a curved
niche, enclosed under a carved horizontal marble slab. cubicula and cryptae are also
commonly found in catacomb passages. When space began to run out, other graves were
also dug in the floor of the corridors - these graves are called formae.
List of catacombs in Rome The Roman catacombs, of which there are forty
in the suburbs, were built along the consular roads out of Rome, such as the Appian way,
the via Ostiense, the via Labicana, the via Tiburtina, and the via Nomentana.
Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter
These catacombs are situated on the ancient Via Labicana, today Via Casilina in Rome,
Italy, near the church of Santi Marcellino e Pietro ad Duas Lauros. Their name refers
to the Christian martyrs Marcellinus and Peter who, according to tradition, were buried here,
near the body of St. Tiburtius. Catacombs of Domitilla
Close to the Catacombs of San Callisto are the large and impressive Catacombs of Domitilla,
spread over 15 kilometres of underground caves. The Domitilla Catacombs are unique in that
they are the oldest of Rome's underground burial networks, and the only ones to still
contain bones. They are also the best preserved and one of the most extensive of all the catacombs.
Included in their passages are a 2nd-century fresco of the Last Supper and other valuable
artifacts. They are the only catacombs that have a subterranean
basilica; entrance to the catacombs is achieved through this sunken 4th-century church, at
via delle Sette Chiese 280. In the past, the basilica had become unsafe, and was abandoned
in the 9th century. It was rediscovered in 1593, and much of it was reconstructed in
1870. In the beginning of 2009, at the request of
the Vatican, the Divine Word Missionaries, a Roman Catholic Society of priests and Brothers,
assumed responsibility as administrator of St. Domitilla Catacombs.
Catacombs of Commodilla
These catacombs, on the Via Ostiensis, contain one of the earliest images of a bearded Christ.
They originally held the relics of Saints Felix and Adauctus.
Catacombs of Generosa
Located on the Campana Road, these catacombs are said to have been the resting place, perhaps
temporarily, of Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix, Christian Martyrs who died in Rome
during the Diocletian persecution. Catacombs of Praetextatus
These are found along the via Appia, and were built at the end of 2nd century. They consist
of a vast underground burial area, at first in pagan then in Christian use, housing various
tombs of Christian martyrs. In the oldest parts of the complex may be found the "cubiculum
of the coronation", with a rare depiction for that period of Christ being crowned with
thorns, and a 4th-century painting of Susanna and the old men in the allegorical guise of
a lamb and wolves. Catacombs of Priscilla
The Catacomb of Priscilla, situated at the Via Salaria, in front of the Villa Ada, derives
its name probably from the name of the landowner on whose land they were built. They are looked
after by the Benedictine nuns of Priscilla. Catacombs of San Callisto
Sited along the Appian way, these catacombs were built after AD 150, with some private
Christian hypogea and a funeral area directly dependent on the Catholic Church. It takes
its name from the deacon Saint Callixtus, proposed by Pope Zephyrinus in the administration
of the same cemetery - on his accession as pope, he enlarged the complex, that quite
soon became the official one for the Roman Church. The arcades, where more than fifty
martyrs and sixteen pontiffs were buried, form part of a complex graveyard that occupies
fifteen hectares and is almost 20 km long. Catacombs of San Lorenzo
Built into the hill beside San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, these catacombs are said to have
been the final resting place of St. Lawrence. The church was built by Pope Sixtus III and
later remodeled into the present nave. Sixtus also redecorated the shrine in the catacomb
and was buried there. Catacombs of San Pancrazio
Established underneath the San Pacrazio basilica which was built by Pope Symmachus on the place
where the body of the young martyr Saint Pancras, or Pancratius, had been buried. In the 17th
century, it was given to the Discalced Carmelites, who completely remodeled it. The catacombs
house fragments of sculpture and pagan and early Christian inscriptions.
Catacombs of San Sebastiano
One of the smallest Christian cemeteries, this has always been one of the most accessible
catacombs and is thus one of the least preserved. On the left hand end of the right hand wall
of the nave of the primitive basilica, rebuilt in 1933 on ancient remains, arches to end
the middle of the nave of the actual church, built in the 13th century, are visible, along
with the outside of the apse of the Chapel of the Relics; whole and fragmentary collected
sarcophagi were found in excavations. Via a staircase down, one finds the arcades
where varied cubicula. One then arrives at the restored crypt of S. Sebastiano, with
a table altar on the site of the ancient one and a bust of Saint Sebastian attributed to
Bernini. From here one reaches a platform, under which is a sandstone cavity ad catacumbas
which once may have been named "ad catacumbas", thus giving this and all other tombs of this
type their name. 3 mausolea of the second half of the 2nd century open off the platform.
The first one on the right, decorated on the outside with paintings of funereal banquets
and the miracle of the calling out of Cerasa's demons, on the inside contains paintings and
inhumation burials and has a surviving inscription reading "Marcus Clodius Hermes", the name
of its owner. The second, called by some "tomb of the Innocentiores", has a refined stucco
ceiling, Latin inscriptions in Greek characters, and a graffito with the initials of the Greek
words for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". On the left is the mausoleum of Ascia, with
an exterior wall painting of vine shoots rising from kantharoi up trompe-l'œil pillars.
A room called the "Triglia" rises from the platform, roughly in the middle of the basilica
and cut into from above by the present basilica. This covered room was used for funereal banquets;
the plastered walls have hundreds of graffitoes by the devotees at these banquets, carved
in the second half of the 3rd to the beginnings of the 4th century, with appeals to the apostles
Peter and Paul. From the "Trigilia" one passed into an ancient ambulatory, which turns around
into an apse: here is a collection of epitaphs and a model of all the mausolei, of the "Triglia"
and of the Constantinian basilica. From here one descends into the "Platonica", a construction
at the rear of the basilica that was long believed to have been the temporary resting
place for Peter and Paul, but was in fact a tomb for the martyr Quirinus, bishop of
Sescia in Pannonia, whose remains were brought here in the 5th century. To the right of the
"Platonica" is the chapel of Honorius III, adapted as the vestibule of the mausoleum,
with interesting 13th-century paintings of Peter and Paul, the Crucifixion, saints, the
Massacre of the Innocents, Madonna and Child, and other subjects. On the left is an apsidal
mausoleum with an altar built against the apse: on the left wall a surviving graffito
reading "domus Petri" either hints at Peter having been buried here or testifies to the
belief at the time the graffito was written that Peter was buried here.
Catacombs of San Valentino
These catacombs were dedicated to Saint Valentine. In the 13th century, the martyr's relics were
transferred to Basilica of Saint Praxedes. Catacombs of Sant'Agnese
Built for the conservation and veneration of the remains of Saint Agnes of Rome. Agnes'
bones are now conserved in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome, built over the catacomb.
Her skull is preserved in a side chapel in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's
Piazza Navona. Catacombs of via Anapo
On the via Salaria, the Catacombs of via Anapo are datable to the end of the 3rd or the beginning
of the 4th century, and contain diverse frescoes of biblical subjects.
Jewish catacombs There are six known Jewish catacombs in Rome,
two of which are open to the public: Vigna Randanini and Villa Torlonia.
The Jewish catacombs were discovered in 1918, and archaeological excavations continued for
twelve years. The structure has two entrances, one on via Syracuse and the other inside Villa
Torlonia. The catacombs extend for more than 13,000 square metres, and date back to the
period between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and possibly remained in use until the 5th
century. There are almost a century of epitaphs, but these do not show any examples of a particular
relief, beyond some rare frescoes showing the classic Jewish religious symbols.
The other catacombs are not open to the public because of the instability of their structure
and the presence of radon. Gallery of paintings from the catacombs of
Rome
See also Antonio Bosio, was an Italian scholar, the
first systematic explorer of subterranean Rome
Catacomb saints, corpses from the Roman catacombs that were decorated and presented as relics
of Christian saints Notes
References Jocelyn Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman
World, JHU Press, 1996 reprint, ISBN 0801855071, 9780801855078, google books
External links About the Saint Sebastian Catacombs
About the Saint Callistus Catacombs Catacombe Roma
Lanciani, Rodolpho, "VII: Christian Cemeteries", Pagan and Christian Rome .
UrbanAdventure.org with some short videos taken in the catacombs or Rome
Rome Catacombs The Catacombs of St Callixtus
"Roman Catacombs". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
The Catacombs Culte des reliques à l'époque moderne
The Vatican: spirit and art of Christian Rome, a book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Libraries, which contains material on the catacombs