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E04683: Latin graffito with an invocation of the holy spirits of unnamed martyrs, probably the souls of popes and martyrs buried in the cemetery of Callistus. Found in the lower part of that cemetery. Via Appia, Rome. Probably late 4th-early 5th c.

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posted on 2018-01-25, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

rogo asspirit[a]
sancta ma[r]tures
[in mente] abete pro Salutium

1. p]eto a spirita sancta de Rossi, rogo asspirit[a] Ferrua

'I ask you, O holy spirits, martyrs, keep [in mind] Sallustius!'

Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9533.

History

Evidence ID

E04683

Saint Name

Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060 Saints, unnamed : S00518

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Graffiti Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

390

Evidence not after

425

Activity not before

390

Activity not after

425

Place of Evidence - Region

Rome and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries Rome Rome Roma Ῥώμη Rhōmē

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Other lay individuals/ people

Source

Graffito in cursive script. Letter height 9 cm. Scratched in the plaster, on a wall in Area A4 in the lower part of the cemetery of Callistus. First published by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1867. Revisited, and published again by Antonio Ferrua in 1964.

Discussion

The inscription certainly invokes popes and martyrs, buried in the cemetery of Callistus. Other similar invocations usually address just the 'holy spirits.' Here they are additionally described as 'martyrs.' Dating: Antonio Felle (in EDB) dates the graffito to the late 4th-early 5th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB17809, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/17809 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 4: Coemeteria inter Vias Appiam et Ardeatinam (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1964), no. 9533. Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), comments to no. 2347. de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 2 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1867), 385, and Tav. XXXI.

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Keywords

S00060 S00518 History

Licence

CC0

Exports

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