E04696: Epitaph for a mother and son, probably denoting a burial ad sanctos. Found in the lower part of the cemetery of Callistus, via Appia, Rome. Probably 4th c.

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

Aurelius Drin-
nacius qui vixit
annis XX [Iu]lia
Victorin[a ma]ter
fecit se v[iva] in-
ter s[ancto]s

'Aurelius Drinacius who lived 20 years. Iulia Victorina, (his) mother, made [this] among [the saints] while she was still living.'

Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9680.

History

Evidence ID

E04696

Saint Name

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

Saint Name in Source

sancti sancti

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

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

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

300

Evidence not after

350

Activity not before

300

Activity not after

350

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 - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Burial ad sanctos

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women Children

Source

The inscription is on a plaque, broken into twelve conjoining parts. There is no published description. First recorded and reassembled by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in area A8 of the lower part of the cemetery of Callistus. Published by him in 1867. The fragments were not revisited by Antonio Ferrua. Republished by him in 1964, based on de Rossi's edition.

Discussion

The inscription records the purchase of a tomb by a certain Iulia Victorina for her deceased son, and herself. The expression 'inter sanctos' refers apparently to the tomb, which suggests that Victorina considered it to have been sited ad sanctos, that is, in a cemetery famous for its tombs of martyrs and popes. Dating: Antonio Felle (in EDB) dates the inscription to the first half of the 4th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB19538, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/19538 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. 9680. Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 2 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1927), comments to no. 3357. de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 2 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1867), 96*, and Tav. XLIII.

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Keywords

S00518 S00060 History

Licence

CC0

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