Evidence ID
E04740Saint Name
Pontianus, bishop and martyr of Rome : S00169Saint Name in Source
ΠοντιανόςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)Evidence not before
236Evidence not after
250Activity not before
236Activity not after
250Place of Evidence - Region
Rome and regionPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Suburban catacombs and cemeteriesPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Suburban catacombs and cemeteries
Rome
Rome
Roma
Ῥώμη
RhōmēCult activities - Places
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relicsCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Ceremonies at burial of a saintCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishopsCult Activities - Cult Related Objects
InscriptionSource
Six conjoining fragments of a marble plaque. H. 0.455 m; W. 0.93 m. Letter height c. 0.04 m.
Found in 1909, under the pavement of cubiculum Ab by Orazio Marucchi and Joseph Wilpert (area of the Crypt of the Popes). Now in cubiculum Aa. First published by Josef Wilpert in 1910. Revisited by Antonio Ferrua and reedited by him in 1964. High quality photographs are published in the Epigraphic Database Bari.Discussion
The inscription is the epitaph for Pontianus, bishop of Rome exiled to Sardinia under the emperor Maximinus Thrax (235). The Liber pontficalis, written in the 530s, preserves a short account of his exile, saying that he eventually died a martyr's death, beaten by clubs (E00341). The same record says that his body was brought back to Rome by pope Fabianus, and buried in the Cemetery of Callixtus, where our inscription was found. Remarkably, Pontianus was the earliest of the bishops of Rome buried in the 'Crypt of the Popes'. However, as his body was brought to Rome some time after his death, his burial was actually preceded by that of pope Anteros.
It has been suggested that the term martyr, clearly visible in the epitaph of Pontianus, was added later, by a different hand. Having carefully examined the stone, Antonio Ferrua confirmed the different lettering, and shallower carving of this word.
Another inscription found in the Cemetery of Callixtus was considered by Giovanni Battista de Rossi to be an invocation of Pontianus, and therefore testimony to his cult (E04738). That text, however, is probably a graffito authored by a visitor named Pontianus rather than a prayer addressing the pope.
Dating: The epitaph is usually presented as the original epitaph erected to Pontianus by Fabianus. Hence, it must date to the pontificate of Fabianus, 236-250. Interestingly, the epitaph does not record the date of the deposition of Pontianus, unlike the presumed epitaph for pope *Gaius (E04739). Epitaphs for 3rd c. popes, however, rarely record the dates of their depositions; for a remarkable exception, see the epitaph for pope *Cornelius (E04644).Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB1697, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/1697
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. 10670 (with further bibliography).
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), no. 953.
Marucchi, O., Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni cristiane principalmente di Roma (Milan: U. Hoepli, 1910), 189, no. 190.
Wilpert, J., La Cripta dei Papi e la cappella di Sainta Cecilia ne cimetero di Callisto (Rome: Desclée & C., 1910), 2, 18, 28, and Fig. 1.
Further reading:
Carletti, C., Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), 36.
Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs. Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: OUP, 2018), 188, note 36.
Trout, D., Damasus of Rome: The Epigraphic Poetry: Introduction, Texts, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 115.
