E04745: Fragmentary Latin inscription, probably an epitaph for an acolyte of the titulus of a female saint whose name is lost, and referring to one more (?) female saint. Found in the upper part of the Cemetery of Callistus, on the via Appia, Rome. Probably 6th c.
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Suburban catacombs and cemeteries
Rome
Rome
Roma
Ῥώμη
Rhōmē
Cult activities - Places
Cult building - unspecified
Cult activities - Places Named after Saint
Other
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Fragment of a marble plaque. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.26 m; W. 0.24 m; Th. 0.045 m. Letter height 0.032 m.
First published in 1864 in the Giornale di Roma, the then official paper of the Papal State, probably just in a drawing (we have been unable to consult this edition). The stone was reportedly recorded in area S11 of the Cemetery of Callistus. Revisited and reedited by Antonio Ferrua in 1964. A very good photograph is offered in the Epigraphic Database Bari by Marida Pierno. Now in area S5.
Discussion
The inscription was probably an epitaph. Ferrua suggested that it originally came from a surface tomb, not from the upper regions of the cemetery where the fragment was found. It is possible that it mentions a deceased acolyte associated with the titulus of a female saint, and, possibly, one more person. For a similar text see EXXXXX (titulus of Saint Anastasia, ICVR IV 12303), see also E04744.
Dating: According to Ferrua the fragment was ‘much later than the 4th c.’ Marida Pierno (in EDB) dates it to the 6th c.
Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB40250, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/40250
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. 11520.
Hendrichs, F., La voce delle chiese antichissime di Roma (Rome: Desclée & C. Editori Pontifici, 1933), 149, fig. 255.
Profili, Giornale di Roma 1864, 588, no. 6 (with a drawing).
Further reading:
Wilpert, J., La Cripta dei Papi e la cappella di Sainta Cecilia ne cimetero di Callisto (Rome: Desclée & C., 1910), 112, note 2.