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E04798: Latin epitaph for a woman with labelled paintings of the Apostles *Peter (S00036) and *Paul (S00008). Found in a cemetery on the via Ardeatina, Rome. Probably late 4th c.

online resource
posted on 2018-01-31, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski
The epitaph is written to the left and to the right of a painting showing a praying woman. This image is flanked by the paintings of the Apostles Peter and Paul, shown next to their respective labels.

[Eus]- tocia

Pau[lus] [P]etrus

'Eustocia. Paul. Peter.'

Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 12287 = EDB9003.

History

Evidence ID

E04798

Saint Name

Peter the Apostle : S00036 Paul, the Apostle : S00008

Saint Name in Source

Petrus Paulus

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.) Images and objects - Wall paintings and mosaics

Language

  • Latin

Evidence not before

375

Evidence not after

400

Activity not before

375

Activity not after

400

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

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult activities - Use of Images

  • Private ownership of an image

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women

Source

The epitaph with the paintings was briefly discussed by de Rossi in 1867. The first proper publication was, however, offered by Josef Wilpert in 1903. The paintings are believed to be now lost; Antonio Ferrua did not manage to find them, and there is a disagreement regarding their location. De Rossi placed them in a cemetery on the via Adreatina, whilst Wilpert ascribed them to the nearby cemetery of *Marcus and Marcellianus, see E04761. The cemetery was recorded by Giovanni Battista de Rossi, already in 1867, and later explored by Henry Stevenson in 1880-1881. Between 1958 and 1961 it was excavated by Antonio Ferrua.

Discussion

Dating: De Rossi stylistically dated the painting to the Constantinian, or a not much later, period. Marida Pierno (EDB) places the epitaph and the paintings in the late 4th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB9003, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/9003 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. 12287. Wilpert, J., Le pitture delle catacombe Romane (Rome, Desclee, Lefebvre & C., 1903), 431, Tav. 249, 1. Further reading: Papi, C., "L'apostolo Paolo nelle iscrizioni cristiane antiche di Roma", in: O. Buccarelli, M.M., Morales (eds.), Paulo apostolo martyri: l'apostolo San Paolo nella storia, nell'arte e nell'archeologia (atti della giornata di studi ... Pontificia Università Gregoriana, il 19 gennaio 2009) (Miscellanea historiae pontificae, Rome: , 2001), 196 (mentioned after ICVR, as located in the cemetery of Marcus and Marcellianus). de Rossi, G.B., "Ritrovamento del cemetero di Balbina contiguo a quello di Callisto", Bulletino di Archeologia Cristiana 5 (1867), 5.

Usage metrics

    Evidence - The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

    Categories

    Keywords

    S00036S00008History

    Licence

    CC0

    Exports