Evidence ID
E05083Saint Name
Lucius, bishop of Rome, ob. c. 258 : S00208Saint Name in Source
ΛούκιςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)Evidence not before
255Evidence not after
255Activity not before
255Activity not after
255Place 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
Two conjoining fragments of a marble plaque. Dimensions: H. 0.30 m; W. 0.70 m. Letter height 0.06 m.
Recorded in cubiculum Aa, in the area of the so-called Crypt of the Popes at the cemetery of Callixtus, and first published in 1854 by Giovanni Battista de Rossi. His edition was used by Adolf Kirchhoff who included the inscription in his Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. Republished by de Rossi in 1867, and by other scholars (e.g. Wilpert 1910, Marucchi 1910, Diehl 1925). Revisited and republished in 1964 by Antonio Ferrua. A high-quality photograph is offered by Antonio Felle in the Epigraphic Database Bari.
Now in cubiculum Aa.Discussion
The inscription is considered the original epitaph for pope Lucius. Our main source for his life and death is the mid-6th c. Liber pontificalis which says that he died a martyr's death in 255 (E00360).
The date of the deposition of Lucius in the cemetery of Callixtus is recorded by the Liber Pontficalis as 25 August. However, the more reliable list of the depositions of bishops of Rome in the Chronography of 354 gives the date as 5 March (E01051). His commemoration is mentioned on 4 March by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (E04706). Lucius' name was probably also included on a now lost plaque with a list of martyrs and confessors, erected by pope Sixtus III, 432-440 (E04721).
Dating: If this is the original epitaph for pope Lucius, it must date to 255 or shortly thereafter.Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB4254, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/4254
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. 10645.
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), no. 958.
Marucchi, O., Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni cristiane principalmente di Roma (Milan: U. Hoepli, 1910), 191, no. 194.
Wilpert, J., La Cripta dei Papi e la cappella di Sainta Cecilia ne cimetero di Callisto (Rome: Desclée & C., 1910), 20 fig. 13.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 2 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1867), 62-70 and Tav. 3.
Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, no. 9674.
Civiltà cattolica 1854, vol. 3, 127 (ed. de Rossi)
Further reading:
Carletti, C., Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), 36.
