E05271: Latin and Greek graffiti and epitaphs with invocations to unnamed saints and martyrs, holy spirits/spirita sancta, and saints whose names are lots. Found in the cemetery ad Sanctos Marcellinum et Petrum /inter duas lauros, via Labicana, Rome. Probably 4th-6th c.

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posted on 2018-03-27, 00:00 authored by Bryan

In this record we have aggregated very fragmentary or concise texts from the cemetery Ad Sanctos Marcellinum et Petrum /inter duas lauras, which refer to the cult of unnamed martyrs or of saints whose names are lost. 1) Executed with a stylus on the plaster of a wall in region X 14, close to the graffito invoking Asclepias, which we present in <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13868306">E05263</a>. Letter height c. 6 cm. Probably 4th c. im mente te habe- ate Caelestium (busts of two men) St[- - -] 'May you have in mind Caelestius [- - -]!' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16074 = EDB4829. The presence of two busts may suggest that Marcellinus and Petrus, the eponyms of the cemetery, are invoked here. 2) Fragment of a marble plaque. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.25 m; W. 0.30 m; Th. 0.04 m. Letter height 0.038 m. Found in cubiculum Xt. Now probably in cubiculum Xs. No certain date. [E]ucenie [- - -] martyres [- - -]m in diside[rio] [- - - vi]xit ann[is - - -] 'O Eugenius, [- - -] martyrs [- - -] in request (?) [- - -] lived ... years [- - -]' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16174 = EDB3697. According to Orazio Marucchi and Ernst Diehl, the inscription was an epitaph marking a burial ad sanctos/ad martyres. Sadly, the names of the martyrs are lost. 3) Fragment of a marble plaque, broken into three conjoining parts. The lower margin is preserved. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.46 m; W. 0.46 m; Th. 0.035 m. Letter height 4 cm. The other face bears a fragmentary epitaph. Found in 1956, at the ground level of the cemetery, in proximity of the 4th c. basilica. A photograph is now offered in the Epigraphic Database Bari. Probably 4th c. [- - - se vi]bu fe[cit] [- - - et - - - Brum(?)]asus amici i[n pace] [fe]cerunt spiritu meu in m[ente habete] 2. Brum(?)]asus: Carletti in EDB || 3. spiritu meu: Carletti in EDB, SPIRITV MFV: Ferrua in ICVR '[- - -] made when he (or she) was still alive [- - - and - - -] Brumasus (?), friends, in peace, made it. [Keep in mind] my soul!' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 17194 = EDB14267. 4) Executed with a stylus on the plaster of a wall in cubiculum Ai. Letter height 1 - 2 cm. Probably earlier 4th c. [- - -]a[- - -] Gauden- tia vivas in Chr(isto) spirita sanc[ta] 3. Chr(sito) written as a christogram '[- - -] Gaudentia, may you live in Christ! O holy spirits!' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16239 = EDB2395. 5) Fragmentary marble plaque broken into several conjoining parts. H. 0.35 m; W. 0.66 m; Th. 0.01 m. Letter height 3 - 6.5 cm. Found by Antonio Ferrua in 1957 in region I7. Probably mid-4th c. [He]renniae Priscillaneti matr[i] [car]issime et incoparabili re[quie]- [sce]nti fili fecerunt in qu<a>e [vixit] [ann(nis) - - -]I m(enses) VIII d(ies) V ispiritus tuus, mater, inter san[ctos] 3. QVOE: stone, in (pace) quae [vix(it)]: Ferrua, in e [vixit]: Carletti in EDB 'To Herennia Priscillanetis, a most dear and incomparable mother, reposing (here), (her) sons made (this). (Buried) in peace, she [lived - - - years], 8 months, 5 days. O mother, your soul is among the saints!' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16256 = EDB7241. 6) Executed with a stylus on the plaster of a wall in region/sector X1. Letter height c. 3 cm. Probably second half of the 4th c. Marcelline in pace et pro patre n(ostro) pete 'O Marcellinus (repose) in peace and intercede on behalf of our father!' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16329 = EDB3614. The inscription may contain an invocation of *Marcellinus (</a><a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730665">S00577</a>), one of the eponyms of the cemetery, asked to pray on behalf of the visitors' father, but it might also address an ordinary deceased man bearing the same name. 7) Fragment of a marble plaque, broken and lost at the left-hand end. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.375 m; W. 1.00 m; Th. 0.015 m. Letter height 3.5 cm. Found in situ, in region/sector C3. Probably second half of the 4th c. [- - -] que a deo et santis acceta posteru [- - -] no(vem)bres requebit in pace 2. possibly [kalendas] no(vem)bres: Ferrua '[- - -] who was received by God and the saints, later (?) [- - -] of November she will rest in peace.' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16650 = EDB2358. 8) Two conjoining fragments of a marble plaque, broken and lost on all sides. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.21 m; W. 0.15 m; Th. 0.03 m. Letter height 2 - 2.5 cm. Found in region/sector X27 and in X28. Probably late 4th - early 5th c. [- - -] [- - -]nus [- - -] [- - - s]ancti [- - -] [- - -] deo per[- - -] [- - - me]ruit pre[- - -] [- - - co]miti pue[r - - -] [- - -] diu quie[t - - -] [- - -] '[- - -] of saint [- - -] God through [- - -] deserved [- - -] companion (?), boy [- - -] long reposed (?) [- - -]' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16653D = EDB5392. Ernst Diehl supposed that this could be a fragment of a verse inscription. 9) Marble plaque broken into two conjoining fragments. Dimensions: H. 0.30 m; W. 0.68 m; Th. 0.02 m. Letter height 4 cm. Dots between letters. Found in region/sector I5. Now in Y6. Κυριακή, τὸ πνεῦμά σου με- τὰ ἁγίων 'Kyriake, your soul (pneuma) is with saints.' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 16851 = EDB8561. 10) Marble plaque. Recorded in 1720 by Marco Antonio Boldetti, in the part of the cemetery which is called 'of Saint Helena'. Now probably lost. Probably 5th c. Maurentius Maurentiae f(i)d(eli) que vixit annis V menses XI dies duo digna inter san- ctos deus iussit in pace fi(eri) + 'Maurentius (set it up) to Maurentia, the faithful, who lived 5 years, 11 months, two days, worthy among the saints. By God's order. (Buried) in peace. +' Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 17086 = EDB12132.

History

Evidence ID

E05271

Saint Name

Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060 Saints, unnamed : S00518 Saints, name lost or very partially preserved : S01744 Petrus and Marcellinus, priest and exorcist, martyrs of Rome : S00577 Tiburtius, son of the prefect Chromatius, martyr of Rome

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.) Inscriptions - Graffiti Literary - Poems Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

350

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

350

Activity not after

600

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 - Places

Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women Children Other lay individuals/ people

Discussion

The saints invoked might be be vague, anonymous groups of martyrs, but also particular saints venerated in the cemetery, especially *Marcellinus and Petrus (martyrs of Rome, S00577), *Tiburtius (martyr of Rome, S01520), *Gorgonius (martyr of Rome, S00576), the *Thirty Martyrs of Rome (S00586), the *Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (S00103), or the *Forty Martyrs of Rome (S00540). Their cult in the present cemetery is mentioned in an entry in the 6th c. Notitia ecclesiarium Urbis Romae (E00680).

Bibliography

As these texts are of minor importance to us, we give here only the references to the editions in the Epigraphic Database Bari (EDB) and the series Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae (ICVR). For earlier editions and the apparatus, see the lemma in ICVR. 1) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB4828. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/4829 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16074. 2) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB3697. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/3697 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16174. 3) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB14267. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/14267 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 17194. 4) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB2395. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/2395 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16239. 5) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB7241. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/7241 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16256. 6) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB3614. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/3614 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16329. 7) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB2358. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/2358 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16650. 8) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB5392. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/5392 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16653D. 9) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB8561. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/8561 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 16851. 10) Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB12132. See http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/12132 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 17086.