Evidence ID
E05314Saint Name
Clemens (unspecified) : S01813Saint Name in Source
ClemensType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)Evidence not before
350Evidence not after
400Activity not before
350Activity not after
400Place 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
Cult building - independent (church)Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergySource
Two non-conjoining fragments of a marble plaque. Broken and lost on all sides. Preserved dimensions: 1) H. 0.31 m, W. 0.20 m, Th. 0.04 m; 2) H. 0.30 m, W. 0.29 m, Th. 0.04 m. Letter height 0.05-0.06 m.
The fragments are now in the Vatican Museums, in the Lapidario Cristiano ex Lateranense. Reportedly found in the ager Veranus near the cemetery of Cyriaca ad Sanctum Laurentium, on the via Tiburtina.
A transcription appears in the archive of Giovanni Battista de Rossi. A photograph was first published by Orazio Marucchi in 1910. The first proper edition was offered in 1980 by Antonio Ferrua.Discussion
The two fragments, very plausibly assembled, possibly record a cleric of the titulus-church of Clemens. The church was a 4th c. foundation, located on the Lateran Hill. It was mentioned by, for example, Jerome (EXXXX), who attests its existence in 392, under Pope Siricius, 384-399 (EXXXX). In the 12th c. it was superseded by the present-day basilica of San Clemente.
The identity of the eponym of this church is not clear. Based on an inscription found in the church (EXXXX) it has been suggested that his full name was Titus Flavius Clemens, rather implausibly identified with Clement of Alexandria (SXXXX), or a consul condemned to death under Domitian (SXXXX). The basilica is now dedicated to Pope Clement I (S00111).
For another inscription recording this titulus-church, found in the same cemetery, see E05329.
Dating: The editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari date the inscription to the 4th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB31017, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/31017
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 19605c and c'.
Marucchi, O., I monumenti del Museo cristiano Pio-Lateranense riprodotti in atlante di xcvi tavole, con testo illustrativo (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1910), Tav. LXVI, no. 8.
