E05334: Fragmentary Latin inscription, possibly from an altar, probably with a poem referring to something located near 'blessed bones'/ossa beata. Found in the ager Veranus, via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably from the cemetery of Cyriaca. Probably 5th or 6th c.

online resource

posted on 2018-04-13, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[- - - s]antos orare mu[- - -]
[- - -] plus enim post ing[- - -]
[- - -] hos qui merue[re - - -]
[- - -] D̅(e)i̅ stare ha[- - -]
[- - - a]d ossa be[ata (?) - - -]
[- - -]tar[- - -]
[- - - - - -]

1. mu[nimen: de Waal || 2. ing[ens: de Waal || 4. ad thronum (?)] D(e)i stare: de Waal || 6. TAB: de Waal

'[- - -] that the saints pray [- - -] because more, after, [- - -] those who deserve [- - -] of God stand [- - -] near the blessed bones [- - -].'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 19748b = EDB31451.

History

Evidence ID

E05334

Saint Name

Saints, unnamed : S00518 Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

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

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

600

Activity not before

400

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

Altar

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Relics

Bodily relic - entire body Bodily relic - bones and teeth

Source

Fragment of a marble plaque. The upper margin is preserved. There is no published description. The stone comes probably from the cemetery of Cyriaca. Found during the digging of a modern tomb in the ager Veranus, on the via Tiburtina, and sold to the Museum of the Collegio Teutonico del Campo Santo in Rome. Seen in the Museum and first published by Anton de Waal in 1894. Antonio Ferrua, however, did not find it in the Museum’s collection, and it is presumed to be lost

Discussion

The first editor, Anton de Waal, supposed that the fragment came from an altar. According to de Waal's restoration, line 5 may refer to something located near 'blessed bones'. As the inscription is very fragmentary, it is difficult to say if this is a reference to specific relics and a burial ad sanctos, an altar erected over a martyr's tomb, or just a vague reminiscence of saints' bodies. De Waal believed that the reference is to the martyrs buried in the cemetery of Cyriaca (cf. E00679). Dating: De Waal dated the inscription to the 5th or 6th c.; the editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari narrow down the date to the 5th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB31451, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/31451 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria viae Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 19748b. de Waal, A., "Eine monumentale metrische Martyrer-Inschrift", Römische Quartalschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte (1894), 335-336.