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E05355: Very fragmentary Latin inscription, just possibly mentioning either *Hippolytus (martyr of Rome, S00509) as a 'blessed' one, or an ordinary deceased Hippolytus. Found in the cemetery of Hippolytus on the via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably 4th-6th c.

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posted on 2018-04-21, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[- - -] ḅ[e]at[us]
Hippol[ytus]
custọ[s - - -]
[- - - - - -]

'[- - -] blessed Hippolytus, guardian [- - -].'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 20086b = EDB20465.

History

Evidence ID

E05355

Saint Name

Hippolytus, martyr of Rome : S00509

Saint Name in Source

Hippolytus

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Hippolytus_martyr_of_Rome/13730485

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.) 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

Source

Fragment of a marble plaque. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.15 m; W. 0.12 m; Th. 0.022 m. Letter height 0.032 m. Found in 1968 in a crypt sited near the subterranean basilica in the cemetery of Hippolytus on the via Tiburtina. First published by Antonio Ferrua in 1980. The completions we follow here were suggested by Domenico Schiraldi in the Epigraphic Database Bari.

Discussion

Scarcely anything can be read in such a small fragment. Therefore, the interpretation is very hypothetical. The inscription may mention saint Hippolytus the eponym of the cemetery, possibly described as beatus, a 'blessed' person (a martyr?); it but may also be the epitaph for an homonymous ordinary deceased person.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB20465, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/20465 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. 20086b.