E05357: Latin epitaph invoking *Hippolytus (martyr of Rome, S00509), named domnus, to aid the deceased and provide refrigerium in his afterlife. Found on the via Tiburtina, probably the cemetery of Hippolytus, Rome. Now lost. Probably 4th c.
online resource
posted on 2018-04-21, 00:00authored bypnowakowski
refrgeri tibi do- mnus Ipolitus sid
The general meaning of the text is more or less clear (Saint Hippolytus is invoked to aid the deceased), the exact interpretation of the phrasing has, however, been disputed. Giovanni Battista de Rossi considered the following interpretations:
1) First suggested by Rafaele Garucci in Vetri ornati di figure in oro... (Roma: , 1858), 45, note 2: refr(i)geri(o) tibi domnus Ipolitus sit, which he probably understood as 'May the lord Hippolytus be as a refreshment to you!'
2) First suggested by de Rossi himself, and supported by Antonio Ferrua in the ICVR series: refrigeret tibi domnus Ipolitus Sid(oni), 'May the lord Hippolytus refresh/relieve you, Sidonius (or Siddinius, etc.)!'
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 - Miracles
Power over life and death
Miraculous protection - of people and their property
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Marble plaque with a complete inscription. Seen by Antonio Bosio in a cemetery on the via Tiburtina, near the church of San Lorenzo, in a vineyard owned by Giovanni Battista Marini, possibly the cemetery of Hippolytus. First published by Bosio in 1632. The stone is now lost and all later editions are based on Bosio's text and description.
Discussion
In Christian inscriptions from the Roman catacombs, refrigerium is normally a commemorative banquet held in honour of the deceased at his tomb (see, for example, E05087). Here the term is probably used to denote the general relief (refreshment) in the afterlife hoped for from saint Hippolytus who was buried in the same cemetery.
Dating: Domenico Schiraldi (in EDB) dates the inscription to the 4th c.
Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB21202, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/21202
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. 20166 (with further bibliography).
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), comments to no. 2318.
Marucchi, O., Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni cristiane principalmente di Roma (Milan: U. Hoepli, 1910), 158, no. 129.
Armellini, M., Gli antichi cimeteri cristiani di Roma e d'Italia (Rome: Tipografia poliglotta, 1893), 316.
Armellini, M., Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX (Rome: Tipografia Vaticana, 1891), 877.
de Rossi, G.B., "Il cimitero di S. Ippolito: presso la via Tiburtina e la sua principale cripta storica ora dissepolta", Bullettino di archeologia cristiana 4 Ser. 1 (1882), 45.
Bosio, A., Roma sotteranea (Rome: Appresso Guglielmo Facciotti, 1632), 409.
Further reading:
de Rossi, G.B., "Insigni scoperte nel cimitero di Domitilla", Bullettino di archeologia cristiana 2 Ser. 6 (1875), 29 (mentioned).