E05359: Latin epitaph invoking the holy spirits/spirita sancta on behalf of a deceased girl. Found in the cemetery of Novatianus on the via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably 3rd or 4th c.

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posted on 2018-04-23, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

Antonia Irene  spirita sancta
pue(lla) in pacae boviscum

VII idus
nobembres

nobenbres: Josi

'Antonia Irena. O holy spirits, may (this) girl be in peace with you! (Buried) on the 7th day before the ides of November.'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 20353 = EDB10264.

History

Evidence ID

E05359

Saint Name

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

Saint Name in Source

spirita sancta spirita sancta

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

250

Evidence not after

400

Activity not before

250

Activity not after

400

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

Source

The inscription is executed in red letters on the white plaster coating of brickwork from a tomb in the cemetery of Novatianus, area N. Letter height 0.025 - 0.07 m. The text is accompanied by images of a palm branch, a horse wearing a crest, and a dove holding a branch. First published by Enrico Josi in 1934. A revised edition was published in 1980 by Antonio Ferrua. A good photograph is offered in the Epigraphic Database Bari. For a description of the cemetery, see E05358.

Discussion

The holy spirits invoked in this epitaph are probably the souls of other Christians buried in the same cemetery, or, more specifically, of the martyrs venerated there. It is, however, not clear if the epitaph records a proper burial ad sanctos, that is a burial meant to aid the deceased by the physical closeness of holy relics. Dating: Anita Rocco (in EDB) dates the inscription to the 3rd c. The earliest dated tomb in this cemetery is, however, of 266, and it is supposed that the complex was established only a little earlier, but not before the 250s; so late 3rd or 4th c. constitute a more precise timeframe.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB10264, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/10264 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. 20353. Josi, E., "Cimitero alla sinistra della via Tiburtina al viale Regina Margherita. II", Rivista di archeologia cristiana 11 (1934), 26, no. 87, fig. 48.