Evidence ID
E07471Saint Name
Alexander, Eventius and Theodolus, bishop, priest and deacon, martyrs of Rome : S00127
Saints, unnamed : S00518Saint Name in Source
sanctiType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Language
LatinEvidence not before
400Evidence not after
600Activity not before
400Activity not after
600Place 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
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relicsCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Women
Other lay individuals/ people
AristocratsSource
The two inscriptions are carved on two faces of two columns bases, made of marble, and measuring 25 cm x 21 cm x 21 cm. Both texts are framed, and measure respectively 10 cm x 18.5 cm, and 11 cm x 18.5 cm. Letter height 2.2 cm. The columns supported by the bases were probably designed to carry the ciborium.
Found by Giovani Battista de Rossi in 1854, in proximity of the saints’ altar in the cemetery.Discussion
It is very probable that both inscriptions come from the same dedicatory text, the majority of which is now lost. Ferrua suggested a hypothetical restoration of the entire inscription, including the text from the other two, now lost, bases of the ciborium: [NN sepulcrum] sanctorum ornavit [Eventio et Alexandro sanctis martyribus. NN et] Iunia Sabina c.f. eius fecerunt / '[NN] decorated [the tomb] of the saints [Eventius and Alexander, the holy martyrs. NN and] Iunia Sabina, the clarissima, his wife, made (it)'. Although the general sense is plausible, the actual phrasing can, of course, be disputed.
Orazio Marucchi rather implausibly considered Inscription B as an independent dedication and understood it as: Iulia Sabina c(um) f(ilio) eius fecerunt/'Iulia Sabina with her son - they made it'.Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB41549.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/41549
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 8: Coemeteria viarum Nomentanae et Salariae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1983), no. 22959 (with further bibliography).
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