Evidence ID
E07474Saint Name
Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060
Saints, unnamed : S00518
Alexander, Eventius and Theodolus, bishop, priest and deacon, martyrs of Rome : S00127Saint Name in Source
meriti
meriti
meritiType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Literary - PoemsLanguage
LatinEvidence not before
550Evidence not after
600Activity not before
537Activity 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
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildingsCult activities - Rejection, Condemnation, Scepticism
Destruction/desecration of saint's shrineCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Ecclesiastics - PopesSource
The text of this inscription is preserved only in the manuscripts of the Sylloge Centulensis (codex Petropolitanus F. XIV 1 f. 129) and Sylloge Laurenshamensis (codex Vaticanus Palatinus 833 f. 63 v and codex Londinus Harleianus 3685 f. 4). It first appeared in print in 1602, published by Jan Gruter from the Sylloge Laureshamensis. The first edition based on all the accessible manuscripts was offered by Giovanni Battista de Rossi.
The codices do not specify the location of this inscription, but it is commonly presumed to have been in the cemetery of Saint Alexander on the via Nomentana, as it appears between the inscriptions copied in the cemetery of Sant'Agnese and those from the via Appia.Discussion
The poem does not use the terms 'martyres' or 'sancti'; but the well-deserved ones ('meriti') of verse 3, whose tomb is rebuilt through even greater zeal, or cultic reverence ('meliore cultu'), are commonly considered to have been martyrs by the editors of this text. According to Ferrua, the point of the poem is that any damage done to, or any attempted desecration of, a martyr's tomb only adds to his or her glory as a sort of a continuation of the martyrdom. And of course this sacrilege brought divine punishment down on the heads of those responsible for it.
The gens infelix responsible for the desecration of this tomb is taken to have been the Goths, who besieged Rome in 537/538 under Vitigis, and in 545/546 under Totila. Both sieges were disastrous for the civilian population of the city, and the suburban cemeteries also suffered during military operations (although there is no evidence of intentional damage). The poem must postdate the expulsion of the Goths from Rome, so it was probably composed in the 550s or later. It is possible that our inscription dates from the pontificate of Pope Vigilius (537-555), credited with very similar work in the nearby Cemetery of the Jordani (see E07193). For Vigilius's work in the Cemetery of Hippolytus, see E07580.Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB41558.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/41558
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. 22965 (with further bibliography).
De Rossi, G. B., Inscriptiones christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores 2.1 (Rome: Ex Officina Libraria Pontificia, 1857-1888), 89, no. 44; 115, no. 88; 121, no. 4.