E07497: Very fragmentary Latin inscription, probably an epitaph, giving a consular date of AD 372, and with just possibly a reference to a feast or the basilica of *Felicitas (martyr of Rome, S00525). Found at the Cemetery of Felicitas/the Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. [provisional entry, description needed]

online resource

posted on 2019-03-30, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[- - -]ỊỊ[- - -]
[- - -]Mode[sto et Arintheo - - -]
[- - - Felici]tatis[- - -]

3. just possibly natale S. Felicitatis Ferrua or in basilica S. Felicitatis de Rossi

'[- - - in the consulship of] Modestus [and Arintheus - - -] of Felicitas [- - -]'

Note: line 3 may read: 'on the day of the feast of Saint Felicitas' or 'in the basilica of Saint Felicitas'.

Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 23414a = EDB21731.

History

Evidence ID

E07497

Saint Name

Felicitas, martyr of Rome with her seven sons : S00525

Saint Name in Source

Felicitas

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Felicitas_martyr_of_Rome_with_her_sons_buried_on_the_via_Salaria/13730527

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

372

Evidence not after

372

Activity not before

372

Activity not after

372

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 - Festivals

Saint’s feast

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Fragment of a marble plaque, broken and lost on all sides, put together of six conjoining smaller fragments. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.15 m; W. 0.16 m; Th. 0.055 m. Letter height 0.04 m. Found during the first surveys of the surface basilica at the cemetery of Felicitas/Cemetery of Maximus. First published by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1885. [description needed]

Discussion

De Rossi and Ferrua supposed that the name Felicitas, only partly preserved in line 3, could refer to a feast ('natale S. Felicitatis') or the basilica of the saint ('in basilica S. Felicitatis' - here given probably as the location of the tomb). Dating: The consular date is partly lost, but we can reconstruct it as AD 372.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB21731. see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/21731 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. 23414a (with further bibliography). de Rossi, G.B., "Scoperta d'una cripta storica nel cimitero di Massimo ad sanetam Felicitatem sulla via Salaria Nuova", Bullettino di archeologia cristiana 4. Ser. 3 (1884-1885), 177.