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EnglishIn the Christian era, along the Via Aurelia Antica, there were some catacombs, known thanks to the ancient sources. While two of them - San Pancrazio and Calepodio – have been discovered during the past years, two others – two Felici’s and Processo and Martiniano’s ones - have never been found. This article proposes an updated view of the situation, also examining other private areas that present interesting historical-archaeological characteristics, specifically the areas occupied by the Schoenstatt Sanctuary, by CONSEA s.r.l. and by the Piccolomini Foundation. What emerges is a varied picture based on the analysis of scientific texts, but also on inspections and on the examination of archival documentation. The knowledge of the territory is therefore essential to be able to try to reconstruct a context that may have remained partly unexplored and partly, unfortunately, destroyed over the centuries, modified by urban stratifications. italianoLungo la via Aurelia Antica, a partire dall'epoca cristiana, si sviluppano alcuni nuclei catacombali, noti attraverso le fonti. Mentre due di essi – San Pancrazio e Calepodio – sono stati scoperti negli anni passati, altri due – quello dei due Felici e di Processo e Martiniano – non sono mai stati rinvenuti. Con il presente articolo si propone una lettura aggiornata della situazione, esaminando anche altre aree private che presentano caratteristiche storico-archeologiche interessanti, nello specifico la zona occupata dal Santuario di Schoenstatt, dalla proprieta CONSEA s.r.l. e dalla Fondazione Piccolomini. Quel che emerge e un quadro variegato, che si fonda sull'analisi di testi scientifici, ma anche su sopralluoghi effettuati e sull'esame di documentazione archivistica. La conoscenza del territorio si rivela, quindi, fondamentale per poter provare a ricostruire un contesto in parte rimasto forse inesplorato e in parte, purtroppo, distrutto nel corso dei secoli, modificato dalle stratificazioni urbanistiche.

This work introduces into scientific circulation a collection of birds of prey claws and their bronze imitations found in the catacombs of the early medieval burial ground near Verkhnii Saltiv village . Amulets made of the hawk family claws (steppe eagle — catacomb no. 30 BCM-IV, golden eagle — catacomb no. 71 BCM-IV) were found in the fourth section of the burial ground catacombs. Bronze amulets imitating the birds of prey claws are represented by 13 specimens originating from catacombs no. 15, 36, 60 BCM-I and catacombs no. 13, 37, 67, 96, 99, 119, 137 BCM-IV. Claw-shaped bronze amulets, depending on the extent they repeat their prototypes, are represented by three types: Type 1 (8 items) is represented by products that realistically reproduce the birdss claw, due to the fact that the eyelet for hanging the amulet imitates the joint at the base of the claw. Type 2 (4 items) is represented by examples that repeat the shape of the claw, but are equipped with a rounded flat eyelet, typical for most Saltiv bronze amulets. Type 3 is represented by a single item in the shape of a simple bent plate repeating the form of the claw with a punched hole in the upper part. Complexes, in which amulets made of claws of birds and their bronze imitations are found, are dated from the end of the first quarter of IX century (catacomb no. 30) — second half of IX century (cat. no. 15 BCM-I, cat. no. 99, 119, 137 BCM-IV). In most cases the amulets were included to the teenagers’ implements. Only in the catacombs no. 96 and no. 99 they were found in the burials of young women. The amulets are often placed close to the human waist at the right pelvic bone. Only in the catacomb no. 13 the amulet was found close to the chest of a buried teenager and in the catacomb no. 60 it was at the head. The inclusion of bird claws and their imitations in the costume was supposed to provide protection for a human against the impact of supernatural forces and to obtain certain qualities of a certain bird of prey (sharp-sightedness, speed etc.). Due to the fact that in Ossetian and wider Indo-European mythology, birds were markers of the upper world, these amulets should be considered as symbols of the sun, heavenly fire, and their wearing should be associated with the cult of the sun.

The article offers a stylistic analysis of Lesia Ukrainka’s drama “In the Catacombs”. The basis of the research methodology is the linguosophical approach, ie the projection of the topic – the main idea – issues, features of social and ideological conflicts on the linguistic basis of the work. Emphasis is placed on the lexical and grammatical manifestations of the interaction of rhetoric of “high”, “neutral” and “low” registers for the advantages of the first two. In this regard, communication with theological, evangelical and everyday topics is differentiated. Emphasis is placed on the stylistics of the antithesis, the symbolism of the text, the textual interpretation of precedent names. It is established that the first helps to stylize the debatability, polylogical communication of the characters, the second – to express the philosophy of the boundaries of earthly and spiritual being. It is emphasized that the interpretation of precedent phenomena in Lesia Ukrainka corresponds to the author’s strategy of expressing the socio-political position of the intellectual in imperial Russia of the late XIX – early XX centuries. Changes in the textual semantics of the tokens slave, will have been traced. It is noted on the role of the text of the drama “In the Catacombs” in the development of the literary Ukrainian literary language as a means of glorifying the ability of the Ukrainian nation to compete.

Since the official discovery of the Jewish catacombs of Venosa, Italy, in 1853, about 80 epitaphs and graffiti written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin have been found. These epitaphs constitute a unique source of information on the lives, family relationships and social status of the Jews living in late ancient Venusia. Although almost all of these inscriptions have long been accessible in published form, many doubts nonetheless persist as to their exact locations in the catacombs, and whether or not they remain in situ today. This article presents the results of a general survey undertaken in the catacombs in recent years, showing what has been lost and what actually remains.

This paper explores the mummies in the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily as material objects that become agents of cultural meaning on regional and universal levels through processes of human p...

The memoirs presented in this book offer a rare close-up account of the underground Orthodox community and its priests during some of the most difficult years in Russian history. The catacomb church in the Soviet Union came into existence in the 1920s and played a significant part in Russian national life for nearly fifty years. Adherents to the Orthodox faith often referred to the catacomb church as the “light shining in the dark.” The book provides a first-hand portrait of lived religion in its social, familial, and cultural setting during this tragic period. Until now, scholars have had only brief, scattered fragments of information about Russia's illegal church organization that claimed to protect the purity of the Orthodox tradition. Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia and Elena Semenovna Men, who joined the church as young women, offer evidence on how Russian Orthodoxy remained a viable, alternative presence in Soviet society, when all political, educational, and cultural institutions attempted to indoctrinate Soviet citizens with an atheistic perspective. The book's translation not only sheds light on Russia's religious and political history, but also shows how two educated women maintained their personal integrity in times when prevailing political and social headwinds moved in an opposite direction.

The catacombs, burial sites for early Christians, were constructed during the Roman Empire until the Christian religion was recognized in 313 AD. The catacombs were cementeries, which were organized according to precise rules and were dug into the ground on several levels, to occupy as little space as possible. The catacombs became places of worship as martyrs were buried in them. The catacombs were then abandoned with the barbarian invasions and the consequent construction of churches inside cities. The catacombs were rediscovered during the Renaissance period and became a place of renewed worship. In the present work, the acoustic characteristics of the catacombs of San Callisto in Rome, San Gennaro in Naples, and Vigna Cassia in Syracuse are discussed. The three selected catacombs differ by type of excavation and geometry. In particular, the catacombs of San Callisto are made of narrow corridors and small rooms; the catacombs of San Gennaro consist of large rooms with niches; the catacombs of Vigna Cassia are partly excavated in the tuff and partially occupy a disused aqueduct. The acoustic measurements were performed using an impulsive sound source. The description of the acoustic characteristics focuses on the reverberation time and the Speech Transmission Index. The results show that the reverberation time was always shorter than 1 second, confirming the reduced reverberation of these environments. Finally, the speech listening characteristics are particularly good, ensuring the suitable conditions for the prayer in these spaces.

At the first level of Domitilla catacombs in Rome, in a peripheral region dating back to the mid-fourth century, is located the cubicle known as "dei fornai" (of the bakers). The cubicle presents some stylistic inconsistencies: subjects and themes suggest the attribution to a customer belonging to the upper class and having an important status, while some parts were made hastily and not well finished. In order to better shine a light on this matter, a diagnostic campaign was carried out, exclusively by means of in situ non-invasive methods and techniques. All the data reported in this work were collected after a laser cleaning of the wall paintings: some fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) measurements were made before the cleaning but the poor data obtained are not here reported. After the laser cleaning, a combination of non-invasive techniques was employed in order to univocally identify pigments and materials. Colorimetry, fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), infrared spectroscopy in external reflection mode (ER FT-IR), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), digital microscopy (DM) and visible-induced luminescence (VIL) were therefore utilised in situ, and brought to unambiguously assign the colour palette.

The Cubiculum of the Madonna with two Magi in the Roman Catacombs of the SS. Marcellino and Pietro after restoration. Iconographic declinations of the Epiphany scene The author has directed the restoration of cubicle 69, called of the Madonna with two Magi in the Roman catacombs of the SS. Marcellinus and Peter. In the intervention, which took place between 2014 and 2015, laser beam has been used for cleaning in a technological successful way, which now has a wide range of case studies in the conservation of catacomb paintings. The restoration was the occasion for a deepening of the iconographic peculiarity of the cubicle, from which is given the name. The study showed how, in the cemetery ad duas lauros, the scenes of Epiphany, even apart from doubtful cases, always present two Magi on the sides – or beside – of the Virgin and Child, instead of the canons three. It is good to reiterate that the number of the Magi is not mentioned in the Gospel text, but only appears in the subsequent apocryphal production, in relation to the three gifts brought by the dignitaries. The numerical variation, attested also in one case in the catacombs of Domitilla and in some products of the so-called minor arts in the version of four Magi, seems in the whole of the Labicana to be a precise local choice, not so much due to mere compositional reasons or to uncertain experimentation iconographic, but perhaps to a careful reading on the one hand to the Gospel text, on the other anticipating the concept of royalty that the epiphanic situation, especially in the symmetrical scheme in work in cubicle 69, allowed to express.

Malgre la diversite des etudes qui ont analyse en profondeur le phenomene reliquaire ces dernieres annees, une typologie de reliques est restee dans l’ombre : les corps saints en ceroplastie produits a Rome a partir du pontificat de Clement XIV, pour ensuite etre diffuses presque en tous points de la catholicite. L’article retrace les principales coordonnees du phenomene, en reflechissant aux lieux et aux modes de production d’un tel artisanat devot. Un cas d’etude met en evidence ce qui se conserve reellement des restes osseux a l’interieur des majestueux reliquaires, qui simulent le moment culminant du martyre.

Este artículo es una revisión sobre la historia de las catacumbas cristianas en Roma y de las primeras formas iconográficas del primitivo arte cristiano.

Death is a subject at the heart of French revolutionary culture, and it has invited a wide array of methodological approaches in recent years, from the terrible power invested in corpses, and the s...

Two painted cubicles of the catacombs of Santa Tecla and Domitilla in Rome were analytically characterized and then restored by means of an overall application of laser ablation treatments. This is the first application of laser ablation in the conservation of wall paintings in hypogean environments in which the main cause of deterioration is calcareous precipitations associated with the karst phenomenon, which cemented carbonaceous and tuff microfragment deposits of the past. The alterations found in the two sites are representative of typical conservation problems encountered in the Early Christian paintings of Roman catacombs. This makes the present approach for unveiling and preserving such a unique cultural asset of general interest. Its application in the cubicle of Santa Tecla allowed the unveiling of the early icons of the Apostle Saints John, Paul, Andrew and Peter, while in that of Domitilla, expressive scenes from the New Testament were surprisingly recovered.

This chapter considers how Nicholas Wiseman, in his novel Fabiola, or the Church of the Catacombs (1854), and John Henry Newman, in his novel Callista: A Tale of the Third Century (1855), represent revelatory experiences that are foregrounded by images and embodiments of Christ as the Good Shepherd and the Suffering Servant. For the Christians that figure in the two novels, reimaging personhood involves a willingness to empty oneself of self-interest in imitation of the kenosis, God’s emptying of himself in the Incarnation (Phil 2:7). Throughout, the chapter highlights the theological implications of the forms in which the dynamic of this self-emptying is expressed and indicates how Wiseman and Newman challenge the chronological drive of Charles Kingsley’s Hypatia, or New Foes with an Old Face (1852–53) as they detail the place of the Church Triumphant and express their understanding of sacred time in the reimaging of personhood.

In diesem Beitrag wird ein neu entdecktes Goldglas aus der judischen Katakombe unter der Villa Torlonia in Rom prasentiert. Das Goldglas zeichnet sich dadurch aus, dass es nicht nur eines der ersten Goldglaser ist, die in situ in einer judischen Katakombe gefunden wurde. Auch die Ikonografie, an der nichts Judisches zu erkennen ist, kann direkt aus der ikonografischen Tradition der griechisch-romischen und auch christlichen Kunstpraxis verstanden werden. Nach einer Beschreibung des genauen Fundkontextes wird die Ikonografie des Stuckes uberlegt. Es werden Bemerkungen uber eine mogliche Werkstattgleichheit und die Chronologie aufgrund der Radiokarbondatierung eines Grabes in direkter Nahe genau fixiert. Dies fuhrt zu einem Resultat, das Bedeutung fur die Datierung der spatantiken Goldglaser im Allgemeinen haben konnte. Eine Diskussion zur Funktion sowie Ausfuhrungen zur Bedeutung des angefuhrten Goldglases beschliesen den Artikel. Es ware eventuell noch die Frage zu klaren, ob man nicht innerhalb der judischen Archaologie uberlegen sollte, der Moglichkeit von nicht judischem ikonografischem Material in genugendem Mase Rechenschaft zu tragen.

The Tomb - Between the Living and the Dead: Souvenir, synaesthesia, and the Sepulcrum Domini - sensory stimuli as memorial stratagems, Stephen Lamia Lament for a lost queen - the sarcophagus of Dona Blanca in Najera, Elizabeth Valdez del Alamo The tomb as prompter for the chantry, Anne M. Morganstern Activating the effigy - Donatello's Pecci tomb in Siena cathedral, Geraldine A. Johnson Commemorating a real bastard - the chapel of Alvaro de Luna, Patrick Lenaghan. Shaping Communal Memory: The font is a kind of grave - remembrance in the Via Latina catacombs, Dorothy H. Verkerk Memory and the social landscape in 11th-century Upplandic commemorative practice, Kyle R. Crocker Stolen property - commemorating Saint Mark's first Venetian tomb, Thomas E. A. Dale Dream images, memoria, and the Heribert shrine, Carolyn Carty The queen's body and institutional memory - the tomb of Adelaide of Maurienne, Kathleen Nolan Monumenta et memoriae - the 13th-century episcopal pantheon of Leon cathedral, Rocio Sanchez Ameijeiras.

The art of the catacombs was born in Rome between the second and third centuries and is manifested especially in the pictorial decorations of the cubicula and other hypogeal environments. The extremely simplified artistic typology echoes the Second Pompeian style through the use of red and green lines that run across the walls and the faces of the monuments. Initially this grid contained neutral figures selected from the pagan repertoire; later those images were replaced by Christian scenes inspired by biblical and salvific imagery. The art of the catacombs also includes funerary sculpture, particularly sarcophagi, and the so-called minor arts, such as gilded glass, ivory dolls, and mosaic tesserae. The catacombal decorations ended at the beginning of the fifth century, when funerary use ceased in these subterranean cemeteries.

In the present paper, we report on a recent ultraviolet (UV) Raman study in conjunction with an FTIR absorbance investigation by using synchrotron radiation techniques, performed on wall paintings samples of frescoes, stored in the charming sites of San Gennaro and San Gaudioso Catacombs (Naples, Italy). The main goal was the analysis of the pigmenting materials in order to characterize the pigmenting agents and the binders used by the artists. In this frame, the combined use of both complementary SR-based techniques played a fundamental role. In addition, in principle the characterization of the pigmenting matter could be useful for reproducing similar materials in accordance with the ancient recipes to use in any restoration process.

Naples assumed an important political and economic role within the region of Campania during the late antique period. LA-ICP-MS data of 285 glass tesserae from the catacomb of San Gennaro in Naples confirm that the surge in building activities in the late fourth and early fifth century CE was accompanied by imports of new materials for the production of mosaic tesserae. Our results from Naples identify a substantial number of Jalame-like Levantine glasses for which there is no parallel within the Italian Peninsula. Only few scattered examples of this type of base glass are found among the published data from Aquileia, Ravenna and the Villa of Faragola, pointing to a link between the supply of glass and the sites' connectivity and economic strength. This seems to have changed after the fifth century. Elemental analyses, combined with SEM-EDS and micro-Raman indicate that the mosaics dating from the fourth to the eighth/ninth century CE in the catacombs of San Gennaro were overwhelmingly made from reused first- to fourth-century Roman base glasses opacified with calcium antimonate. The reuse and recycling of Roman glass and Roman tesserae is a common feature of mosaic assemblages in Italy more generally. The definition of a Roman spectrum tesserae reference group revealed this dependence on old Roman material throughout the first millennium CE.

The catacombs are underground places. This paper reports the results of acoustic measurements carried out inside the catacombs of “San Gennaro” (Naples) and in those one of “San Callisto” (Rome). Originally the catacombs were also used to perform sacred functions, although we don't know the type of these functions i.e. if they were spoken, sung or performed as psalms. This paper presents acoustic measurements carried out in catacombs using the impulse response method, and by the analysis of the monaural acoustic parameters, (T30, EDT, C80, D50 and STI), the authors intend to understand the type of religious ceremony performed in the catacombs. If the catacombs had been reverberant places, they could not have been used for prayers because the echoes would have created difficulties in concentration and meditation for the devotees due to the poor speech comprehension.

Babbage considers the challenges of staging Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ and ‘The Company of Wolves’. Discussing several contemporary productions, Babbage shows that while Carter’s Gothic iconography has been effectively represented, theatre adaptations have struggled to sustain the fluidity of position that is equally important in her work. Referencing examples from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century drama, and the insistence of Burke and Radcliffe that terror requires obscurity and ‘boundlessness’, Babbage examines treatments of Carter in non-theatre sites. Grid Iron’s The Bloody Chamber, a promenade production in Edinburgh catacombs, and Burn the Curtain’s The Company of Wolves, a night-time performance in woodland, exploit the potential of space, proximity and obscurity; both adaptations thereby structure a relationship to Carter’s writing that is exciting, unsettling and potentially liberating.

The article asks for the role of laymen and clerics in the creation and genesis of catacombs in the 3rd century. Clearly, the interest in collective burial is a need of the faithful. It is an option, but not at all obligatory. The nuclei of 3rd-century catacombs show the presence of different groups of persons, which frequently do not allow drawing conclusions on their religious affiliation. The absence of Christian elements does not mean that the commissioners of the burial rooms were pagan; Christians may not have felt the need to express their faith. The intentions the commissioners determine the choice of epigraphic formulary and figural decoration. During the 3rd century, it seems that mostly laymen organizing them, women played a particular role in organizing relics and corpses of martyrs. Laymen also kept the memory of martyrs alive. The choice of a certain catacomb for the own interment was determined by personal relations.

Malarstwo katakumbowe stanowi najstarszy przekład rzymskiej sztuki chrześcijańskiej. Na freskach z rzymskich katakumb Maryja była ukazywana albo jako Matka Jezusa, albo jako orantka. Najczęściej spotykany obraz z Maryją w roli głównej to scena przedstawiająca Hołd Magów vel Mędrców ze Wschodu. Fresk o tej tematyce znajdujemy na ścianach kilku katakumb, w tym m.in.: Pryscylli, Piotra i Marcelina, Domicylli, Agnieszki, Kaliksta. Innym powtarzającym się motywem jest Madonna z Dzieciątkiem – spotykamy go m.in. u Pryscylli, św. Walentyna i w Cimiterium Maius (znanym jako katakumby św. Agnieszki). Umieszczony na suficie podziemnego korytarza w katakumbach Pryscylli fresk ukazujący Maryję z Dzieciątkiem uznawany jest za najstarszy wizerunek Maryi z katakumb rzymskich. W katakumbach spotykamy także sceny obrazujące wydarzenia z życia Maryi, stanowiące ilustracje wybranych perykop Nowego Testamentu. Do najbardziej znanych należy obrazowanie sceny zwiastowania z katakumb Pryscylli oraz sceny nawiedzenia z katakumb św. Walentyna. Dzisiaj uważa się, że najstarsze freski maryjne pochodzą dopiero z końca II wieku. Do IV wieku Maryja była przedstawiana zawsze w towarzystwie Syna. Sztuka wczesnochrześcijańska łączyła postać Maryi z tajemnicą wcielenia Jezusa. Obrazowano Maryję, by podkreślić ludzką naturę Syna Bożego. Kult Maryi był zależny od kultu Jezusa, nie istniał jako samodzielny.