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E05082: Fragmentary Greek epitaph for *Eutychianus (bishop and martyr of Rome, S00662). Found at the Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia, Rome. Probably 283.

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posted on 2018-02-13, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski
Εὐτυχιανὸς ἐπίσκ(οπος)

'Eutychianus, bishop.'

Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 10616 = EDB4681.

History

Evidence ID

E05082

Saint Name

Eutychianus, bishop of Rome, ob. c. 282 : S00662

Saint Name in Source

Εὐτυχιανός

Type of Evidence

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

Language

  • Greek

Evidence not before

283

Evidence not after

283

Activity not before

283

Activity not after

283

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

Ceremonies at burial of a saint

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

Cult Activities - Cult Related Objects

Inscription

Source

Multiple conjoining fragments of a marble plaque. Dimensions: H. 0.435 m; W. 0.91 m. Letter height 0.06 m. Recorded in cubiculum Aa, in the area of the so-called Crypt of the Popes at the Cemetery of Callistus, and first published in 1854 by Giovanni Battista de Rossi. His edition was used by Adolf Kirchhoff who included the inscription in his Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. Republished by de Rossi in 1867, and by other scholars (e.g. Wilpert 1910, Diehl 1925). More insignificant fragments were reportedly found by Josef Wilpert. Revisited and republished in 1964 by Antonio Ferrua. A quality photograph is offered by Antonio Felle in the Epigraphic Database Bari. Now in cubiculum Aa.

Discussion

The inscription is considered the original epitaph for pope Eutychianus. Our main source for his life and death is the mid-6th c. Liber pontificalis which says that he died a martyr's death in 283 (E00364). The preserved part of the present epitaph does not call him a martyr, although de Rossi speculated that the epithet could have been on a now lost fragment. The date of the deposition of Eutychianus at the Cemetery of Callistus is, probably wrongly, recorded by the Liber Pontficalis as 25 July. According to the Martyrologium Hieronymianum Eutychianus was commemorated on 8 December (E05045). He also appears on the list of the depositions of bishops of Rome in the Chronography of 354 where the date is again given as 8 December (E01051). His name was probably also included on a now lost plaque with a list of martyrs and confessors, erected by pope Sixtus III, 432-440 (E04721). Dating: If this is the original epitaph for Eutychianus, not a later monument, it must date to 283 or shortly thereafter.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB4681, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/4681 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 4: Coemeteria inter Vias Appiam et Ardeatinam (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1964), no. 10616. Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), no. 960. Marucchi, O., Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni cristiane principalmente di Roma (Milan: U. Hoepli, 1910), 191, no. 195. Wilpert, J., La Cripta dei Papi e la cappella di Sainta Cecilia ne cimetero di Callisto (Rome: Desclée & C., 1910), 20 fig. 14, and 28. de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 2 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1867), 70-72, and Tav. 3. Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, no. 9674. Civiltà cattolica 1854, vol. 3, 127 (ed. de Rossi) Further reading: Carletti, C., Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), 36.

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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