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E05297: Latin epitaph for a person buried near a saint whose name is lost, probably *Laurence/Laurentius (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037). Found in the cemetery of Cyriaca, via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably late 4th or early 5th c.

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posted on 2018-04-09, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski
[locus V]itellia[ni - - -]
[- - -] quem s[e vivo sibi]
[compa]ravit a[- - -]
[- - - a]t dom[num - - -]

'[Tomb] of Vitellianus [- - -] which he prepared [for himself when he was still alive - - -] near the lord [- - -].'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 18098 = EDB27698.

History

Evidence ID

E05297

Saint Name

Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome : S00037

Type of Evidence

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

Language

  • Latin

Evidence not before

350

Evidence not after

450

Activity not before

350

Activity not after

450

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

Burial ad sanctos

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Other lay individuals/ people

Source

Fragment of a marble plaque. H. 0.35 m; W. 0.19 m; Th. 0.06 m. Letter height 0.03 m. Found in obscure circumstances in the cemetery of Cyriaca on the via Tiburtina. Now in the storeroom E3. First published by Antonio Ferrua in 1980.

Discussion

The inscription commemorates a burial near the tomb of a saint. This could be Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome, venerated in the area where the inscription was found. A similar epitaph was recorded on the surface level of the cemetery. That one mentions a burial in a church, but still in proximity of Laurentius' tomb: in basilica maiore ad domnu Laurentium / 'in the basilica maior near the lord Laurentius' (see E05294). Dating: Antonella Daniela Agostinelli (in EDB) dates the inscription to the second half of the 4th - first half of the 5th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB27698, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/27698 De Santis, P., Sanctorum Monumenta: "Aree sacre" del suburbio di Roma nella documentazione epigrafica (IV-VII secolo) (Bari: Edipuglia, 2010), no. 85. De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 18098.

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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