HIC DAMASI MATER POSVIT LAVREN[TIA MEMBRA]

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 500 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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HIC DAMASI MATER POSVIT LAVREN[TIA MEMBRA] .
In the same year building operations in the Via di Sant' Onofrio revealed the presence of catacombs beneath the foundations: examination of the loculi showed that no martyrs or illustrious persons were buried here.
In 1903 a new cemetery with frescoes came to light on the Via

Latina

LATINA, VIA

, considered by Marucchi to have belonged to a heretical sect. In the same year the Jewish cemetery on the Via Pbrtuense, known to Bosio but since forgotten, was rediscovered. The subterranean basilica of SS.

Felix

and Adauctus, discovered by Boldetti and afterwards choked up with ruins, was cleared again: the crypt, begun by Damasus and enlarged by Siricius, contains frescoes of the 6th-7th centuries.
A good plan of the catacombs at Albano (at the 15th milestone of the Appian way), discovered by Boldetti and described by De Rossi, has been published by Marucchi (Nuovo Bulletino di archeologia cristiana, 1902, pp. 89 ff.). In 1904 a small subterranean cemetery was discovered at Anagnia. Catacombs have also been recently discovered on the site of Hadrumetum near Sousse in Tunisia. (014 W. R. B.; O. M. D.)
discoveries made by the active Commissione di archeologia sacra are chronicled with as little delay as possible in the Nuovo Bulletino de archeologia cristiana published in Rome.
The most

recent

RECENT

accounts of the catacombs are to be found in the following books: Armellini, Gli Antichi Cimiteri cristiani di Roma'e d' Italia (Rome, 1893); O. Marucchi, Le Catacombe romane (Rome, 1903; also translated into French), Manuale di epigrafia cristiana (Milan, 1904) ; M. Besnier, Les Catacombes de Rome (Paris, 1909).
Among the older works are: Bosio, Roma sotterranea, Severano's edition (1632), and Aringhi's edition (1651); Boldetti, Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri dei santi

martini

(Rome, 1720) ; Bottari, Sculture e pitture sagre, &c. (Rome, 17371754); Seroux d'Agincourt, Histoire de fart par les monuments (Paris, 1823 ; German ed., 184o) ; G. Marchi, Monumenti delle arti cristiane primitive (Rome, 1844) ; Raoul Rochette, Tableau des catacombes de Rome (2nd ed., Paris, 1853) ; Perret, Les Catacombes de Rome (Paris, 1855)a sumptuous folio work, but not always accurate, Roller, Les Catacombes de Rome (Paris, 1881); V. Schultze, Die Katakomben (

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1882).
Works written in English are: Northcote and Brownlow, Roma sotterranea (London, 1869; based upon De Rossi) ; Wharton Marriott, The Testimony of the Catacombs (London, 1870) ; J. H. Parker, The Archaeology of Rome: the Catacombs; Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, s.v. " Catacombs ; R. Lanciani,

Pagan

PAGAN
PAGAN (Lat. paganus, of or belonging to a pagus, a canton, county
district
- DISTRICT
,
village
- VILLAGE
, commune)

and Christian Rome (London, 1892) ; W. Lowry, Christian Art and Archaeology, ch. ii. (London, 19o1; auseful introduction to the subject) ; H. Gee, " The Church in the Catacombs," in W. Lefroy's Lectures in Ecclesiastical History (1896); Th. Mommsen, in the Contemporary Review, May 1871.
Accounts of the catacombs will also be found in the encyclopaedias and manuals published under the following names: Martigny, Perate, F. X. Kraus (Realencyklopadie and Geschichte der christlichen Kunst), Reusens, V. Schultze and C. M. Kauffmann, and in the large new Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et liturgie, published at Paris under the editorship of Dom F. Cabrol.
The catacombs at Naples are described in C. F. Bellermann, fiber die altesten christlichen Begrdbnisstatten and besonders die Katakomben zu Neapel (Hamburg, 1839) ; Armellini, as above, and V. Schultze, Die Katakomben von San Gennaro dei Poveri in Neapel (Jena, 1877).
For the catacombs in Malta, A. A. Caruana, Ancient

Pagan

PAGAN
PAGAN (Lat. paganus, of or belonging to a pagus, a canton, county
district
- DISTRICT
,
village
- VILLAGE
, commune)

Tombs and Christian Cemeteries in the Islands of Malta (Malta, 1898), and A. Mayr, " Die altchristlichen Begrabnisstatten auf Malta," in Romische Quartalschrift, vol. xv. pp. 216 and 352 (Rome, 1901), may be consulted.
The fullest account of the Sicilian catacombs is given by J. Ftihrer, Forschungen zur Sicilia sotterranea (Munich, 1897) ; and D. C. Barrecca, Le Catacombe di San Giovanni in Siracusa (Syracuse, 1906).
A

catacomb

CATACOMB

of the 5th century, discovered at Kertch in South Russia, is described by J. Kulakovsky in Materials for Russian Archaeology (St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

, 1896; a publication of the Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission), but it is written in Russian, as also is the account by V. Latyshev, in Vizantieski Vremennik, vol. Vi. pp. 337 if. (St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

, 1899).
The catacombs at Hadrumetum (Sousse) are described by A. F. Leynard, Les Catacombes d'Hadrumete, deuxieme campagne de fouilles (19041905). See also Revue Tunisienne (1905), p. 250.
For the catacombs of Alexandria, Neroutsos Bey, L'Ancienne Alexandrie, may be consulted in addition to De Rossi's article mentioned in the text. (O. M. D.)

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