Editing Catacombs (section)

==Etymology and history==
The first place to be referred to as ''catacombs'' was the system of underground tombs between the 2nd and 3rd milestones of the [[Appian Way]] in [[Rome]], where the bodies of the apostles [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]], among others, were said to have been buried. The name of that place in [[Latin|Late Latin]] was ''catacumbas'' (feminine nominative plural; the singular is ''catacumba'') — a word of obscure origin, possibly deriving from a proper name or a derivation of the Greek phrase ''cata cumbas'', "below the quarries". The word referred originally only to the [[Catacombs of Rome|Roman catacombs]], but was extended by the 19th century to refer to any subterranean receptacle of the dead, as in the 18th-century [[Catacombs of Paris|Paris catacombs]].<ref>"[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Catacombs&searchmode=none Catacombs]", [[Online Etymology Dictionary]], accessed 10 July 2010.</ref> The ancient Christians carved the first catacombs from soft [[tufa]] rock.<ref>World Book Encyclopedia, page 296</ref>

All Roman catacombs were located outside city walls since it was illegal to bury a dead body within the city,<ref>{{cite book|last=Hurst |first= John Fletcher |title=History of the Christian Church|volume=1|year=1897|publisher=Eaton and Mains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-lCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR18 }}</ref> providing "a place…where [[Christian martyrs|martyrs]]' tombs could be openly marked" and commemorative services and feasts held safely on sacred days.<ref>{{cite book|last=Webb|first=Matilda|title=The Churches of riles often used these ctacombs, And Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: a Comprehensive Guide|page=xiv, xi–xii|year=2001|publisher=[[Sussex Academic Press]]|isbn=9781902210575|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESRnSBbNRGAC}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>