Editing Catacombs of Rome (section)

==List of catacombs in Rome==
The Roman catacombs, of which there are forty in the suburbs or former suburbs, were built along the consular roads out of Rome, such as the [[Via Appia]], the [[Via Ostiensis]], the [[Via Labicana]], the [[Via Tiburtina]] and the [[Via Nomentana]]. With the exception of the Via Ostiensis (Italian: ''Via Ostiense''), these ancient Latin terms are also the current Italian names for these roads. 

===Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter===
{{Main|Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter}}
These catacombs are situated on the ancient [[Via Labicana]], today [[Via Casilina]] in [[Rome]], [[Italy]], near the church of [[Santi Marcellino e Pietro ad Duas Lauros]]. Their name refers to the [[Christianity|Christian]] martyrs [[Marcellinus and Peter]] who, according to tradition, were buried here, near the body of [[St. Tiburtius]].

===Catacombs of Domitilla===
{{main|Catacombs of Domitilla}}
[[File:Rom, Domitilla-Katakomben 2.jpg|thumb|Catacombs of Domitilla]]
Close to the Catacombs of San Callisto are the large and impressive Catacombs of Domitilla<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catacombs of St. Domitilla - SOVERDI |url=http://www.domitilla.info/ |website=domitilla.info}}</ref> (named after [[Flavia Domitilla (saint)|Saint Domitilla]]), spread over {{convert|17|km|0|abbr=off}} of caves.

In the beginning of 2009,<ref>{{cite web |title=New mission in Rome |url=http://www.svdcuria.org/public/infonews/curia/20nn/200n/0901cd.htm |website=Catacombs of Domitilla }}</ref> at the request of the Vatican, the [[Divine Word Missionaries]], a Roman Catholic Society of priests and Brothers, assumed responsibility as an administrator of St. Domitilla Catacombs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SVD Curia :: Society of the Divine Word - Gesellschaft des Göttlichen Wortes - Congregación del Verbo Divino |url=http://www.svdcuria.org/ |website=svdcuria.org}}</ref>

===Catacombs of Commodilla===
[[File:Christ with beard.jpg|thumb|Bearded Christ, from catacombs of Commodilla]]
{{Main|Catacombs of Commodilla}}
These catacombs, on the [[Via Ostiensis]], contain one of the earliest images of a bearded Christ. They originally held the relics of Saints [[Felix and Adauctus]]. Excavations on the Commodilla were conducted by Franciscan archaeologist [[Bellarmino Bagatti]] (1933–34).

===Catacombs of Generosa===
{{Main|Catacombs of Generosa}}
Located on the Campana Road, these catacombs are said to have been the resting place, perhaps temporarily, of [[Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix]], [[Christian martyrs|Christian Martyrs]] who died in [[Rome]] during the [[Diocletian]] persecution (302 or 303).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Comitato Catacombe di Generosa |url=http://www.comitatocatacombedigenerosa.it/public/post/the-generosa-catacombs-44.asp |website=comitatocatacombedigenerosa.it}}</ref>

===Catacombs of Praetextatus===
These are found along the [[Via Appia]] and were built at the end of the 2nd century. They consist of a vast underground burial area, at first in pagan then in Christian use, housing various tombs of [[Christian martyrs]]. In the oldest parts of the complex may be found the "[[cubiculum]] of the coronation", with a rare depiction for that period of Christ being crowned with thorns, and a 4th-century painting of [[Susanna (Book of Daniel)|Susanna]] and the old men in the allegorical guise of a lamb and wolves.

===Catacombs of Priscilla===
{{Main|Catacomb of Priscilla}}
The Catacomb of Priscilla, situated at the [[Via Salaria]] across from the [[Villa Ada]], probably derives its name from the name of the landowner on whose land they were built. They are looked after by the Benedictine nuns of Priscilla.<ref name="worldhistory"/>

===Catacombs of San Callisto===
{{Main|Catacomb of Callixtus}}
[[File:Rom, Calixtus-Katakomben, Krypta der Päpste.jpg|thumb|The Crypt of the Popes, [[Catacomb of Callixtus]]]]
[[File:Baptism - Saint Calixte.jpg|thumb|A fresco of a baptism from the Catacombs of San Callisto]]
Sited along the Appian way, these catacombs were built after 150 AD, with some private Christian [[hypogeum|hypogea]] and a funereal area directly dependent on the [[Catholic Church]]. It takes its name from the deacon [[Saint Callixtus]], appointed by [[Pope Zephyrinus]] to administer this cemetery. On Callixtus' accession as pope, he enlarged the complex, that quite soon became the official one for the Roman Church. The arcades, where more than fifty martyrs and sixteen popes were buried, form part of a cemetery complex that occupies fifteen hectares. The Catacombs of San Callisto are around 90 acres large, 12 miles long and contain four levels, extending to a depth of more than 20 meters underground. Because of the large number of popes buried inside the catacombs, it has on occasion been called the "Little Vatican".

===Catacombs of San Lorenzo===
Built into the hill beside [[San Lorenzo fuori le Mura]], these catacombs are said to have been the final resting place of [[St. Lawrence]]. The church was built by [[Pope Sixtus III]] and later remodeled into the present nave. Sixtus also redecorated the shrine in the catacomb and was buried there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Lorenzo fuori le Mura - Rome, Italy |url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-lorenzo |website=sacred-destinations.com}}</ref>

===Catacombs of San Pancrazio===
{{Main|San Pancrazio}}
Established underneath the San Pacrazio basilica which was built by [[Pope Symmachus]] on the place where the body of the young martyr [[Pancras of Rome|Saint Pancras]], or Pancratius, had been buried. In the 17th century, it was given to the [[Discalced Carmelites]], who completely remodeled it. The catacombs house fragments of sculpture and pagan and early Christian inscriptions.

===Catacombs of San Sebastiano===
{{main|Catacombs of San Sebastiano}}
[[File:Catacombe di San Sebastiano - panoramio (3).jpg|thumb|[[Catacombs of San Sebastiano]]]]
One of the smallest Christian cemeteries, this has always been one of the most accessible catacombs and is thus one of the least preserved (of the four original floors, the first is almost completely gone). On the left-hand end of the right-hand wall of the nave of the primitive basilica, rebuilt in 1933 on ancient remains, arches to end the middle of the nave of the actual church, built in the 13th century, are visible, along with the outside of the apse of the Chapel of the Relics; whole and fragmentary collected sarcophagi (mostly of 4th-century date) were found in excavations. This is where the martyrs Sebastian and Eutychius were buried.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Catacombe San Sebastiano |url=http://www.catacombe.org/uk_index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723014642/http://www.catacombe.org/uk_index.html |archive-date=2012-07-23 |access-date=2021-10-31 |website=catacombe.org}}</ref>
[[File:Roma interno delle Catacombe di San Sebastiano.jpg|alt=Interior picture of the catacomb of Saint Sebastian from 1894.|thumb|Interior picture of the catacomb of Saint Sebastian from 1894]]
Via a staircase down, one finds the arcades where varied cubicula (including the cubiculum of Giona's fine four stage cycle of paintings, dating to the end of the 4th century). One then arrives at the restored crypt of S. Sebastiano, with a table altar on the site of the ancient one (some remains of the original's base still survive) and a bust of [[Saint Sebastian]] attributed to [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Bernini]]. From here one reaches a platform, under which is a sandstone cavity ad catacumbas which once may have been named "ad catacumbas", thus giving this and all other tombs of this type their name.<ref name=":1"/> Three mausolea of the second half of the 2nd century (but also in later use) open off the platform. The first one on the right, decorated on the outside with paintings of funereal banquets and the miracle of the calling out of Cerasa's demons, on the inside contains paintings (including a ceiling painting of a Gorgon's head) and inhumation burials and has a surviving inscription reading "Marcus Clodius Hermes", the name of its owner. The second, called by some "tomb of the Innocentiores" (a burial club which owned it), has a refined stucco ceiling, Latin inscriptions in Greek characters, and a graffito with the initials of the Greek words for "[[Ichthys|Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour]]". On the left is the mausoleum of Ascia, with an exterior wall painting of vine shoots rising from [[Kantharos|kantharoi]] up [[trompe-l'œil]] pillars.

A room called the "Triglia" rises from the platform, roughly in the middle of the basilica and cut into from above by the present basilica. This covered room was used for funereal banquets; the plastered walls have hundreds of graffiti by the devotees at these banquets, carved in the second half of the 3rd to the beginnings of the 4th century, with appeals to the apostle's Peter and Paul. From the "Trigilia" one passed into an ancient ambulatory, which turns around into an apse: here is a collection of epitaphs and a model of all the mausolei, of the "Triglia" and of the [[Constantine the Great|Constantinian]] basilica. From here one descends into the "Platonica", construction at the rear of the basilica that was long believed to have been the temporary [[resting place]] for Peter and Paul, but was in fact (as proved by excavation) a tomb for the martyr [[Quirinus of Sescia|Quirinus]], bishop of Sescia in [[Pannonia]], whose remains were brought here in the 5th century. To the right of the "Platonica" is the chapel of [[Honorius III]], adapted as the vestibule of the mausoleum, with interesting 13th-century paintings of Peter and Paul, the Crucifixion, saints, the [[Massacre of the Innocents]], [[Madonna (art)|Madonna and Child]], and other subjects. On the left is an apsidal mausoleum with an altar built against the apse: on the left wall, a surviving graffito reading "domus Petri" either hints at Peter having been buried here or testifies to the belief at the time the graffito was written that Peter was buried here.

===Catacombs of San Valentino===
{{Main|Catacombs of San Valentino}}
The catacombs of San Valentino were dedicated to [[Saint Valentine]]. In the 13th century, the martyr's relics were transferred to [[Basilica of Saint Praxedes]].

===Catacombs of Sant'Agnese===
{{Main|Catacombs of Saint Agnes}}

Built for the conservation and veneration of the remains of [[Saint Agnes of Rome]]. Agnes' bones are now conserved in the church of [[Sant'Agnese fuori le mura]] in Rome, built over the [[catacomb]]. Her skull is preserved in a side chapel in the church of [[Sant'Agnese in Agone]] in Rome's [[Piazza Navona]].

===Catacombs of via Anapo===
On the [[via Salaria]], the Catacombs of via Anapo are datable to the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century and contain diverse frescoes of biblical subjects.

===Jewish catacombs===
There are six known Jewish catacombs in Rome, two of which are open to the public: [[Vigna Randanini]] and [[Villa Torlonia (Rome)|Villa Torlonia]].

The Jewish catacombs were discovered in 1918, and [[archaeological]] excavations continued for twelve years. The structure has two entrances, one on [[via Syracuse]] and the other inside [[Villa Torlonia (Rome)|Villa Torlonia]]. The catacombs extend for more than {{convert|13000|m2}}, and date back to the period between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and possibly remained in use until the 5th century. There are almost a century of epitaphs, but these do not show any examples of a particular belief, beyond some rare frescoes showing the classic Jewish religious symbols. Jewish Catacombs are distinguished from their Christian counterparts by various signs as well as the fact that Jewish people did not visit the dead in the Catacombs. Parts of the Old Testament and the symbol of a [[Temple menorah|candlestick with seven branches]] have been spotted on the walls of Jewish Catacombs.<ref name="Robertson1933"/>

Due to high levels of humidity and temperature, bone preservation has been negatively affected in the catacombs. Scientists are unable to identify the sex of the dead due to the lack of preservation in the bones.<ref name="Rutgers et al 2009"/>

The other catacombs are not open to the public because of the instability of their structure and the presence of [[radon]].