Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/227

Rh 215 Beyond Rome and its suburbs the most remarkable Christian Catacombs are those in the vicinity of Naples, described by Pelliccia (De Christ. Eccl. Polit., vol. iv. Dissert. 5), and in a separate treatise by Bellerman. Plans of them are also given by Agincourt in his great work on Christian Art. These catacombs differ materi ally from those of Rome. They were certainly originally stone-quarries, and the hardness of the rock has made the construction practicable of wide, lofty corridors, and spacious halls, very unlike the narrow galleries Und con tracted chambers in the Roman cemeteries. The mode of interment, however, is the same as that practised in Rome, and the loculi and arcosolia differ but little in the two. The walls and ceilings are covered with fresco paintings of different dates, in some cases lying one over the other. This catacomb contains an unquestionable example of a church, divided into a nave and chancel, with a rude stone altar and bishop s seat behind it. At Syracuse also there are very extensive catacombs known as &quot; the Grottos of St John.&quot; They are also figured by Agincourt, and described by Denon ( Voyage en Sidle et Malte}. Denon considers them of pagan origin, and to have passed to the Christians. He speaks of an entire underground city with several stories of larger and smaller streets, squares, and cross ways, cut out of the rock; at the intersec tion of the crossways, are immense circular halls of a bottle shape, like a glass-house furnace, lighted by air shafts. The galleries are generally very narrow, furnished on each side with arched tombs, and communicating with family sepulchral-chambers closed originally by locked doors, the C FIG. 19. Plan of the Catacombs of St John, Syracuse. marks of the hinges and staples being still visible. The walls are in many places coated with stucco adorned with frescos, including palms, doves, labara, and other Christian symbols. A more complete ex amination of this interesting cemetery is much needed. The ground-plans (figs. 19, 20), from Agincourt, of the cata comb and of one of the circular halls, show how widely it dif fers in arrangement from the Roman Catacombs. The fre quency of blind passages and of circular chambers will be no ticed, as well as the very large number of bodies in the cruciform recesses, apparently amounting in one instance to nineteen. Agincourt remarks that this cemetery &quot; gives an idea of a work executed with design FIG. 20. Plan of Circular Hall, Catacombs of St John, Syra cuse. From Agincourt. and leisure, and with means very different from those at command in producing the Catacombs of Rome.&quot; Denon also describes catacombs at Malta near the ancient capital of the island. The passages were all cut in a close- grained stone, and are very narrow, with arched ceilings, running very irregularly, and ramifying in all directions. The greater part of the tombs stand on either side of the galleries in square recesses (like the table-tombs of the Roman Catacombs), and are rudely fashioned to imitate sarcophagi. The interments are not nearly so numerous aa in other catacombs, nor are there any vestiges of painting, sculpture, or inscriptions. At Taorrnina in Sicily is a Saracenic catacomb, also figured by Agincourt. The main corridor is 12 feet wide, having three or more ranges of loculi on either side, running longitudinally into the rock, each originally closed by a stone, bearing an inscription. Passing to Egypt, a small Christian cata comb has been recent ly discovered at Alex andria, and described and figured by De Rossi. 1 The loculi here also are set end ways to the passage. The walls are abun dantly decorated with paintings, one of a liturgical character. But the most exten sive catacombs at Alexandria are those of ./Egypto-Greek ori gin, from the largest of which, according to Strabo (lib. xvii. p. 795), the quarter where it is placed had the name of the Xe- FIG. 21. Plan of Catacomb at AJex- cropolis. The plan, it andria - From Agincourt. will be seen, is remarkable for its regularity (figs. 21, 22). Here, too, the graves run endways into the rock. Other catacombs in the vici nity of the same city are described by Pocock and other tra vellers, and are figured by Agincourt Subterranean cerne- j teries of the general character of those de scribed are very frequent in countries. A vast necropolis in the environs of Saida, the ancient Sidon, is described in Renan s Mission en Phenicie, and figured in Thobois s plates. It consists of a series of apartments approached by staircases, the sides pierced with sepulchral recesses running lengthwise into the rock. The rock-hewn tombs of Etruria scarcely come under the category of catacombs, in the usual sense, being rather independent family burial-places, grouped together in a necropolis. They are, however, far too remarkable to be altogether passed over. These sepulchres are usually hollowed out of the face of low cliffs on the side of a hill They sometimes rise tier above tier, and are sometimes all on the same level &quot; facing each other as in streets, and branching off laterally into smaller lanes or alleys;&quot; and occasionally forming &quot; a spacious square or piazza sur- 1 Bulletino di Archeologia Christiana, November 1864, August 1865. FIG. 22. Section of a G at Alexandria. in Catacomb From Agincourt. all Southern and Eastern