Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/102

 CATACOMBS from these extraordinary frescoes, and makes the reader so intimately acquainted with the daily life of an extinct people, that he seems actually to dwell among them. The cata- combs for the poor were limited in space, rude in construction, and unadorned. In conse- quence, the mummies were packed together as closely as they could be laid, tier on tier, leaving a narrow passage between the walls of bodies. For nearly the whole pe- riod of the Christian era have the Roman Catacombs of St. Thraso and St. Saturninus, Rome. catacombs attracted the interest of Chris- tians, more especially during the last few cen- turies. Connected as they were with the trials of the early martyrs of the church, their ex- ploration and history has ever proved one of the favorite branches of research. Many of them are of great antiquity, having been origi- nally quarries hewn long before the Rome of Romulus and Remus was founded, and so ex- tended in the course of time, that every one of the seven hills on which the city stood was perforated and honeycombed by passages, dark galleries, low corridors, and vaulted halls, where sunshine never enters. The light and soft na- ture of the material to be quarried greatly facil- itated the work, and allowed the workmen to shape their shafts and galleries as they pleased ; the excavations being made in the soft volca- nic tufa and pozzolano, another volcanic sub- stance even softer. As the extent and wealth of the city increased, new quarries were contin- ually opened, even miles from the banks of the Tiber, and continued to be sought through the reigns of the Caesars, until the empire began to decline, and old edifices were resorted to as materials for new ones. None of the ancient writers have left any account of the uses of these recesses when they were no longer quar- ried ; but Horace, speaking of the caverns under the Esquiline hill, says : " This was the com- mon sepulchre of the miserable plebeians." During the time of the persecutions of the Christians, commencing with that under Nero, and followed by those of Domitian, Trajan, Ha- drian, Seve^us, Maximinus, to what is called the 10th and laspersecution, which began in A. D. 303, under Diocletian, the catacombs were crowded with those for whom there was no safety in the face of day. It is conjectured that many of these sufferers were aided in ob- taining secure hiding places by the workmen in these caverns, who were well acquainted with their intricacies, and who became them- selves early converts to the new faith. Some modern writers, however, maintain that though the quarries were used to some extent as sep- ulchres, it is yet evident that the greater part of the catacombs were originally constructed as places of interment for the dead. They are found in every direction outside the walls of the city, to the number of about 60 in all. They are mostly within a circuit of 3 m. from the walls, the furthest, that of St. Alexander, being 6 m. distant. Each catacomb forms a network of passages or galleries, intersecting each other generally at right angles, but sometimes diverg- ing from a centre. These galleries are usually 8 ft. high by 3 or 5 ft. wide. The graves are in tiers on the sides, and when undisturbed are found closed with marble slabs or tiles, on which are often inscriptions or Christian em- blems. It is calculated that the entire length of the catacombs is not less than 580 m., and that they contain about 6,000,000 bodies. It was not until the year 1377, when the papal seat, which for nearly 70 years had been at Avignon, was restored to Rome, that the cata- combs appear to have attracted any serious attention from the government or the clergy. This was doubtless owing to the frightful state of society, which for some centuries after the ex- tinction of the Western empire rendered Rome little better than a robbers' stronghold, and finally forced the pontiff to flee from the Tiber and seek an asylum on the banks of the Rh6ne. At this period the catacombs, from having been the habitations of persecuted Christians, were thronged with outlaws and assassins; but as the papal authorities acquired strength, many of them were driven out and the en- trances to many of their retreats were closed. About 1535, under Pope Paul III., some few of the most remarkable of the crypts were ex- plored, cleared, and lighted by lamps. A deep interest in subterranean Rome having thus been awakened, Father Bosio, a humble priest, but an enthusiastic antiquary, spent more than 30 years of his life in digging and groping in the catacombs ; he cleared the way into some 1 of the innermost recesses, which had been blocked up for centuries, and made drawings of the ancient monuments, inscriptions, paint- ings, sculptures, lamps, vases, &c., found un- derground. He did not live to see his work published, as he died (1629) while writing tlie last chapter; but it appeared in 1632, edited by Father Severani, and under the title of Roma sotterranea. It was translated into Latin by Father Aringhi, and still forms the most important work on the Roman cata- combs. He was followed by Father Boldetti, who also spent more than 30 years in his sub- terranean research, and published in 1720 a folio volume, entitled "Observations on the