catacomb
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What is a catacomb?
A catacomb is an underground burial chamber. The practice of using rock chambers as underground cemeteries dates back to ancient times and can be found throughout the Mediterranean, including Malta, Sicily, Egypt, and Italy.
The early Christians in the Roman Empire used catacombs not only for burials, but also as places to celebrate funeral feasts and the Eucharist. Larger catacombs even served as shrines for saints and martyrs. Catacombs also served as hiding places during times of persecution.
The Christian catacombs of Rome are the most extensive of all known catacombs. After the decline of the Roman Empire, these cemeteries were forgotten and were not rediscovered until 1578.
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Why were catacombs built underground?
Catacombs were built underground due to Roman legal restrictions against burials within city walls, a practice adopted from Jewish customs in Roman territories. Christians, who believed in bodily resurrection, avoided cremation, leading to a scarcity of aboveground cemetery space and high costs. The solution was to create extensive networks of underground galleries with thousands of narrow graves carved into the walls. Contrary to popular belief, catacombs were not secret meeting places during persecutions, as the conditions and the presence of decaying bodies would have made this impossible. These underground cemeteries were used until 410 AD and rediscovered in 1578 after being forgotten.
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Who used catacombs for burials?
Catacombs, subterranean cemeteries consisting of galleries, rooms, and interconnecting stairways, have been used by various cultures throughout history. In the Roman Empire, early Christians and Jews were often buried in catacombs. These cemeteries were located outside Rome's walls because Roman law prohibited burials within the city. The belief in physical resurrection among Christians led to the excavation of vast networks of underground burial spaces. Graves of martyrs became focal points for burials. Besides burials, catacombs served other functions for early Christians, such as locations for funeral feasts and the celebration of the Eucharist. They also acted as shrines for devotions to saints and martyrs.
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What are some famous catacombs in the world?
The catacombs of Rome are the most extensive of all known catacombs. About forty Christian catacombs have been found near the roads that once led into Rome. After the decline of the Roman empire these cemeteries were forgotten, not to be rediscovered until 1578. The catacombs of Paris are abandoned stone quarries that were not used for burials until 1787. The catacombs built by a monastery in Palermo, Sicily, later began accepting bodies from outside the monastery; today you may wander through looking at hundreds of mummified corpses propped against the catacomb walls, dressed in tattered clothes that were once fashionable.
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How were catacombs made and organized?
Early Christians in Rome, who inherited underground burial spaces in the 2nd century, created catacombs to resolve the problem of scarce and expensive aboveground cemeteries. They believed in bodily resurrection and could not be cremated, as was the Roman custom.
To create these subterranean cemeteries, a vast network of galleries, rooms, and interconnecting stairways were excavated. Thousands of narrow graves were carved into the walls, resulting in corridors that stretched for hundreds of miles. The graves of martyrs became focal points for burials.
These catacombs served various functions, including funeral feasts and Eucharistic celebrations. During times of persecution and civil unrest, their intricate layouts and secret passages to sand quarries and open country provided hiding places.
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What role did catacombs play in history and culture?
Catacombs, ancient subterranean cemeteries, have historical and cultural significance across the Mediterranean, including Malta, Sicily, Egypt, Lebanon, and Italy. In early Christian communities within the Roman Empire, catacombs served multiple purposes beyond burial sites. They were used for funeral feasts, anniversary celebrations, and the Eucharist.
Larger catacomb halls and connecting chapels functioned as shrines for saints and martyrs. The catacombs also served as hiding places during persecutions and civil unrest because of their layout and secret passages. The Kom el-Shoqafa catacombs in Alexandria, Egypt, feature a blend of ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman motifs.
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catacomb, subterranean cemetery composed of galleries or passages with side recesses for tombs. The term, of unknown origin, seems to have been applied first to the subterranean cemetery under the Basilica of San Sebastiano (located on the Appian Way near Rome), which was reputed to have been the temporary resting place of the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul in the last half of the 3rd century. By extension, the word came to refer to all the subterranean cemeteries around Rome.
Uses
In the early Christian communities of the Roman Empire, catacombs served a variety of functions in addition to burial. Funeral feasts were celebrated in family vaults on the day of burial and on anniversaries. The Eucharist, which accompanied funerals in the early Christian church, was celebrated there. In some catacombs, larger halls and connected suites of chapels were, in effect, shrines for devotions to saints and martyrs. A famous example is the Triclia in the catacomb of St. Sebastian, to which countless pilgrims came to partake of memorial meals (refrigeria) in honour of Saints Peter and Paul and to scratch prayers to them on the walls.
The catacombs also, because of their intricate layout and access by secret passages to sand quarries and open country, could be used as hiding places during times of persecution and civil commotion. Pope Sixtus II and four deacons, for example, are said to have been captured and killed in the catacomb of St. Sebastian during Valerian’s persecution (ad 258); later, Christians took refuge there during the barbarian invasions.
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There seems no truth in the widespread belief that early Christians used the catacombs as secret meeting places for worship. By the 3rd century ad there were more than 50,000 Christians in Rome, and 50,000 persons could hardly go out to the catacombs every Sunday morning in secret. Furthermore, worship of any kind would seem out of the question in the long, narrow corridors of the catacombs, and even the largest of the tomb chambers, such as the Chapel of the Popes in the catacomb of St. Calixtus, hardly holds 40 persons. Finally, Christians and pagans alike regarded death as unclean, so that, while memorial meals or masses for the dead might be celebrated in the tombs on appropriate occasions, regular public worship in such a place would be unlikely.
Locations
Catacombs were by no means a Christian or an exclusively Roman invention. The custom of burying the dead in underground rock chambers goes far back into antiquity. Catacombs are found all over the Mediterranean world: in Malta, near the ancient capital of the island; in Sicily, near Taormina, Syracuse, and elsewhere; in Egypt, near Alexandria and Cairo; in Lebanon, near Sidon (now Ṣaydā); and at many places in Italy, especially around Naples and in ancient Etruria.
The early Christian catacombs of Rome are located in a rough circle about three miles from the centre of the city. About 40 chambers are known, and most are found near the main roads leading into the city. They are the most extensive of all known catacombs, and portions are open to visitors.