Category:Catacombs (subject)

BACK TO THE TOPICS--INDEX

Catacombs

Archaeology -- Archaeologists -- Burial Practices -- Christian Archaeology -- Early Christian Studies

Overview

The Catacombs in Scholarship

Some inscriptions found in the Roman catacombs shows that the first modern scholars to visit them were Pomponio Leto and members of his Accademia Romana at the end of the 15th century. They however were interested in Roman not Christian antiquities; see Antiquitates Urbis (1527 Fulvio), book.

The work of the Accademia Romana inspired the Augustinian Onofrio Panvinio to write the first treatise on Christian Catacombs, based on ancient literary sources; see De ritu sepeliendi mortuos apud veteres Christianos et eorundem coemeteriis (1568 Panvinio), book. It was not until 1578, however, that the Christian catacombs of Rome were "rediscovered" and their archaeological exploration first carried out.