Ad99998 07 006a/eng
Die Katakomben oder unterirdischen Gräber von Rom
Beschreibungstext eng
Miscell. Subj. CXXXVII. Vol. VII. No. 4., THE CATACOMBS OR SUBTERRANEAN SEPULCHRES OF ROME., The Catacombs, or subterraneous sepulchres, at Rome and their environs are famous for their antiquity as also for their great number. They consist of innumerable passages and Chambers, turning and winding, like a labyrinth, in the solid pozzolano of a hardened and vulcanicearth. In the earliest times of Rome thèse passages took their rise from the pozzolano du g out for the construction of buildings. At the time of the roman Republick and of the Emperors thèse innumerable sandpits were employed in burying poor people and slaves, upon whose corpses they would not bêstaw the funeral expences- At the time of cliristianity the acts of burying in the Catacombs augmented; there were interred the Christians, who had fallen as Martyrs in the persécutions. Part of the Catacombs, extending to a great distance near Rome, are exhibited in Figr. with the tombs partly open partly locked up. The closed sepulchres, eut in the walls of the Catacombs, hâve the outward appearance of Fig. . 4. — Fig. . 2. 3. and 5. represent many of them, which were examined after having been opened. They found therein the remains of human bones more or less preserverî. By the initial letters of the word of Christ it appears they belonged to Christians. In the sepulchre (Fig. . 3) reposed a Martyr, as may be judged by the preserved palm twig and hatchet.
