Catacomb

A subterranean cemetery of galleries or passages with side niches (loculi) for tombs. Catacombs consisted of galleries, burial niches, and chambers cut into the rock and the walls and ceilings decorated with pagan and Christian motifs. The term was first applied to the subterranean cemetery under the Basilica of San Sebastiano (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, though they are widely known elsewhere, especially around the Mediterranean. Their subterranean nature is explained by the need for security and secrecy on the part of the Christian religion that was banned in many places.

A name of obscure origin, perhaps first given to the extensive subterranean Christian cemetery in the vicinity of the church of San Sebastian on the Via Appia Antica, south of Rome, and then generally to a large number of similar complexes around Rome and elsewhere. Characteristically, a labyrinthine succession of narrow galleries and chambers are cut into the soft bedrock. Rows of horizontal slots (loculi) are provided in the walls for single or multiple burials, the niche being subsequently sealed. Walls and ceilings are decorated with a variety of pagan and Christian motifs. Catacombs are generally to be found in areas that were already in use as cemeteries, outside the city proper, and their subterranean nature is usually explained on the basis of the need for security and secrecy on the part of a religion that was at worst banned and at best tolerated. Certainly they appear to decline in use soon after the official recognition of the Church. Other parallels, for instance the multiple family nature of the burials, may perhaps be drawn with Jewish examples, Etruscan family/freedmen/slaves burials, and the ‘pigeon-hole’ approach of the Roman columbarium. ’