The graves or loculi, as they are commonly designated
were in the Christian cemeteries with only a few exceptions parallel with the length of the
gallery. In the pagan
cemeteries on the other hand, the sepulchral recess as a rule
entered the rock like an oven at right angles to the
corridor, the body being introduced endways. The plan
adopted by the Christians saved labor, economized space, and
consulted reverence in the deposition of the corpse.
These
loculi were usually constructed for a single body only.
Some were formed to contain two, three, four or more
corpses. Such recesses were known respectively as bisomi,
trisomi, quadrisomi, terms which often appear in
the sepulchral inscriptions. After the introduction of
the body the loculi were closed with the greates care, either
with slabs of marble the whole length of the aperture, or with
huge tiles, three being generally employed, cemented together
with great exactness so as to prevent the escape of the
products of decomposition.
Where
any epitath was set up, an immense number are destitute of any
inscription at all, it is always painted or engraved on these
slabs or tiles. In the earlier epitaph
it is usually daubed on the slab in red or black paint. In later examples it is incised in the marbles, the letters being rendered clearer by being
colored with vermilion. The enclosing slab very often bears one or more Christian symbols, such as the
dove, the anchor, the olive
branch, or the monogram of Christ. The palm
branch, which is also of frequent occurrence, is not an indisputable mark of the last
resting place of a martyr, being found in connection with epitaphs of persons dying natural deaths, or those prepared by persons in their lifetime, as well as in those of little children, and even of pagans.
Another frequent concomitant of these catacomb interments, a small glass vessel containing traces of the sediment of a red fluid, embedded in the cement of the loculus has no better claim. The red matter proves to be the remains of wine, not of blood; and the conclusion of the ablest archaeologists is that
the vessels were placed where they are found, after the eucharistic celebration or agape on the day of the funeral or its anniversary, and contained remains of the consecrated elements as a kind of religious charm. Not a few of the slabs, it is
discovered have done double duty, bearing a pagan inscription on one side and a Christian one on the other. These are known as
opisthographs. The bodies were interred wrapped in linen
cloths, or swathed in bands, and were frequently preserved by embalming. In the case of poorer interments the destruction of the body was, on the contrary, often accelerated by the use of quicklime.
Interment in the
wall recess or loculus, though infinitely the most common, was not the only mode employed in the catacombs.
Other forms of very frequent recurrence are the
table tomb and arched tomb, or arcosolium. From the annexed woodcuts it will be seen that these only differ in the form of the surmounting recess. In each case the arched tomb was formed by an oblong chest, either hollowed out of the rock, or built of masonry, and closed with a horizontal slab.
But in the
table tomb the recess above, essential for the introduction of the corpse, is square, while in the arcosolium
a form of later date, it is semicircular. Sarcophagi are also found in the catacombs, but are
of rare occurrence. They chiefly occur in the earlier
cemeteries and the costliness of their construction confined their use to the wealthiest classes
(e.g. in the cemetery of St Domitilla, herself a member of the imperial house.) Another
infrequent mode of interment was in graves like those of modern times, dug in the floor of the galleries.
Table tombs and arcosolia are by no means rare in the corridors of the catacombs, but they belong more generally to the
cubicula or family vaults of which we now proceed to speak.
These cubicula are small
apartments seldom more than 12 ft. square, usually rectangular, though sometimes circular or
polygonal, opening out of the main corridors. They are not
infrequently ranged regularly along the sides of the galleries, the doors of
entrance following one another in as orderly succession as the bedchamber doors in the passage of a modern house. The roof is sometimes
flat, but is more usually vaulted, and sometimes rises into a cupola. Both the roof and the walls are almost universally coated with stucco and covered with fresco paintings;
in the earlier works merely decorative, in the later always symbolical or historical. Each side of the cubiculum, except that of the
entrance usually contains a recessed tomb, either a table tomb or an
arcosolium.
That facing the entrance was the place of greatest
honor, where in many instances the remains of a martyr were deposited, whose tomb, according to primitive
usage served as an altar for the celebration of the Eucharist. This was sometimes, as in the Papal crypt of
St. Cahxtus protected from irreverence by lattice work.
The cubiculum was originally designed for the reception of a very limited
number of dead. But the natural desire to be buried
near one’s relatives caused new tombs to be cut in the
walls, above and
around and behind the original tombs,
the walls being thus completely honeycombed with
loculi, sometimes as many as seventy, utterly regardless of the paintings originally depicted on the walls. Another motive for multiplying the number of graves operated when the cubiculum contained the remains of any noted saint or martyr. The Christian antiquary has cause continually to lament the destruction of works of art due to this craving.