Catacombs of Rome

One of the tours I am very excited about is the Catacomb & Crypt tour we are signed up for in Rome. This was one area I did not get to see in 2005 and I find it totally fascinating! I know I probably gave you too much information here, (sorry about that) but it was very interesting. Follow the link at the end if you want more information. Ciao for now!

The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, or underground burial places under or near Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, they include pagan and Jewish burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together. They began in the 2nd century, as much as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land as they were to satisfy the need for persecuted Christians to bury their dead secretly. The soft volcanic tufo rock under Rome is highly suitable for tunneling, as it is softer when first exposed to air, hardening afterwards. Many have kilometers of tunnels, in up to four stories (or layers).

The Catholic catacombs are extremely important for the

art history of early Christian art, as they contain the great majority of examples from before about 400 CE, in fresco and sculpture. The Jewish catacombs are similarly important for the study of Jewish art at this period.

The catacombs are made up of underground tunnels in the form of a labyrinth. They can reach the total number of many miles. In the tufaceous walls of this intricate system of galleries were cut out rows of rectangular niches, called "loculi", of various dimensions, which could contain only one body, but not infrequently the remains of more than one person. The burials of the early Christians were extremely poor and simple. The corpses, in imitation of Christ, were wrapped in a sheet or shroud and placed in the loculi without any kind of coffin. The loculi were closed with a slab of marble or, in most cases, by tiles fixed by mortar. On the tombstone the name of the deceased was sometimes engraved, along with a Christian symbol or a wish that the person might find peace in heaven. Oil lamps and small vases containing perfumes would often be placed beside the tombs.
The structure of the tombs, arranged in rows superimposed one upon another at different levels, gave one the idea of a vast dormitory, called cemetery, a term coming from Greek and meaning "resting place". In this way the Christians wanted to affirm their faith in the resurrection of the bodies.

The ancient Christians did not use the term "catacomb". This is a word of Greek origin, meaning "near the hollow". The Romans applied it to a locality on the Appian Way, where there were caves for the removal of tuff blocks. Nearby were dug the catacombs of Saint Sebastian. In the ninth century the term was extended to all cemeteries, with the specific sense of underground cemetery.

http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/intro.html