I. The Word Catacomhs,— The derivation of the word is uncertain. Some find it in Kara, down, and rvfifio^, mtnmd, tomb; others in Koifjuuit, to go to deep; or, as Marchi (Motmm, p. 209), Lat cumbo, part of decumbo, I lie down ; others in Kara and Kufifiti, a holhw, canoe, 88 from the resemblance of a sarcopha^ou to a boat (Schneider, Lex. Gnec., s. v. icvfifSrf), The name cata- combs iha first applied to the underground burial- places in the sixth century ; before that date they were called crypts (Kpvirrai, secret places); cemeteries (cot/ti^ TtKua, sleeping-places).
II. Origin of the Caiaeombs. — It is likely that some, at least, of the catacombs were originally the sand-pits snd quarries from which building materials for use in ttie city had been taken. Aa the Romans burned their dead to ashes, they did not bury underground ; but it is believed that the bodies of slaves and of executed criminals were sometimes thrown into the old quarries. This view was formerly held by the chief Roman Catho- lic writers on the Catacombs, e. g. Bosio, Aringhi, and Boldetti ; but o^ late, since the publication of Padre Marchi's great work on the monuments of Rome, the writers of tiiat school object to this origin for cmg of the catacombs, and call it a Protestant calumny (e. g. Bergier, Diet, de Tkiologie, i, 874). But Protestants and Romanists are alike interested in getting at historical truth ; nor would either class be likely to stigmatize the early Christians, the common religious ancestry of all believers. The Jews in Rome and elsewhere re- ttdned the custom of burying tlieir dead instead of burn- ing tiiem ; and they probably began using catacombs in the vicinity of Rome before the time of Christ, or immediately after. In the 16th century Bosio discov- ered a Jewish catacomb outside of the ancient Porta Portuensis ; and in 1862 another was opened on the Via Appia, outside of the Porta Capena. Its form is like that of the Christian catacombs ; but, instead of the Christian S3nnbols, the seven-branched candlestick and other Jewish emblems are sculptured on the slabs that close the tombs. The Etruscans, centuries before, had made use of rock-tombs or* catacombs, as seen at Civita Csstellana, Falieri, and other Etruscan cities. There is nothing more likely or natural than that, in the first penecutbns, the Christians should have buried their dead m excavations previously made by Pagans ; that they should afterwards have enlarged these excava^ tioDs ; and, finally, that they should have made new ones as their necessities, in tiie liqMe of time, demand-
II.-K
ed. It is certain that in the catacombs at Naples there are found tiers of tombs, some of which are clearly Pa- gan, and have Pagan symbols and inscriptions, while others are as clearly Christian. The argument, on the other liand, for the theory that the early Christians themselves excavated all the catacombs, is well stated in liartigny, Diet, du Antiq. Chretienaes, p. 118 et seq. It certainly appears settled that many, if not mopt of the existing catacombs, were excavated by the Chris- tians of the first three centuries. Their dates can be approximately ascertained by several criteria :
1. The style of some of the fresco paintings on the walls belongs to the third century, or even to the latter half of the second, while it is to be presumed that the cryptg were excavated many years before the paintings were executed.
2. Some of the symbols which have been discovered belong to the earliest dates of the Christian history, and some of the coins bear the effigy of Domitian (t 96), and even of earlier emperors ; other inscrip- tions and paintings as clearly show later dates.
8. Inscriptions marked with consular dates. Among eleven thousand epitaphs in De Rossi's collection, about three hundred range fix>m A.D. 71 up to the middle of the 4th centuiy. For these and other reasons it is be- lieved that the origin of the oldest Christian catacombs coincides with the dates of the earliest persecutions, e. g. that of Nero. Martigny puts in % much more doubtful argument, drawn firom the burial<^>lace of St. Peter, which, as he says, became the veritable nucleus of the Vatican catacombs. It is probable that the cat- acombs, such as we now know them, were- all excava^ ted before the 5th century. In that and the following century no new catacombs were dug, but the old ones were repaired ; walla were built to support their roofs, and passages for light and air were opened to the sur- fitce of the ground.
III. Eariy Uses, — ^The Catacombs have served three distinct purposes :
1. As piaixs of buried, — ^These underground recepta*- cles consist of long galleries, with transverse corridors connecting them. These passages- are sometimes reg- ular for a considerable distance, but the multiplication of cross alleys and branches at last forms a labyrinth in which it is rash to venture without a guide. These galleries and corridors are of various lengths and heights, generally seven to eight feet high, and tiiree to five wide. The roof is supported by that part of the tufa which is left between the passages, and in these walls the tombs (loctdi) are excavated. In most cases the tomb is just large enough for a single corpse ; in some tombs, however, two or more skeletons have been