THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
The arcosolia show considerable artistic feeling, and where the vaulted roof occurs it resembles not a little the vaulting of the apse in early churches, like which, again, it is often painted. In these catacombs several chambers are sometimes united to form a larger whole, evidently serving for more than one family, and in one case it is possible to conclude with certainty that it was a common burial-place for the Christian community. In this particular alone the Christians of Cyrenaica developed beyond their predecessors, whom they followed only in the variety of shapes used for the graves. b. The "Western Group: Even if the assumption frequently made that there were no subterranean cemeteries in North Africa is abandoned, it is true, at least, that they have but little significance compared with the large number in the open air or in and near buildings above ground. There seem really to be but two subterranean burial-places to consider. One at Tipasa has ten adjoining chambers dug out of the rock of the foot-
1. North hills. The chamber, trapezoid in Africa, form, approximately ten feet by
nine, has an arcosolium on each of three sides and three graves dug in the floor, apparently covered with flat slabs. Gavault, its discoverer, compares it with some chambers in the Roman catacombs, but it is more analogous to the Oriental and Sicilian. The other cemetery, discovered in 1885, is at Arch-Zara. The accessible portion is elliptical in shape, terminating in a sort of apse. Four parallel passages, the longest about eighty-eight yards, crossed by others at right angles, are found in it. In the walls of these galleries are placed loculi, closed by slabs of brick. It is quite possible that the place extends further in, or even that there is a second level below the one which has been excavated.
The cemeteries of Sicily surpass in number those of any other province of the Roman Empire, and show more varied forms than even Rome itself can offer. Each of the races which successively ruled the island brought its own customs with it, while none was strong enough to enforce them to the exclusion of the old. In dealing with the problem of sepulture, Christianity had a number of methods,
both aboriginal and mixed, to choose
2. Sicily, from, and needed only to adopt or
adapt. Nor was it limited to Sicilian types; the many ties which connected the island, even in Christian times, with Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, and Rome rendered it possible for still other architectural types to find an entrance. The geological formation of the island favored the excavation of subterranean burialplaces. Limestone and tufa abound, the latter usually of firmer substance than the tufa granular e of the neighborhood of Rome.
The first stage in the development is formed by the family vaults, of which the simplest show a square, oblong, or trapezoid form with graves in the walls, usually of the arcosolium or loculus type. Next, the small vault developed into a hall, from which recesses ran off on each side, usually shaped like a bell or a flower-pot, though sometimes square, with an opening at the top for light and air. Struc-
tures based upon older cisterns are confined to the vicinity of Girgenti, and tombs with a baldachin covering, to eastern Sicily and Malta. Some of these stand free from the walls with the covering supported by pillars on all sides, like the ciborium of an altar; others are supported from one side on pillars, and from the other connect with the wall. In the eastern part are some with decorative facades in front either of a single grave or of a group, furnished with doors and windows.
The main differences in structure depend upon the size of the cemetery. The galleries of the larger catacombs were laid out with one or more main alleys and a number of smaller ones running across or parallel to them. The passages are as a rule comparatively wide, much wider than in Rome. Occupying an intermediate position between passages and chambers are the recesses, as wide as or wider than the corridors, but shorter. These are met with frequently in Sicily, and often contain (besides other types of graves) sarcophagi, sometimes arranged in terraces. Where chambers occur in the large catacombs, they are connected with the galleries, and are in shape square, oblong, trapezoid, or circular, the last being especially preferred in the principal catacombs of Syracuse. The rectangular ones have either a flat or a vaulted roof, the circular are often covered with a cupola, with an opening in the top for light and air. Where the size was sufficiently great to admit the possibility of a fall of the roof, this was guarded against by the construction of pillars out of the solid rock or by the erection of columns. The corridors and chambers are sometimes all on one level, sometimes in different stories.
The variety of grave-forms is even greater than that of the general structure. In most places the commonest type is the arcosolium, sometimes double, one above another. Single graves are found relatively seldom; usually several occur in a row (up to fifteen or even more) under the same vaulted roof. In Sicily loculi are much less common than arcosolia, and where they are numerous certain corridors contain them almost exclusively for children. The " table-tomb " and the grave at right angles with the wall are rare. Sarcophagi, on the other hand, were common, either cut out of the natural stone, built up with masonwork, or made of better material, such as marble; and so were graves sunk in the floor of chambers, recesses, and galleries, to the extent of forming a characteristic of the Sicilian cemeteries. The most important of all the Sicilian catacombs was that of San Giovanni near Syracuse, which in extent and skilful laying out surpasses even the Roman.
In Malta most of the ancient cemeteries lie near the capital, in the neighborhood of Carthaginian burial-places. Where the sides of rocky cliffs were accessible, the excavations were horizontal, vertical in the flat country. Some of these have nothing but galleries, others nothing but chambers. As a rule, the galleries are few and short, their height that of a man. Among the grave-forms is one which so far has not been found outside of Malta, known for convenience as the " oven-grave." This is an opening in the wall at a greater or less