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catacombs

catacombs

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | Copyright

catacombs , cemeteries of the early Christians and contemporary Jews, arranged in extensive subterranean vaults and galleries. Besides serving as places of burial, the catacombs were used as hiding places from persecution, as shrines to saints and martyrs, and for funeral feasts; it is doubtful that they were ever regularly used for religious services. Catacombs exist at Rome and also at Naples, Venosa, Chiusi, and Syracuse, Italy, and at Alexandria, Carthage, and Susah in N Africa as well as in Asia Minor and other areas. The cemeteries at Paris that were once thought to be catacombs are actually depleted stone quarries and were not used for burial until the late 18th cent.

Human burial in subterranean rock chambers is an ancient pre-Christian, pre-Roman custom in the Mediterranean. Although cremation was the rule among Greeks and Romans, there was no bar against burial for Christians or Jews, and the catacombs were not constructed in secrecy. Ordinances forbade interment within the city limits. All the Roman catacombs consequently are outside the city gates.

The Roman catacombs lie from 22 to 65 ft (6.7–19.8 m) beneath ground level in a space of more than 600 acres (243 hectares); much of this is in several levels. They date from the 1st cent. AD until the early 5th cent. Lining the walls of the narrow passages, generally 3 ft (91 cm) wide, are the recesses for the bodies. Some passages contained separate chambers or cubicula, usually about 12 ft (4 m) square but sometimes circular or polygonal, which were privately owned family vaults or contained the tomb of a martyr. In these the bodies were often placed in carved sarcophagi that stood within arched niches. In some catacombs rooms are arranged in groups; in the catacombs of Sant'Agnese such a group forms a miniature church. The spreading of the catacombs eventually produced burial places of labyrinthine character. The walls and ceilings of plaster were customarily painted with fresco decorations, and in these can be studied the beginnings of Christian art.

Even after official recognition of Christianity in 313, burials continued, through a desire for interment near the martyrs. The invasions of Goths, Vandals, Lombards, and Saracens brought about the plundering of the catacombs and the robbing of their graves for the bones of saints. Several popes worked at restoring these sacred places, but by the 8th cent. the bodies had been mainly transferred to churches; by the 10th cent. the catacombs, filled with debris, were forgotten.

In 1578 the catacombs were rediscovered. Exhaustive publications based on researches in the catacombs were produced by the archaeologist Battista de Rossi (1822–94). The catacombs discovered in the vicinity of Rome in 1956 and 1959 contain frescoes of notable historical interest. In the Roman liturgy the requirement that Mass be said in the presence of lighted candles and over martyrs' relics is in conscious reminiscence of the catacombs.

Bibliography: See W. H. Adams, Famous Caves and Catacombs (1886, repr. 1972); S. Benko and J. J. O'Rourke, ed., The Catacombs and the Colosseum (1971).

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"catacombs." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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catacombs

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | 2000 | | Copyright

catacombs. Burial-places consisting of labyrinths of underground galleries, often of two to five stories with connecting stairs. Within these, bodies were placed in floor-graves or in wall-niches (loculi), often holding more than one body, and closed by stone slabs or tiles. Though similar structures have been found in various locations, the most famous and extensive are near Rome. Like all Roman tombs, they enjoyed legal protection and had to be dug outside the walls of the city. Excavation probably began c.150–200. Some of the earliest catacombs seem to have been dug on private ground, but their ownership and management soon passed to the Church. Families probably held commemorative meals at the catacombs, and by the 4th cent. the Eucharist was often celebrated at the grave of a martyr on the supposed anniversary of his death; the areas surrounding the graves of martyrs were then enlarged and embellished. After the 4th cent. the catacombs gradually fell into disuse and were largely forgotten until the 16th cent.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-catacombs.html

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-catacombs.html

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Catacombs

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Catacombs (Gk., kata kumbas, ‘by the hollows’, an area south of Rome). In these long underground burial chambers (outside the city walls as burial was not permitted within) the bodies of the departed were placed in coffin-like recesses, in rows usually about four deep. Christian catacombs seem to be copied from Jewish ones. Six Jewish catacombs have been found in Rome. Cȧtacombs are found outside many cities, but the most famous and extensive—several hundred miles of them—are at Rome. Services commemorating martyrs buried there were held, and they became centres of pilgrimage as the cult of martyrs developed.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Catacombs.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Catacombs.html

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catacomb

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

catacomb an underground cemetery consisting of a subterranean gallery with recesses for tombs, as constructed by the ancient Romans. Recorded from Old English, the word comes from late Latin catumbas, the name of the subterranean cemetery under the Basilica of St Sebastian on the Appian Way near Rome, in or near which the relics of the apostles Peter and Paul were said to have been placed in the 3rd century.

The term catacombs was subsequently given to other subterranean cemeteries in Rome (rediscovered in the late 16th century), especially as traditional places of refuge for early Christians in times of persecution.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "catacomb." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "catacomb." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-catacomb.html

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "catacomb." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-catacomb.html

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catacomb

A Dictionary of World History | 2000 | Copyright

catacomb An underground burial gallery, especially in early Christian Rome. Catacombs were named after the best known example, St Sebastian in the Hollow (ad Catacumbas). Forty such subterranean chambers are known in Rome, tunnelled through soft rock outside the ancient city boundaries. The anniversaries of martyrs were celebrated at the graves. Looted by barbarians and subject to collapse, they were virtually forgotten until their accidental rediscovery in the 16th century. Similar ones are also found as far apart as Salzburg and Malta.
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catacombs

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

catacombs subterranean cemeteries in Rome, and hence gen. XVII. — F. catacombes — late L. catacumbas, specific name from c. 400 of the cemetery of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way; the word seems to be orig. invariable, but later was treated as acc. pl., from which a sing. catacumba was formed, whence the occas. use of the sg. in modern langs.; the ult. orig. is unkn.
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T. F. HOAD. "catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "catacombs." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-catacombs.html

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catacomb

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

cat·a·comb / ˈkatəˌkōm/ • n. (usu. catacombs) an underground cemetery consisting of a subterranean gallery with recesses for tombs, as constructed by the ancient Romans. ∎  an underground construction resembling or compared to such a cemetery.

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catacomb

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

catacomb •abloom, assume, backroom, bloom, Blum, boom, broom, brume, combe, consume, doom, entomb, exhume, flume, foredoom, fume, gloom, groom, Hume, illume, inhume, Khartoum, khoum, loom, neume, perfume, plume, presume, resume, rheum, room, spume, subsume, tomb, vroom, whom, womb, zoom •catacomb • heirloom • broadloom •taproom • guardroom • staffroom •darkroom • classroom • bathroom •bedroom, headroom •legroom • restroom •dayroom, playroom •saleroom • stateroom • salesroom •tearoom • green room • sickroom •anteroom • bridegroom • stockroom •strongroom • box room • washroom •storeroom • boardroom • ballroom •courtroom • houseroom • showroom •cloakroom • elbow room •poolroom, schoolroom •newsroom •gunroom, sunroom •mushroom • common room •workroom • hecatomb • vacuum •legume • volume • costume •Leverhulme

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