Sinossi
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854 Excerpt: ...&c. &c.; though some of these saints may be apocryphal, and if they ever lived and died, it is by no means certain that they were buried in the particular fields that bear their names. Let us here quote one inscription, taken from the Cemetery of Balbina, as it will illustrate several points of interest. We give it first in Latin, though in plainer letters than the original, and then in English. SABINI BISOMUM: SE VIVO FECIT SIBI IN CEttETEBIO BALBINffi, IN CBYFTA NOVA. "The bisomum of Sabinus. He made it for himself during his lifetime, in the Cemetery of Balbina, in the new crypt" The word bisomum means a place for two bodies. Usually one person only was buried in a cell or niche made in the sides of the chamber or passage-way. Occasionally the grave was made in the bottom of the passage. A larger excavation was made when two were buried together; and a larger still for three, in which case it was called a Trisomum. The principal passage-ways or subterranean chambers along whose sides these graves ire found, were usually eight or ten feet high and six or seven feet wide. Occasionally they underlie each other, like the stories of a building, and in some instances were three stories deep and connected by stair-ways. The niches in their sides, which were used as graves, were sometimes scattered along quite irregularly, and sometimes were carefully arranged in tiers or courses one above the other, as in the accompanying picture. "In the subjoined engraving, copied originally by Boldetti, we have a view of two graves, the first of which is closed by three pieces of terra-cotta, or burnt earth, while the latter is partially opened, so that the skeleton lying within can be seen. The palm-branch and cup have been rudely scratched upon the s...
Le informazioni nella sezione "Riassunto" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.
