BY RODOLFO LANCIANI AUTHOR OF "ANCIENT ROME IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT DISCOVERIES" PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1893 Copyright, 1892, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. All rights reserved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton & Co....

The early adoption of Christianity not confined to the poorer classes.—Instances of Roman nobles who were Christians.—The family of the Acilii Glabriones.—Manius Acilius the consul.—Put to death because of his religion.—Description of his tomb, recently discovered.—Other Christian patricians.—How was it possible for men in public office to serve both Christ and Cæsar?—The usual liberality of the emperors towards the new religion.—Nevertheless an open profession of faith hazardous and frequently

Ancient temples as galleries of art.—The adornment of statues with jewelry, etc.—Offerings and sacrifices by individuals.—Stores of ex-votos found in the favissæ or vaults of temples.—Instances of these brought to light within recent years.—Remarkable wealth of one at Veii.—The altars of ancient Rome.—The ara maxima Herculis .—The Roma Quadrata .—The altar of Aius Locutius.—That of Dis and Proserpina.—Its connection with the Sæcular Games.—The discovery of the inscription describing these, in 18

The large number of churches in Rome.—The six classes of the earliest of these.—I. Private oratories.—The houses of Pudens and Prisca.—The evolution of the church from the private house.—II. Scholæ.—The memorial services and banquets of the pagans.—Two extant specimens of early Christian scholæ.—That in the Cemetery of Callixtus.—III. Oratories and churches built over the tombs of martyrs and confessors.—How they came to be built.—These the originals of the greatest sanctuaries of modern Rome.—S

The death and burial of Augustus.—His will.—The Monumentum Ancyranum.—Description and history of his mausoleum.—Its connection with the Colonnas and Cola di Rienzo.—Other members of the imperial family who were buried in it.—The story of the flight and death of Nero.—His place of burial.—Ecloge, his nurse.—The tomb of the Flavian emperors, Templum Flaviæ Gentis.—Its situation and surroundings.—The death of Domitian.—The mausolea of the Christian emperors.—The tomb and sarcophagus of Helena, moth

Portraits of the early Popes.—Those of SS. Peter and Paul.—The tombs of the Popes.—Their interest for the student.—The tomb of Cornelius Martyr.—Inscriptions and other monuments found in his crypt.—The two Cornelii, pagan and Christian.—The pontifical crypt in the Cemetery of Callixtus.—The tomb of Gregory the Great.—S. Peter's as a burial-place for the Popes.—Gregory's several resting-places.—The stress of Rome in his time.—The legend of the angel.—Gregory's good works.—His house.—The tomb of t

Various modes of burial in Rome.—Inhumation and cremation.—Gradual predominance of the latter.—Columbaria.—Inscription describing the organization of one of these, on the Via Latina.—The extent of the pagan cemeteries outside of Rome, and the number of graves they contained.—Curiosities of the epitaphs.—The excavations in the garden of La Farnesina.—The Roman house discovered there.—The tomb of Sulpicius Platorinus.—Its interesting contents.—The "divine crows."—The cemetery in the Villa Pamfili.

Sanctity of tombs guaranteed to all creeds alike.—The Christians' preference for underground cemeteries not due to fear at first.—Origin and cause of the first persecutions.—The attitude of Trajan towards the Christians, and its results.—The persecution of Diocletian.—The history of the early Christians illustrated by their graves.—The tombs of the first century.—The catacombs.—How they were named.—The security they offered against attack.—Their enormous extent.—Their gradual abandonment in the

TEXT AS EDITED BY MOMMSEN ( See Chapter II., pp. 73-82 ) For the names of individual arches, basilicas, catacombs, churches, forums, palaces, piazzas, statues, streets, temples, tombs, and villas, see the headings, Arch, Basilica, Catacombs, Churches , etc....