Normative Roman Burial?
extramural, usually cremation;
Romans have to buried outside the city limits – extramural (outside the walls) and also Greek burials; they tend to be along roads, lots of tombs because it makes easier to attend and more visible; poor can’t afford a great stone; most burials are cremation
Hypogeum meaning?
lit. “underground”; Hypo in Greek means under
here, a scan of the Etrusco-Roman tomb of the Volumni, dated c. 3rd cent. BCE
Columbarium?
lit. “dovecote”;
niches for burial urns;
often of dependents for large/imperial families;
Columba is a dove; dovecote or dovehouse
Christian Tendencies in the city? collegia?
- concern for the burial of the poor (but cf. collegia)
- large communities
- visiting the martyrs and the dead
- shift in urbanism
Inhumation?
- whole-body burial
- dictated by belief in the bodily resurrection
- in line with Jewish practice
- does not totally obviate secondary deposition
- lack of grave goods
- generally, only a shroud
- sometimes a wooden coffin
Catacomb? when stopped used?
an underground cemetery of galleries with recesses for tombs, underground passages and rooms where bodies were buried in the past; underneath the church;
- popular (and incorrect) narratives about hiddenness
- fall out of use by 4th-6th centuries (but continue to be visited)
- at least 6 known Jewish catacombs
- probably not exclusive by faith
Loculi & Cubicula definitions?
loculus: “little place”
cubiculum: “bedroom”
range of sizes, richness
kinds of decoration
- gold glass
- frescoes
- ceramic lamps
Sarcophagi?
a coffin for inhumation burials, widely used throughout the Roman empire; sometimes, but not always, with recognizably Christian iconography; often have death or rebirth
historical figures who had connections with catacobms?
Helena, the mother of Constantine —> Antonio Bosio —> Giovanni Battista de Rossi —> Krautheimer (German Jewish)
ch 4.2
What constitutes family?
- household
- kinship groups (blood relationship)
- fictive kinships (chosen family)
The Greco-Roman Family s-re
- patriarchal;
- ostensibly bound by ties of affection and common interest;
- capaciously defined: includes slaves and other dependents;
A lot of power and responsibilities; in Roman family you’re supposed to love your family and children
Women and the Spread of Christianity
- appeal of Christianity to the marginalized
- numbers of high-status women converts and patronesses
- mixed marriages usually involved a Christian wife
- Cooper: power competitions between men?
Writings of Christianity by elite men; from 2 century to 4-th century women who convert stories
Modesty & Chastity?
- Tertullian: veils for virgins as well as married women;
- some emphasis on sexual purity for men;
- eventually, sexual continence within marriage
Slavery in Bible?
- ownership of slaves continues
- but: Galatians
- heroism of slaves in martyrdom: Blandina, Felicitas
Early “Church” Meetings
- in houses (house-churches?)
- communal meal —> Eucharist
- some scripture and exegesis (critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture)
- very clear that sometimes women were in charge
Define Ekklesia
- the assembly of believers
- same word used for the political assemblies of Greek states
- lit. “the called out”
- later personified as a crowned woman
- here, pictured with Synagoga at St. Joe’s
List Early “Church” Practices
- feasts
- fasting
- prayer
- instruction
- baptism
- tattoos!
- lots of improvisation
Conversion to Christianity how and when? catechumenate?
- more later
- in the first two centuries, very necessary
- pivotal (crucial) point in the life
- instruction in the catechumenate (the institution by which catechumens are prepared for church membership through a course of religious instruction)
Define Apostates?
- a person who renounces (rejects) a religious or political belief or principle, from Greek means ‘deserter, rebel, runaway slave’
- conversion is not a one way street
- some people leave the church;
From the Greek apostates, smn who converted and then deconverts
