GLASS VASES.
A valuable work on the ancient glass vases found in the catacombs was published by F. Buonarotti in Florence, nearly simultaneously with the work of Boldetti on the catacombs, and of Fabretti on the inscriptions found in them. This is the foundation of all the subsequent works on the subject; the figures are badly drawn and engraved, according to the fashion of the period, but many of the later works are not much better. The subjects are generally the same as in the paintings on the walls: the Good Shepherd, more numerous than any other; Adam and Eve, Moses striking the Rock, Noah and the Ark, the raising of Lazarus, Peter and Paul, generally busts—these are very numerous. Both the style of drawing and the character of the inscriptions indicate late dates and frequent copying from the same type. In one are three figures, S. Peter, S. Paul, with S. Laurence seated between them. S. Agnes occurs frequently, always drawn as in the usual type of the eighth century. Other busts are evidently portraits of persons interred. In some are the father, mother and child;—one has the name of Cerontius; another of two busts, Cericia and Sottacus;—another is a family group, father, mother and four children; the name is partly broken off ....N ... BVSVISTRIS. P. Z. remains.—Abraham with a drawn sword in his hand, and Isaac with his eyes bound, kneeling at his feet, with the ram. A tall female figure with the hands uplifted in prayer; the inscription is PETRVS PAVLVS ANE possibly for Agnes. Another similar subject consists of two figures seated facing each other; over the left hand figure the name Cristvs, over the right hand one ISTEFANVS. Several of the subjects are distinctly Pagan; others are evidently from the Jews' catacomb, as two lions guarding the ark, and under them two of the seven-branched candlesticks, with leaves and vases and palm-branch.
S. CALIXTUS.
This is one of the earliest of the catacombs; it is mentioned at a very early period as a burying-place, then in use, not as being then just made. Michele de Rossi, in the course of his investigations in this catacomb, found a brick staircase and some brick loculi, evidently an alteration of and addition to the original catacombs, and the stamps on these bricks were those of Marcus Aurelius, A.D. 161-180. This staircase is in the lower part of the catacomb, made for the purpose of enlarging it, and seems to show that the ground had been used as a cemetery in the first century. The original part was probably made before there were any Christians to be buried. Although the staircase is later, and the bricks used again, they were probably found on the spot.
Calixtus is said to have been entrusted with the government of the clergy, and set over the cemetery by Zephyrinus his predecessor, before he became bishop or pope. This expression, over the cemetery, seems to prove that the whole of the catacombs were considered as one cemetery, and that he had the general superintendence of the burial of the Christians.
This is the catacomb usually exhibited to strangers and now used for pilgrimages; its present state is very uninteresting to the archæologist. The upper part of it nearest to the entrance has been so much restored that it has lost all archæological importance. This portion of the catacomb is illuminated on certain occasions, and is employed to excite the devotion of the faithful. A low mass is said at an altar fitted up in the cemetery chapel of S. Cæcilia, on the anniversary of her martyrdom, and this part of the catacomb on that occasion is illuminated with candles.
The other parts are in the usual state, stripped of nearly every inscription, and the graves empty. The earliest inscription from this catacomb, of ascertained date, is of A.D. 268 or 279; it is dated by the names of the consuls, which would apply to either of these two dates. One important inscription of Bishop Damasus is preserved, and is valuable in many ways; it shows that the cemetery chapel, in which it was found, was made in his time, and the slab of marble on which it is engraved has a Pagan inscription on the back of it, evidently proving that it was used merely as a slab of marble, without reference to that inscription. It shows for what purpose some of the Pagan inscriptions found in the catacombs may have been brought there. Two small and very curious tombstones, consisting of mosaic pictures said to have been taken from this catacomb, are now preserved in the sacristy of the church of S. Maria in Trastevere. They were for some centuries in the nave, built into one of the piers; but during the restorations made in 1868-76, they were removed and built into the wall of the sacristy. One represents a landscape, with building in the style of the third century, and a harbor or a lake with a vessel, and fishermen dragging in a great net, evidently intended for the miraculous draught of fishes. This is an extremely curious mosaic picture, the probable date of which is the beginning of the fourth century. The other small mosaic represents birds of various kinds, and is much earlier than the view of the harbor, perhaps as early as the first century. Possibly the birds were intended to be symbolical of the souls of the faithful. These are engraved by Ciampini in his work on Mosaics. Some of the original paintings [Bosio gives, on eight plates, engravings of a number of vases and lamps found in this catacomb, several views of cubicula, and upwards of seventy paintings. The same subjects have been repeated by Perret and Signor de Rossi.] remain in the lower part of this catacomb that have not been restored, and these are of the usual subjects: Daniel and the two lions, Moses striking the rock, the raising of Lazarus, etc.