ACHELIS, HANS. - Archaeologist and historian of early Christianity, b. at Hastedt, near Bremen, in 1805, d. at Leipzig in 1937. The son of a Protestant pastor, he was guided by Harnack toward the study of ecclesiastical history, devoting himself especially to investigating the institutions of the early Church and applying to them the results of archaeological research. For this reason, particularly in his later years, he also devoted much of his activity to strictly archaeological topics. His approach was liberal and rationalist, though moderate. In 1907 he became professor at Halle, in 1916 he moved to Bonn, and in 1918 to Leipzig.
Publications: Das Symbol des Fisches und die Fischdenkmäler der römischen Katakomben (Marburg 1888); Die alten Denkmäler des orientalischen Kirchenrechts (2 vols., Leipzig 1891 and 1904); Acta Nereti et Achillei (Leipzig 1893); Hippolytus' Werke, vol. II and Hippolytus-Studien (Leipzig 1897); Die Martyrologien, ihre Geschichte und ihr Wert (Göttingen 1901); Virgines subintrodutae (Leipzig 1902); Das Christentum in den ersten drei Jahrhunderte (2 vols., Leipzig 1912; 2nd ed., 1912); Entwicklungsgeschichte der altchristlichen Kunst (Leipzig 1919); Römische Katakombenbilder in Katarien (Berlin 1932); Die Katakomben von Neapel (Leipzig 1936).