ACHELIS, HANS. - Archaeologist and historian of early Christianity, born at Hastedi, near Brenna, in 1865, died at Lipsia in 1937. Son of a Protestant pastor, he was directed by Harnack toward the study of ecclesiastical history, devoting himself especially to investigating the institutions of the primitive Church and applying to it the results of archaeological research. Consequently, especially in his later years, he also devoted a large part of his activity to strictly archaeological subjects. His orientation was liberal and rationalist, but moderate. In 1907 he became professor at Halle, in 1916 he moved to Bonn, and in 1918 to Lipsia.
He published: Das Symbol des Fisches und die Fischdenkmäler der römischen Katakomben (Marburgo 1888); Die alten Denkmäler des orientalischen Kirchenrechts (2 vols., Lipsia 1891 and 1904); Acta Nerei et Achillei (Lipsia 1893); Hippolytus' Werke, vol. II, and Hippolytus-Studien (Lipsia 1897); Die Martyrologien, ihre Geschichte und ihr Wert (Gottingen 1901); Virgines subintroductori (Lipsia 1902); Das Christentum in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (2 vols., Lipsia 1912; 2nd ed., ibid. 1925); Entwicklungsgeschichte der altchristlichen Kunst (Lipsia 1919); Römische Katakombenbilder in Katanien (Berlino 1932); Die Katakomben von Neapel (Lipsia 1936). Antonio Ferrua