ADELFIA. - In the catacomb of St. John in Syracuse a splendid sarcophagus was found which on a panel of the lid bears the inscription (h)ic Adelfia chiarissima f(emina) posita compar Baleri comitis ("here lies buried A., most illustrious woman, wife of Count Valerius"). The sarcophagus is the finest work of paleochristian art surviving in Sicily, entirely adorned with bas-reliefs that are remarkably well preserved (despite this, Cavallari had difficulty saving it from a total restoration). At the center of the chest, within a shell, two spouses are portrayed, apparently Valerius and A. Very interesting on the left part of the lid are two enigmatic scenes that have been much discussed.

The sarcophagus seems to come from a Roman workshop and is to be attributed to approximately the middle of the 4th century; the lid is certainly not its own and must be considerably later. Around the first half of the 6th century, both were reused for the burial of A.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: G. B. De Rossi, in Bullett. di archeol. crit., 2nd series, 3 (1872), p. 81; E. Leblant, in Revue archéologique, 34 (1877), p. 353; R. Garrucci, Storia dell'arte cristiana, V. Prato 1879, p. 94 and pl. 365; G. Führer, Forschungen zur Sicilia Satterranea, Munich 1897, pp. 20 and 131; Wilpert, Sarcofagi, I, p. 102 and II, p. 350, pl. 92.

@incollection{ec1_adelfia, author = {Ferrua, Antonio}, title = {Adelfia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {299--300}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/adelfia} }

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