ARCOSOLIO

ARCOSOLIUM. — In Latin, *solium* means, besides throne or seat, also a basin or trough, and like other analogous terms it came later to designate a tomb. Thus an *arcosolium* was a tomb placed beneath an arch, both being constructed of masonry or hewn from tufa. Christians adopted this usage from pagans (among whom it is frequent in mausolea of the 2nd and 3rd centuries) and employed it extensively in the catacombs. The *solium* or proper tomb received the deceased through an opening at the top, which was then closed with a marble slab or with tiles set in mortar. The lunette and the vault of the arch (sometimes also the front) were often adorned with paintings. In Rome, beneath a single arch there is only one sepulchre (very rarely two); in Sicily, on the other hand, extremely deep *arcosolia* are common (like ovens), in which up to thirty separate *solii* or tombs may succeed one another beneath the same barrel vault. Sometimes, instead of a vault above the tomb, a rectangular recess is made.