### BASSILLA. - I. THE MARTYR.
In the Roman Church calendar of the first half of the 4th century (Depositio Martyrum), she is called a martyr, buried in the cemetery of St. Hermes on the Via Salaria Vetera, with the year 304 added—an era when Diocletian’s persecution was indeed raging. Her feast is marked on 22 September, but the Martyrologium Hieronymianum later adds other commemorations on 23 January, 11 June, and 20 May (this last date being the one adopted by the Roman Martyrology for the saint’s feast). The catacomb in which she was buried also took her name, often referred to as the coemeterium Bassillae. The saint’s name is commonly written Bassilla with a single *s*, according to a very ancient manuscript tradition that also altered it to Bassilisa, but there is no doubt that the correct form is Bassilla, as attested by the oldest sources and the undeniable derivation from *Bassus*.
According to the Acts of St. Eugenia, B. would have been the granddaughter of Emperor Gallienus and martyred during his persecution (253–68). Although these Acts are of a romantic nature, De Rossi and other scholars after him found it more fitting to the general historical context to accept that B. was a most noble Roman lady, owner of the estate where the catacomb later named after her was excavated, and martyred in the time of Gallienus. In this case, the date 304 in the Depositio Martyrum and the 11 June entry in the Hieronymian Martyrology would mark only the memory of a translation. The year 304, however, must be considered the year in which B.’s martyrdom occurred.
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### II. THE CEMETERY ON THE VIA SALARIA VETUS.
It consisted of an above-ground area and two subterranean gallery levels extending beneath the present-day streets of Via Salaria Vetere, Via del Martirologio, and Via dell’Archeologia Sacra. The structures have seriously damaged much of this cemetery, also called that of St. Hermes.
From the open-air cemetery come several Christian inscriptions, such as the cippus bearing the carved image of the Good Shepherd, with a sheep on His shoulders and two sheep at His sides, and beneath the inscription: ΘΟΑΙΑ Α ΣΚΑΝΘΙΑΚΗ.
The name of the cemetery is recorded in the Depositio Martyrum to indicate the burial places of St. Hermes (v.) and the martyrs Protus and Hyacinthus (v.), while for B. the Via Salaria Vetera is specified. In other later documents, such as the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, the Monza Oils, and the Itineraries, the names of other martyrs buried in B. recur: Maximian, Herculanus, Crispus, Victor, and Leopardus. As for the name, some hold that the martyr B., associated with the date 304 in the Depositio Martyrum, was the founder of the cemetery, while others believe it was named after an earlier namesake, a donor of the land.
In a gallery on the first level, Fr. G. MARCIA (v.) discovered on 21 March 1845 the intact tomb and epitaph of the martyr Hyacinthus.
On the second level stands the basilica erected over the tomb of St. Hermes, identified by A. Bosio as early as 1608 by means of an architectural fragment bearing the inscription *Herme* (*Roma sotterranea*, Rome 1634, p. 560).
The large rectangular hall, with a single nave, measures 17 m in length, 7 m in width, and 16 m in height. It has been restored several times, beginning with Pope Pelagius II (578–90), but especially in the 16th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The ancient entrance was in the left wall by means of a broad staircase; the present spiral staircase dates to the 18th century.
In 1940, at about 13 m from the floor level of the hall, the writer identified in a small apse beneath a layer of whitewash the following paintings: in the vault, the Saviour with an open book bearing the words *Ego sum pastor bonus et cognosco oves meas*, flanked by two angels; below, the Queen Mary on a jeweled throne holding the Child Jesus; to the right, the Archangel Raphael, St. Hermes, and St. John the Evangelist; to the left, the Archangel Gabriel and St. Benedict. The paintings are not earlier than the end of the 8th century.
In front of the small apse stands an isolated altar of squared tuff blocks (0.90 m high) with a reliquary pit.
Older paintings were already noted by Bosio in cubicles and arcosolia of the cemetery. Particularly important are those depicting the scene of the Last Judgment, the Lord and the twelve apostles enthroned; in an arcosolium traces remain of a mosaic decoration with Daniel among the lions, the Raising of Lazarus, and a portrait of a deceased.
Along the ambulatories, numerous Greek and Latin Christian inscriptions have recently been arranged; among these are sixteen fragments of the hexameter by the priest Theodore relating to the works carried out near the tomb of the martyrs Protus and Hyacinthus, and two fragments of the Damasian poem in honor of the martyr Hermes. Inscriptions from this cemetery are also preserved in the Capitoline Museum and the Lateran Christian Museum; among these, two contain an invocation to the martyr B.
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