DOMITILLA, cemetery of. – It is located along the ancient Via Ardeatina, which ran further to the west than the current road. The present-day entrance is on Via delle Sette Chiese.
The name of the cemetery is derived not from primitive indications but from a later document called the "Index of Cemeteries": *"Coemeterium Domitillae Nerei et Achillei ad S. Petronillam via Ardeatina."*
Indeed, in the Cambrense codex of the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, it reads *"in cimiterio eorum"*, and in the biography of John I (523–26), it is stated that the Pope *"refecit cymiterium beatorum martyrum Nerei et Achillei."*
The *Passio* recounts that these two martyrs were buried in the *"praedium Domitillae,"* whence the name of the cemetery in the cited Index. Two pagan inscriptions discovered in the area above recall burials donated *"ex indulgentia Flaviae Domitillae"* or *"eius beneficio"* (CIL, VI, 16426, 8942).
Two Flavian Domitillas are known: one, a daughter of a sister of Titus and Domitian, wife of the consul Flavius Clemens (Dio Cassius, *Hist. Rom.*, 67, 14; CIL, VI, 948); the other, according to Eusebius (*Hist. eccl.*, III, 18, 4), a daughter of a sister of the consul Flavius Clemens, exiled to the island of Ponza, where, at the end of the 4th century, the widow Paula still saw the place where Domitilla *"longum martyrium duxerat"* (St. Jerome, *Ep.* 108 to Eustochium). In the above-ground area of the cemetery, in the winter of 1926, a pagan burial ground was discovered adjacent to the ancient Via Ardeatina, consisting of columbaria and *"formae,"* including some Christian ones, as had also been found in 1822 (O. Marucchi, *Di un gruppo di antiche iscrizioni cristiane spettanti al cimitero di D. e recentemente acquistate dalla Commissione di archeologia sacra*, in *Nuovo bull. di arch. crist.*, 7 [1901], pp. 233–56). Beyond the above-ground area, the cemetery extends for over 12 km of tunnels on two main levels, formed by ancient independent nuclei later connected together.
One of the earliest nuclei, which G. B. De Rossi (*Del cristianesimo nella famiglia dei Flavii Augusti, e delle nuove scoperte nel cimitero di D.*, in *Bullettino di arch. crist.*, 1ª serie, 2 [1865], pp. 17–24, 33–46, 89, 98), followed by Wilpert (*Pitture*, p. 121) and Marucchi (*Roma sotterranea, nuova serie. Monumenti del cimitero di D.*, I, Rome 1909, p. 92), believed to be the hypogeum of the Flavii and datable to the 1st century, consists of an entrance adjacent to the Via Ardeatina, with side rooms for gatherings, and originally a single tunnel dug into the hillside, containing niches for sarcophagi with fresco decoration: putti gathering grapes on the vault, winged putti with garlands, landscapes and Christian scenes, such as among the lions, a fisherman with a hook, Noah. However, there are no elements to attribute the hypogeum to the Flavii, nor is the dating earlier than the mid-2nd century (A. Schneider, *Der Eingang zum Hypogaeum Flaviorum*, in *Mitteilungen des deutsch. archäolog. Instit., Römische Abteilung*, 43 [1928], pp. 1–12).
Another ancient region is that called by De Rossi the *Flavii Aurelii*; its access staircase was destroyed by the foundations of the left perimeter wall of the basilica. The surface of this region was limited, and the owners were forced to successive lowering, as in Callistus (v.). Styger distinguished six successive periods here; the last of these includes the cubiculum with the still intact tombs of *"C. Julia Agrippina Simplici dulcis in aeternum,"* *"P. Aelius Rufinus,"* *"M. Aurelius Ianuarius,"* and *"Anniis Felix,"* not datable before the mid-3rd century.
A third region, with its own staircase and a hypogeum with niche tombs, is not later than the second half of the 3rd century. In it, deposits were placed in the *"formae"* carved into a cubiculum for the martyrs mentioned in the 4th century; the hypogeum was altered by the construction of a small basilica, oriented opposite to the current one, and later occupied by the large three-aisled building with a double row of columns (R. Krautheimer – W. Frankl, *Recent discoveries in Churches in Rome*, in *American Journal of Archaeology*, 1939, pp. 397–98). The excavation of the basilica was begun by De Rossi in 1873 in the area acquired by Mons. F. S. De Merode to facilitate the work of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology. De Rossi identified two fragments of the *"carme damasiano"* in honor of the martyrs Nereus and Achilleus, one of the columns of the cemetery with the scene of the martyrdom of the martyr Achilleus, and a series of inscriptions relating to the clergy of the titulus of Paschasius, located near the Baths of Antoninus, on which the cemetery depended.
In a cubiculum adjacent to the basilica, the deceased Veneranda is depicted being led into Paradise by the martyr Petronilla (*Petronella mart[yr]*, G. B. De Rossi, *Scoperta della basilica di S. Petronilla col sepolcro dei martiri Nereo e Achilleo nel cimitero di D.*, in *Bull. di archeologia cristiana*, 2ª serie, 5 [1874], pp. 5–35; id., *Scoperta dell'immagine a fresco di s. Petronilla nel cimitero di D.*, ibid., pp. 122–25; id., *Sepolcro di s. Petronilla nella basilica in via Ardeatina e su tratto del Vaticano*, ibid., 3ª serie, 3 [1878], pp. 125–46; and ibid., 4 [1879], pp. 5–20; id., *Esame critico ed archeologico dell'epigrafe scritta sul sarcofago di S. Petronilla*, ibid., pp. 139–60).
A fourth region is called that of the *Scalone di Tor Marancia*; it was excavated as early as 1854. The staircase originally led to a first level, then was enlarged and deepened to a considerable depth. Here, the painted crypt with the Good Shepherd was attributed by De Rossi and Wilpert to the 1st century, though it is not earlier than the second half of the 3rd.
This region was partly visited by P. Ugonio and A. Bosio as early as 1593 (*Roma sotterranea*, Rome 1632, p. 195); Bosio returned several times and believed it to be the cemetery of St. Zephyrinus the Secret; once he feared losing his way there. It was also known to Boldetti, who removed the paintings from a cubiculum described and reproduced by Bosio in his *Roma sotterranea* and gave them to the Benedictine Fr. Scannacca, who took them to his monastery of S. Niccolò in Catania, where they are preserved, altered by an unfortunate restoration (H. Achelis, *Römische Katakombenbilder in Catania*, Leipzig-Berlin 1932). On the first level belong: a fifth region called that of *Ampliatus* from the cubiculum with the inscription *Ampliati* discovered by De Rossi in 1881 (*Il cubicolo di Ampliato nel cimitero di D.*, in *Bull. d’arch. crist.*, 3a serie, 6 [1881], pp. 55–74, 123). However, it cannot be dated to the first half of the 2nd century (Wilpert, *Pitture*, p. 95, tavv. 30–31, 1); it has two successive decorations and is not earlier than the mid-3rd century. A sixth region on the second level is that called the *Six Saints*, discovered in 1898–99; with polygonal cubicles and paintings from the 4th century. A seventh region known since Bosio’s time, also from the 4th century, is that in which there is a series of arcosolia and painted cubicles, one of which has a double apse, with representations of the Good Shepherd and Jesus Christ among the twelve Apostles, and a series of paintings identified by Wilpert as relating to the *annona*, i.e., the grain supply (*Ein unbekanntes Gemälde aus der Katakombe der hl. Domitilla und die cömeterialen Fresken mit Darstellung aus dem realen Leben*, in *Römische Quartalschrift*, 1 [1887], pp. 20–40). Near this region, between two loculi, is painted the image of the Epiphany with four Magi (4th century). An eighth region, with its own staircase descending to the second level, is that called in 1897, with a series of very regular tunnels. Here is the cubiculum of a priest Eulalius.
The Boldetti also devastated a ninth region located between the basilica and the hypogeum called that of the Flavians. There he attempted to detach the frescoes decorating the cubicle of the Fosso di Dogene, which instead he ruined. — See pls. CXII-CXII.