SARCOPHAGUS OF JUNIUS BASSUS. - In 1597, during the excavations for the construction of the new Vatican Confessio, carried out by Giacomo della Porta by order of Clement VIII (1592-1605), a Christian sarcophagus of Pentelic marble with two tiers came to light, which on the upper fillet bore the following inscription engraved: Junius Bassus, of senatorial rank, who lived 42 years and 2 months, went to the Lord as a neophyte, while he was prefect of the city, on 24 Aug. of the year in which Eusebius and Hypatius were consuls, that is, in 359.

The sarcophagus is the finest product that has come down to us of Roman funerary art of the 4th century. The lid is mutilated, but three fragments of the central panel were found during the explorations of 1942 in the right wall of the straight arm of the Confessio. Thus a part of the poem engraved there in distichs has been recovered.

The sarcophagus is divided into two tiers and the scenes are framed between columns; the two central columns of the two registers have a vine decoration. The scenes of the upper tier represent, from the left, the sacrifice of Abraham, the arrest of St. Peter, Jesus Christ between two Apostles, Jesus Christ before Pilate; in the lower tier, from the left: Job, Adam and Eve, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, Daniel among the lions, St. Paul led to martyrdom.

In the interstices, above the capitals, are represented symbolic scenes of lambs, referring to the three youths in the furnace, the miracle of the spring, the multiplication of the loaves, the Baptism of Christ, the giving of the law to Moses, the resurrection of Lazarus. On the two sides are scenes of the seasons and of the vintage.

In 1932 J. Roosval proposed to recognize in the sarcophagus a product of the 3rd century reused in 359; he was rightly contradicted by F. Gerke; today the inscription of the lid shows that this too is contemporary with all the rest. - See pl. LV.

Plate LV SARCOPHAGUS OF JUNIUS BASSUS (359) - Vatican Grottoes.

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: A. Bosio, Roma sotterranea, Rome 1632, pp. 44-46; H. Grisar, Der Sarkophag des Junius Bassus, in Römische Quartalschrift, 10 (1896), pp. 313-33 (first photographic reproduction); A. De Waal, Der Sarkophag des Junius Bassus, Rome 1900; id., Zur Chronologie des Bassussarkophages, in Römische Quartalschrift, 20 (1907), pp. 117-34; Wilpert, Sarcofagi, I, pl. 13, pp. 24, 35, 37, 131, 164; J. Roosval, Junius Bassus' sarkofag och dess datering, in Archeologiska Studien, 1932, pp. 273-87; F. Gerke, Ist der Sarkophag des Junius Bassus unzulattaren?, in Rivista di arch. crist., 10 (1933), pp. 105-18; id., Der Sarkophag des Junius Bassus, Berlin 1936.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec6_giunio_basso_sarcofago_di, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Giunio Basso, sarcofago di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {763--764}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giunio-basso-sarcofago-di} }

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Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

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