THE CEMETERY OF C. — This is the cemetery administered by the first deacon of the Roman Church C. since the time of Zephyrinus, i.e., from the late 2nd century. As early as 1852, G. B. De Rossi claimed its location after the topographical confusion of previous centuries, during which the name "cemetery of C." was applied not only to the one beneath S. Sebastiano but to every underground cemetery along both the Appian and Ardeatine roads. Its identification was sealed by the series of monumental discoveries documented by De Rossi himself in the three volumes of his *Roma sotterranea* (1864–77) to illustrate it; Pius IX ordered that the entire area above it be acquired by the Holy See. Like all the other great Christian cemeteries of Rome, the cemetery of C. consists of above-ground burial areas with their respective hypogea originally excavated separately, each with its own descents, and only later connected together.
Above ground, Pope Zephyrinus (217) had his mausoleum there; the proto-martyr of the Eucharist, St. Tarsicius, was also buried there; and on August 6, 258, the massacre of Sixtus II and four of his deacons took place there. Below ground, various regions can be distinguished.
**The Region of the Popes and St. Cecilia.** — This region is composed of two nuclei, originally separate from each other, each with its own descent. The first consists of a gallery with niches for sarcophagi, later extended for loculus burials and deepened; the second has its own staircase leading to a cubiculum and a gallery, which was later deepened and on which De Rossi identified a series of cubicles called the "Sacraments" for the symbolic representations contained within, dated to the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. Beside the staircase, in a deepened gallery, is the cubiculum where the following popes were buried: Pontian, Anterus, Fabian, Lucius, Stephen, Sixtus II, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychian, and some bishops, such as Urbanus, Numidianus, Manno, Polycarp, Julian, Laodiceus, and Optatus. The funerary inscriptions in Greek of the martyr popes Pontian and Fabian, of the popes Anterus, Lucius, and Eutychian, and of the bishops Numidianus and Optatus of Biskra (Numidia) have been recovered.
The plaster at the entrance to the chapel is covered with pilgrims' graffiti with frequent invocations to St. Sixtus; the surrounding area was embellished with columns, a poem by Damasus, a commemorative inscription of Sixtus III, and had an altar, of which traces remain. Adjacent is the tomb of St. Cecilia, decorated with paintings from the early 9th century.
Another nucleus, also from the late 2nd century, is the one closest to the Appian Way, with an open area and an underground one, called by De Rossi the "Crypt of Lucina" after the Lucina mentioned in the biography of Pope Cornelius in the *Liber Pontificalis*; she is said to have buried that pope in her own area. However, the area predates Pope Cornelius (253), who was buried in a deepened zone representing the final period of burial. The pope's inscription is the only one in Latin, and De Rossi found a fragment of it in a farmhouse as early as 1849. The tomb is adorned with a poem by Damasus and with 6th-century paintings depicting the popes Cornelius and Sixtus II and the bishops Optatus and Cyprian, who since the 4th century has been commemorated in C. In the oldest part of this region is a double cubiculum with frescoes from the late 2nd century depicting the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, Daniel among the lions, the cycle of Jonah, the Good Shepherd, Orants, genii, and the symbols of the seasons.
A third region is the one called "of Eusebius"; it also has its own staircase. It contains the crypt of the martyrs Calocerus and Parthenius, in which only a graffito with their names remains; the tomb of Pope Caius with his funerary inscription in Greek indicating his burial on April 22 (283); the tomb of Pope Eusebius (311) with fragments of the poem composed by Damasus in his honor and a 6th-century copy; and the double cubiculum of the deacon Severus, excavated with the permission of Pope Marcellinus (296–304). The region also contains other notable cubicles, such as one depicting a family of five in beatitude, true portraits from the late 3rd century; the cubiculum called "of the Sheep" with the scene of the Good Shepherd surrounded by his flock, the multiplication of the loaves, Moses removing his sandals, and the miracle of the fountain. Further on is an arcosolium with the Epiphany, the Raising of Lazarus, and a garden. Another region of the cemetery was called by De Rossi "of Pope Miltiades," but no memory of the pope buried there has been found.
Finally, further north is the region called "Liberian" after an inscription of a deceased buried *sub Liberio* (Pope Liberius, 352–366). It also had its own staircase. Here De Rossi found a fragment of the funerary poem of the deacon Redemptus, while collections have preserved the full text.
A series of painted arcosolia dates to the second half of the 4th century; one contains the bust of Christ with a nimbus and two orants; a second depicts Adam and Eve; a third, a herb seller.
A region was called by De Rossi "of the Labyrinth" or "of the Sandpit of Hippolytus," and there he sought the memories of that group of martyrs recalled in the itinerary inserted in the *Gesta regum Anglorum* and identified by De Rossi with the *confessores quos Graecia non novit* of Damasus, which Marucchi mistakenly sought outside the Callistian ambit. — See Plate XXVI.