IMBALSAMAZIONE. - Ancient Christians generally used two types of i.; the first, an economical one, consisted of placing a layer of slaked lime either directly on the bottom of the tomb or around the corpse, especially between the abdomen and the shroud or linen sheet in which the bodies were wrapped and whose weave can often still be discerned.
Thus it was observed several times by A. Boldetti, especially in the Christian cemeteries of the Appian and Nomentana ways (Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri dei ss. Martiri, Rome 1720, pp. 290-91), later by G. Marchi in tombs of the Coemeterium Maius on the Via Nomentana (Monumenti delle arti cristiane primitive, ibid. 1844, p. 19), by M. Armellini in the cemetery of S. Agnese (Il cimitero di S. Agnese, ibid. 1880, p. 22); recently in the cemetery of Pamphilus (E. Josi, Il cimitero di Panfilo, in Riv. di arch. crist., 3 [1926], p. 93). The layer of lime was normally thicker at the bottom of the sarcophagi, as in the two sarcophagi found in 1624 in S. Bibiana (P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Recenti studi intorno a s. Cecilia, in Note agiografiche, IV [*Studi e testi, 24], Rome 1912, p. 18 n. 1), as well as in Carthage (L. Audollent, Carthage romaine, Paris 1901, pp. 430-31) and several times in Algeria (S. Gsell, Monuments antiques de l'Algérie*, II, ibid. 1901, pp. 40, 42, 258, 291, 343, 403).
The second type of i., more careful and usual in antiquity, is that of the use of aromatics which, according to the well-known passage of Tertullian, Christians used in their tombs in a quantity far greater than that burned for the gods (Apolog., 42: PL 1, 258).
Prudentius confirms that in his time it was customary to wrap the bodies of the deceased in white linens impregnated with myrrh, which has the property of preserving the corpse (Cathemerinon, X, 49-52: ibid., 60, 888). St. John Chrysostom also speaks of aloe and myrrh mixed together. This system of i. has been found very frequently upon opening sarcophagi, in which the corpses are mostly arranged with their arms along their sides (Tertullian, De anima, 51: ibid., 2, 782); hence they are found wrapped in multiple superimposed layers of linen. P. Styger found up to seven layers, those closest to the corpse having a wider weave and thicker thread (Il monu-
mento apostolico della Via Appia, in Dissertazioni della Pont. accad. rom. di arch., 2nd series, 13 [1918], p. 21). The corpse, enveloped with aromatic preparations between layer and layer, up to 8 cm. in thickness, was then bound with crossed bandages, as the mummy of Lazarus is depicted both in cemetery paintings and on sarcophagi (Wilpert, Pitture, pls. 137, 2; 181, 2; 192; 222, 2; 228, 4; 248). M. Boldetti found the existence of resinous substances in the tombs (Osservazioni, pp. 290-91) and noted the odor of aromatics upon opening intact tombs in the cemeteries (Osservazioni, p. 307); this has likewise been observed in the aromatics found during the excavations "in Catacumbas" in 1915; furthermore in Praetextatus (aroma applied directly to the corpse), in Domitilla, in Pamphilus, in the cemetery beneath Viale Regina Margherita. Gregory of Tours noted the existence of layers of laurel leaves in the tomb of Bishop Valerius (De gloria confessorum: PL 71, 892); M. Boldetti noted the existence of laurel leaves (Osservazioni, p. 34). P. Styger found a layer of leaves and twigs about 10 cm. thick that perhaps served as a cushion (Il monumento apostolico, p. 25). In some cases, corpses were found with resinous substances; thus M. Boldetti in Rome (Osservazioni, pp. 290-91) and L. Delattre in Carthage (Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des inscr. et belles lettres, 1902, p. 597).
During the excavations "in Catacumbas," small mounds of light green aromatic substances were found in a sarcophagus, upon the chest and at the feet, which had been introduced there through copper tubes via holes observed in the lid (A. Profumo, La memoria Apostolorum in Catacumbas, in Studi romani, 2 [1914], p. 459). St. Paulinus of Nola testifies that the faithful scattered precious aromatics on the tombs of the martyrs (Natal. s. Felicis: PL 61, 491).
The mummy was then often covered with purple or gold fabrics, as has been verified several times. Thus G. Marchi testifies for the relics of the martyr St. Hyacinth (Monumenti, etc., pp. 266 and 268). G. B. De Rossi found them in the cemetery of Praetextatus (Roma sotterr., I, Rome 1864, p. 169); they have repeatedly been found in the excavations beneath the basilica "in Catacumbas" (P. Styger, Il monumento apost., p. 25) and in the cemetery beneath Viale della Regina. Maria, daughter of Honorius, was covered with gold cloths in the Vatican mausoleum (G. B. De Rossi, in Bull. arch. crist., 1 [1863], p. 53). St. Jerome censured this practice (in Vita Pauli: PL 23, 30). Enrico Josi