INDEX OLEORUM

INDEX OLEORUM. — This is a list or notule containing the names of the Roman martyrs whose oils—burning near their tombs in small flasks distinguished by labels or *pittacia* bearing the names of the individual martyrs—were collected by a certain John during the time of St Gregory the Great (590–604). He offered them to Queen Theodolinda in Monza, as is read at the end of the list itself: «quas olea sancta temporibus domni Gregorii papae adduxit Iohannis indignus et peccator domnae Theodolindae reginae de Roma». All of this is preserved in the treasury of the basilica of Monza. The list, also called the Monza papyrus, has no topographical value; it begins with St Peter and was perhaps compiled in Monza. The first editor of the notule and the *pittacia* was L. A. Muratori (*Anecdota latina*, II, Milan 1697, pp. 191–92).