LOCULUS. - Diminutivo di locus, che nella terminologia funeraria classica e cristiana (cf. iscrizioni cristiane con locus, in Diehl [v. op. cit. in bibl.], nn. 3498-3533) significa: tomba, locus [sepulturae]. La parola l. è adoperata dagli archeologi moderni per indicare una particolare forma di sepoltura rettangolare o talvolta a forno, ricavata nelle pareti di una galleria cimiteriale.This term has no counterpart in antiquity except in the sense of a niche, a casket, or a funerary box, as, for example, in the inscription of Toledo from 579 (locellus: Diehl, no. 3793) and in that of Catania (loculus: ibid., no. 1549). If the l. was to receive several corpses, it was called, as the case might be, "bisomus or biscandens, trisomus or tercandens, quadrisomus" (cf. the Christian inscriptions that refer to it, ibid., nos. 3797-3822).
The corpse was wrapped in bandages or precious cloths and covered, for disinfection and preservation, with a layer of lime. The l. was subsequently closed with bricks or marble slabs sealed to the tufa with lime, in which were often fixed, besides lamps, coins, ampullae, gilded glass, bottoms of dishes and various objects, as marks of recognition. The inscription relating to the deceased was, as the case might be, carved, painted or scratched.
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