Novatian Cemetery (Cimitero detto di Novaziano)

NOVAZIANO, CIMITERO detto di. — Discovered in 1926 and 1929 on the occasion of the widening of the Via Tiburtina and the opening of the Viale Regina Margherita at the height of the basilica of S. Lorenzo al Verano. No Christian topographical document mentions it, and therefore its original name is unknown; it derives the name N. from the tomb of a martyr of the same name, likewise unknown to the ancient sources, discovered in a gallery.

Originally the cemetery consisted of two levels: the first, discovered in 1926 and found stripped of all archaeological material, is now almost completely destroyed as a result of the roadworks. The second, on the other hand, brought to light in 1929 and not yet completely explored, is preserved in very good condition. The cemetery area was excavated in a very regular manner. From the original entrance, situated to the west, one descends into a large gallery from which two other perpendicular galleries branch off, providing convenient access to five others parallel to the first and, through them, to secondary passageways. These galleries were in part lowered by approximately two metres; furthermore, it was established that some of them had been filled with spoil by the fossors themselves. No painting has come to light, and the use of arcosolia and cubicula is rather rare. The loculi, some of them intact, are closed with marble slabs, tiles, or tiles, plaster, and stucco, with clear traces, in certain cases, of the liquidi odores poured over the tombs as a sign of devout veneration. Numerous minor objects were found fixed into the sealing plaster, among them a winged Victory in alabaster, gold-glass vessels, articulated ivory dolls, lamps, one of them bearing Serapis, a stone with the god Apis, a bronze blade with an Egyptian divinity adorned with hieroglyphs (false), a superstitious amulet probably of Gnostic origin, coins of third-century emperors, etc. The numerous inscriptions in Latin and Greek, in which often only the name of the deceased appears, are carved on marble, scratched into the plaster, or painted in red. Some of them are important for their consular dates, which make it possible to establish that the cemetery complex was in use in the third and fourth centuries, as well as for Christian onomastics and the formulas of acclamation. Particularly noteworthy are the inscriptions of Marcianus, from the year 323, and of Valeria Euche, from 270, located in the first parallel gallery after the one situated at the foot of the ancient staircase. In the third parallel gallery are the inscriptions of Gamice (in Greek, unpublished) and of Calpurnia, both from 266, and that of Cirilla from 270 (in Greek), as well as a loculus closed with plaster on which an equilateral cross is painted. The two inscriptions from 266 are the oldest dated inscriptions in the Roman underground still in situ.

In the fourth parallel gallery, the following deserve mention: 1) the loculus of Antistia Euphanilla, in which the deceased woman’s curled hair was found, treated with henna and covered with a gold net; 2) the empty tomb of the martyr N. (discovered on 1 April 1932), consisting of a large niche with a mensa tomb, once decorated with marble and mosaics. The dedicatory inscription from the fourth century, NOVATIANO BEATISSIMO / MARTYRI GAUDENTIUS DIACONUS / PEC(IT), does not clarify the identity of the martyr, which remains uncertain despite all the research. It has been proposed, but without decisive proof, that he should be identified either with an obscure martyr N. of the Roman Church, traces of whom remain in the laterculi for 27 and 29 June of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 337, 342), or with the schismatic N. (antipope), killed during the persecution of Valerian (257–58: Socrates, Hist. eccl., IV, 28; cf. also Pacianus of Barcelona, Epist. II ad Sympronianum: PL 13, 1062; Eulogius of Alexandria [Photius, Bibliotheca, codd. 182, 208, 280: PG 103, 533, 677; 104, 353] calls N.’s martyrdom false and a pseudo-martyrdom). Against identification with N. the antipope is the fact that the inscription does not give him the title of bishop, that the gallery in which the martyr’s tomb is located appears to have been excavated after 270, and that, moreover, no indication that the cemetery belonged to the Novatian schismatic sect has so far been found in the numerous inscriptions discovered there. The end of the same gallery is occupied by a large and richly appointed cubiculum, the family tomb of a certain Tulliana of the equestrian order; four marble sarcophagi were found there, three of them with valuable scenes of a Christian character.

A. Pietro Frutza