Lead

LEAD. - Lead was used in antiquity for the most disparate purposes: for conduits, small crosses, weights, tokens, ampullae, small plaques, fibulae, sepulchral urns, etc.

In the Philosophumena it is related of Christians condemned εἰς μέταλλον Σερβινίας (IX, 11), to the lead mines: St. Cyprian too recalls the faithful sent to the lead mines. Lead coffins were used for the translation of corpses; some were found at Alexandria, where they were used to carry back to Palestine the bodies of the Jews. In the Passio of Sts. Claudius, Nicostratus, etc. it is said that the bodies of these martyrs were enclosed in lead loculi, just as in a lead coffin the bodies of the martyrs Abdon and Sennen are said to have been deposited by a certain Quirinius (P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, I Santi Quattro, in Note Agiografiche, 4 [Studi e testi, 24], Rome 1912, p. 62). Lead sarcophagi in the Christian era were often found in France, in Spain and in Dalmatia, at Manastirine, at Salona. A Christian lead sarcophagus, discovered in ancient Sala at Rabat in Morocco, bears five Greek crosses engraved on its lid (R. Thouvenot, Sarcophage chrétien découvert à Rabat, in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et belles lettres, 1949, pp. 257-243). In the Liber Pontificalis too the indication recurs several times that corpses were translated in lead coffins (ed. Duchesne, I, 288, 306); that of Agapitus from Constantinople to Rome, that of Narses vice versa. Many lead seals are known, imperial and papal; among these one of Pope Honorius I found at Carthage (A. L. Delattre, in Riv. di arch. crist., 4 [1927], p. 345). In the Berlin Museum, on a lead plate found at Rhodes, almost the whole of Psalm 79 is engraved in Greek (A. Rahlfs, Septuaginta Studien, II, Stuttgart 1904-11, p. 14). At Carthage a lead vessel was found with various scenes and among these the Good Shepherd (G. B. De Rossi, Memorie sopra un vaso di piombo trovato nella Reggenza di Tunisi, in Bull. arch. crist., 1st series, 5 [1867], p. 77 ff. and pl. VIII). There are also lead ampullae for the oils of the sanctuaries of Palestine, small crosses, sacred images, small amphorae (e.g., in O. Wulff, Altchristl. und Mittelalterl. Bildwerke, Berlin 1909, p. 224 and pl. 55). A lead chalice was found at Vendreuil, now in the Museum of Rouen (L. De Vesly, Calice de plomb trouvé à Notre-Dame de Vendreuil (Europe), in Bull. archéol. du Comité, 1913, pp. 181-83). Lead conduits include the one coming from S. Lorenzo al Verano and now in the Lateran Museum, with the mention of a Pope John of the 6th century, and one of the provost of the basilica named Stephen (O. Marucchi, in N. Bull. arch. crist., 8 [1902], p. 198). A lead fibula was published by G. B. De Rossi (Bull. arch. crist., 3rd series, 3 [1878], pl. I, nos. 1-2). Perforated lead plates were used for windows in the cathedral of Palermo, at Monreale in the cathedral and in other churches, at S. Antonio of Taormina. Perforated lead remains, one with the date 1493, are still in place in the rose window of the facade of the cathedral of Bitetto, and with the date 1597 in the rose window of the facade of the cathedral of Ruvo. In the cathedral of Barletta (sacristy) a lead lamp-holder of the 11th century is preserved (Enc. Catt., VII, LAMPADA, col. 869).

Enrico Jesi