VIBIA. – The so-called “hypogeum of V.” is also known by other designations, such as “of the syncretists” and “of the little nuns”; more appropriately, Wilpert called it the “syncretist catacomb” (Pitture, p. 134), because recent excavations show it to be fairly extensive, with frequent little stairways leading to sub divo chambers.
It was first identified by G. G. Bottari (Roma sotterranea, III, Rome 1754), who identified it as part of the cemetery of Callistus and entirely failed to understand the paintings, subsequently published systematically by R. Garrucci and reproduced more accurately by G. Wilpert. Particularly noteworthy is the arcosolium belonging to a certain Vincentius, a priest of the god Sabazius, and to his wife V. There is a scene of the abreptio Vibies, followed by her judgment before the tribunal on which Pluto Dis Pater sits, with Proserpina Aera Cura. To the left of the tribunal are the three goddesses of destiny (“Fata divina”); to the right is V., accompanied by Alcestis and Mercurius nuntius. This is followed by the scene in which the angelus bonus introduces V. (inductio Vibies) among the bonorum iudicio iudicati, who are seated.
In the inscription of Vincentius, on the exterior of the arcosolium, the expressions manduca Vibe, lude were interpreted by F. Cumont (Les mystères de Sabazins et le judaïsme, in Comptes rendus de l’Acad. des tinc. et belles lettres, 1906, pp. 63–79) in a moral sense, whereas M. P. Nilson recently gave them a more materialistic meaning (A propos du tombeau de Vincentius, in Mélanges Charles Picard, II, Paris 1949, pp. 764–69). E. Stevenson pointed out that, not far from this arcosolium, he had discovered Christian inscriptions and a cubiculum having at the center of its vault the figure of Christ among four worshippers; the cubiculum was later seen by Wilpert and has recently been rediscovered. This cemetery region should perhaps also be associated with the hypogeum discovered nearby in 1915, called “of the hunters” because of the hunting scenes painted in it, and likewise containing Christian inscriptions.