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Monday, February 06, 2012 ..:: EARLY CHRISTIAN ROME & THE APPIAN WAY TOUR ::.. Register  Login
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 THE CATACOMBS Minimize

    

Out of the Depths... 

The Christian Catacombs of Ancient Rome

The burial custom of most ancient Romans tended to be cremation, with ashes stored in urns. But Christian belief in the bodily resurrection led the early Christians to reject this practice and bury their dead instead. This method requires significantly more space, of course, and the early Christians did not own much land. So the catacombs made a practical, even necessary, solution for burial of the faithful.

The catacombs had other advantages as well: they were an ideal way to strengthen the sense of Christian community (both in life and death) and they provided quiet, out-of-the-way places for memorial ceremonies and displaying Christian symbols.
The first large-scale Christian catacombs were excavated in the 2nd century AD. They were all located outside the city walls, as Roman law forbade burial within the city limits. In addition to burial, the catacombs were used for memorial services and celebrations of the anniversaries of Christian martyrs.
Many modern depictions of the catacombs show them as hiding places for Christian populations during times of persecution, but there is little evidence for this. It probably only occurred in exceptional cases during the persecutions, when the catacombs were the only safe place to celebrate the Eucharist.
After Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire (381) and the cult of relics became an established part of Christian worship, the catacombs became a place of pilgrimage. But within a couple more centuries, the saints began to be buried in churches rather than catacombs and the faithful dead joined them in church cemeteries. By the 6th century catacombs were used only for martyrs’ memorial services. The Ostrogoths, Vandals and Lombards that sacked Rome also violated the catacombs, taking whatever valuables they could find.

By the 10th century the catacombs were mostly abandoned and they remained forgotten until their accidental rediscovery in 1578. Antonio Bosio spent decades exploring and researching them for his Roma Sotterranea (1632) and, two centuries later, the archeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi (1822-1894) published the first extensive professional studies about catacombs. In 1956 and 1959 more catacombs were discovered near Rome. Today some of the catacombs are open to the public and they are one of the most popular stops in Rome for tourists and pilgrims alike.

 
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 Early Christian Rome & The Appian Way Tour Minimize

 

  TUTTE LE STRADE PORTANO A ROMA - ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

The engineers of ancient Rome built an unparalleled network of roads in the ancient world. Approximately 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of roads spanned the Roman Empire, spreading its legions, culture and immense influence throughout the known world. The old saying "all roads lead to Rome", simply couldn't have been truer. Rome was the hub of commerce, trade, politics, culture and military might in the Mediterranean, and the grand achievement of her road network all led directly to the city and back out to her many territories.

 
Via Appia, ancient Rome's was named "Regina Viarum which means "Queen of Roads," . Engineered in the 5th century B.C., it was the widest and largest road of its time.  In its heyday this avenue spanned some 330 miles, running from Rome to the port of Brindisi, on the Adriatic coast, where boats left for Egypt, Greece, and North Africa. According to Christian tradition, it was on the Via Appia Antica that Jesus Christ appeared to St. Peter.

The road today is remarkably well preserved, flanked on both sides by fields punctuated with ruins and other vestiges of Roman history, its large flat paving stones polished by millennia of use and weathering.  

   To book your guided tour or have further information  

 

 

By bus and by foot, explore beyond Rome's city walls: rolling countryside, ancient roads, underground tombs, all in an environment that you've never seen in the city center.

Tour highlights: The  Ancient Appian Way & the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella & The Baths of Caracalla

 

please contact me:   

info.guidedtour@gmail.com

 

 

Our walk start at the Catacombs of St. Sebastian created as burial sites for 4th-century Christians. The catacombs descend four dark, musty levels and are not for the faint of heart. Named after the martyred Roman saint originally buried here—St. Sebastian's remains are now in the basilica above the catacombs—the St. Sebastian Catacombs were the first to be called "catacumbas" or "hollows."  The bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul were said to have been buried here for some time. As an increasing number of Christians wanted to be buried near them, the underground cemetery grew into miles of burial sites that astonish even today.

 The Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella 

 Continuing on Via Appia Antica you will see, on your left, the  Mausoleum of Cecilia, a well-preserved tomb and museum dedicated to a Roman noblewoman who was a contemporary of Julius Caesar and laid to rest here. 

 Just past the mausoleum lies the Circus of Maxentius, one of the best-preserved imperial circuses—oval-shaped chariot-racing courses—in Rome. Also here are the remains of a villa once lived in by the eponymous Roman emperor Maxentius, until he was overthrown by Constantine Augustus in the fourth century.

 

 MAUSOLEUM OF CECILIA METELLA
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 ROMAN ROAD CONSTRUCTION Minimize

Roman Road Construction

 

Standard Roman roads consisted of a metalled surface (ie gravel or pebbles) on a solid foundation of earth or stone.

A simple yet technologically advanced plan was in place and implemented for the construction of each road.

Where possible, roads were built in the straightest line possible, only avoiding major terrain obstacles where it made practical sense. A Roman road was a multi-layered architectural achievement, but the construction process was fairly simple to define.

First the two parallel trenches were built on either side of the planned road, with the resulting earthworks, stone, etc., being dumped and built up in the space between the two ditches. The Agger, as this was called, could be up to 6 ft. (1.8 m) high and 50 ft. (15 m) wide. Alternatively it could be very slight or almost non-existent as was the case with most minor roads.
Next, the diggers would make a shallow 8 to 10 foot wide depression down the length of the agger, and line the edges with kerb stones to hold the entire construction in place. The bottom of this depression would then be lined with a series of stone fillers. 6 to 8 inch stones would form the foundation layer, with fist sized stones placed on top. In early roads the remaining gap would then be filled in with course sand to fill between the stones and to cover them by approximately 1 ft.

Later roads may have used Roman volcanic concrete to mix the entire mixture together making the whole structure more solid. The road surface was then laid down using large, tight fitting, flat stones that could be found and transported locally. These larger surface stones would be cut to fit when possible to make the surface as smooth and seamless as possible.
Bridle paths were then dug and smoothed, leaving the earth unpaved for horse travel. The roads were built for infantry, and it was easier on horse hooves to walk alongside the stone roads. Though the Romans did use horseshoes, they were tied on to the hooves, not nailed, making them unstable. Additionally, during the construction, forests and obstacles on either side of the road could be cleared to a considerable distance to guard against ambush attempts.
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