What are the catacombs of Rome?
What are the catacombs of Rome?
Hidden deep underground on the outskirts of Rome, the vast 2nd-century Catacombs of Rome (Catacombe di Roma) are some of the oldest burial tunnels in the world.
How to visit the catacombs of Pompeii?
To visit the catacombs, you have several options: Take a tour: reserving a visit is the easiest way of visiting the catacombs and monuments on the Via Appia. Here you can reserve a tour which includes transport, tickets, and an official guide.
How to get to the Domitilla Catacombs?
Domitilla Catacombs and Rome Hop on Hop Off Tour Immerse yourself in the ancient world on this excursion on a hop-on, hop-off bus in Rome that takes you all the way out to the Domitilla Catacombs, the largest known catacombs in Rome with 10 miles (17 kilometers) or tunnels and up to 150,000 bodies of early Christians.
When is the best time to visit the catacombs of Rome?
Still, limited access to the catacombs makes booking in advance a good idea, especially around Easter and between May and September, when Rome swarms with travelers. The cool catacombs make for a great break from Italy’s summer heat, but the quieter months are recommended for thinner crowds.
The catacombs, which were constructed in the first, second, and third centuries CE first by Jews and then by Christians, are underground cemeteries that stretch for miles beneath Rome and its surrounding areas. They were primarily burial places with passageways lined with burial niches called loculi.
How many people can be buried in a catacomb?
Families with substantial resources often chose to build cubicula, which are burial chambers that house loculi as well as arched burial nooks called arcosolia and places for elaborately-carved stone coffins called sarcophagi. A single catacomb could accommodate thousands upon thousands of burials.
What is the average size of a burial loculi?
Each of these loculi, which are usually 16-24 inches high and 47-59 inches long, once contained a linen-shrouded body. Its opening was covered in stone and usually marked with an engraving stating the name, age, and sometimes characteristics or relationships of the person entombed there.
What is a loculus in architecture?
Loculus (Latin, “little place”), plural loculi, is an architectural compartment or niche that houses a body, as in a catacomb, hypogeum, mausoleum or other place of entombment. In classical antiquity, the mouth of the loculus might be closed with a slab, plain, as in the Catacombs of Rome, or sculptural, as in the family tombs of ancient Palmyra.
