g
introduced endways. The plan adopted by the Christians saved labour,
economized space, and consulted reverence in the deposition of the
corpse. These _loculi_ were usually constructed for a single body only.
Some, however, were formed to contain two, three, or four, or even more
corpses. Such recesses were known respectively as _bisomi, trisomi,
quadrisomi_, &c., terms which often appear in the sepulchral
inscriptions. After the introduction of the body the _loculi_ were
closed with the greatest care, either with slabs of marble the whole
length of the aperture, or with huge tiles, three being generally
employed, cemented together with great exactness so as to prevent the
escape of the products of decomposition (fig. 4). Where any epitaph was
set up--an immense number are destitute of any inscription at all--it is
always painted or engraved on these slabs or tiles. In the earlier
interments the epitaph is usually daubed on the slab in red or black
paint. In later examples it is incised in the marbles, the letters being
rendered clearer by being coloured with vermilion. The enclosing slab
very often bears one or more Christian symbols, such as the dove, the
anchor, the olive-branch, or the monogram of Christ (figs. 5, 6). The
palm branch, which is also of frequent occurrence, is not an
indisputable mark of the last resting-place of a martyr, being found in
connexion with epitaphs of persons dying natural deaths, or those
prepared by persons in their lifetime, as well as in those of little
children, and even of pagans. Another frequent concomitant of these
catacomb interments, a small glass vessel containing traces of the
sediment of a red fluid, embedded in the cement of the _loculus_ (fig.
7), has no better claim. The red matter proves to be the remains of
wine, not of blood; and the conclusion of the ablest archaeologists is
that the vessels were placed where they are found, after the eucharistic
celebration or _agape_ on the day of the funeral or its anniversary, and
contained remains of the consecrated elements as a kind of religious
charm. Not a few of the slabs, it is discovered, have done double duty,
bearing a pagan inscription on one side and a Christian one on the
other. These are known as _opisthographs_. The bodies were interred
wrapped in linen cloths, or swathed in bands, and were frequently
preserved by embalming. In the case of poorer interments the destruction
of the body was, on the contrary, often acc