De Caro, L.; La Greca, F.; Matricciani, E. The Search of St. Peter’s Memory ad catacumbas in the Cemeterial area ad Duos Lauros in Rome. Heritage2021, 4, 479-507.
De Caro, L.; La Greca, F.; Matricciani, E. The Search of St. Peter’s Memory ad catacumbas in the Cemeterial area ad Duos Lauros in Rome. Heritage 2021, 4, 479-507.
De Caro, L.; La Greca, F.; Matricciani, E. The Search of St. Peter’s Memory ad catacumbas in the Cemeterial area ad Duos Lauros in Rome. Heritage2021, 4, 479-507.
De Caro, L.; La Greca, F.; Matricciani, E. The Search of St. Peter’s Memory ad catacumbas in the Cemeterial area ad Duos Lauros in Rome. Heritage 2021, 4, 479-507.
Abstract
The purpose of our study is to research Peter’s memory ad catacumbas. According to the Depositio Martyrum ‒ a document of the late Emperor Constantine ‒, there was no memory of the first St Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican Hill. We start with a critical analysis on the Roman Basilicae attributed to Emperor Constantine in the Liber Pontificalis, then we deepen the search of Peter’s memory in the catacombs of the SS Marcellino and Pietro (ad Duos Lauros), also known as Tor Pignattara. Indeed, the Basilica and Mausoleum built in this cemeterial area are the only buildings attributable, with certainty, to Emperor Constantine, who wished to be buried in the Mausoleum, close to an apostle. Besides some striking archeological finds on Peter’s memory already discovered near a particular cubicle in these catacombs, a geometrical and mathematical study of the unusual architectonic characteristics of the Basilica and Mausoleum of Tor Pignattara shows that the buildings were part of a single architectonic plan, very likely designed for coding data useful to locate Peter’s burial site unambiguously, in the area of the cubicle mentioned.
Keywords
Saint Peter’s tomb; Catacombs of SS Marcellino and Pietro; Emperor Constantine; Tor Pignattara’s Basilica and Mausoleum
Subject
Social Sciences, Anthropology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
