bisomus

The ordinary tombs ({{lang|la|loci}}) in the galleries of the Roman catacombs contained one body. It sometimes happened, however, that a space large enough to contain two bodies was excavated. Such a double grave is referred to in inscriptions as {{lang|la|locus bisomus}}. An inscription from the catacomb of Callixtus I, for instance, mentions that a certain Boniface, who died at the age of twenty-three years and two months, was interred in a double grave which had been prepared for himself and for his father ({{lang|la|Bonifacius, qui vixit annix XXII et II (mens) es, positus in bisomum in pace, sibi et patr. suo}}). A 4th century inscription tells of two women who had purchased, for their future interment, a bisomus in a "new crypt" which contained the body of a saint:

{{quote|

:IN CRYPTA NOBA RETRO SAN

:CTUS EMERVM VIVAS BALER

:RA ET SABINA MERUM LOC

:V BISOM AB APRONE ET A

:BIATORE

}}

"Balerra" and "Sabina" wished to be buried in the closest proximity to a martyr, {{lang|la|retro sanctos}}, a privilege which, as another inscription says, "many desire but few receive" ({{lang|la|quod multi cupiunt et rari accipiunt}}).

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Category:Tombs