CATACOMBS kat’ ə kōms’ (κατὰ̀ κύμβας, meaning uncertain; drinking cup, boat, wallet, tumbler pigeon have been suggested). Subterranean burial places used by the Early Church.

The name originally referred to a locality near the church of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way, three m. S of Rome. The name prob. referred to a natural hollow in the terrain or to an inn sign. It was used in the 4th and 5th centuries for the cemetery associated with the church in the forms ad catacumbas, catacumbae.

The principal catacombs are at Rome, though others exist at Albano, Alexandria, Naples, Malta and Syracuse. They are all dug in soft rock. Those in Rome extend for more than 350 m. and so surround the city that they act as a cushion against earthquakes. Famous ones include St. Sebastian, St. Priscilla, St. Paul, St. Callixtus, St. Praetextus, and St. Pontianus. They consist of a series of underground galleries and tomb chambers. The walls were lined with tiers of coffin-like recesses holding from one to four bodies each.

Estimates of the number of burials at Rome range from 1,750,000 to 4,000,000 within ten generations. This would mean that the Christian population of the city was between 175,000 and 400,000 in each generation. Within a cent. after the official recognition of Christianity in the empire, the catacombs ceased to be used and became places of pilgrimage.

Four Jewish catacombs have also been identified at Rome. Although a great many Jews were brought to the city as slaves during the late republic and early empire, there is not a single indication of slave status among the burials. This confirms Philo’s statement that many Jews came to Rome as slaves, but were soon set free (legatio 23. 155). Moreover, many Jews took lofty Rom. names for themselves and, except for the fact that they are buried in the Jewish catacombs, would not have been recognized as Jews.

Bibliography M. Besnier, Les Catacombes de Rome (1900); O. Marucchi, Le Catacombe romane (1933); P. Styger, Die romische Katacombe (1935); H. J. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome (1960).