Bible Encyclopedias
Catacombs

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

subterranean places of burial, generally found in regions of soft and easily excavated rock, such as granular tufa. The oldest are in Egypt; others are to be found in Syria, Malta, Persia, Greece, and South America. It is likely that most of them were originally quarries, which afterwards came to be used as places of burial for the dead or as hiding-places for the living. When the word catacombs is used alone, it applies generally to those of Rome, the soil around which city is undermined in various places, and the long labyrinths thus formed are "The Catacombs." There are catacombs at Naples resembling those at Rome; and also at Palermo and Syracuse. This article is devoted entirely to the Catacombs of Rome.

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