The church of SMaria antiqua . ft by the dispensator Eustathius at S. Maria in Cosmedin already referred to?(p. 44, n. 2). It begins thus : Hacc tibi praeclcva virgo caelestis regina. 5 Lib. Pont., ii. 132. Cf. 128, and i. 432. The best known instance is the inscription in recording the gift to the church of a Bible by the presbyter Gregorius in the time Grisar, Anal. Rom. i. 123, 172, T. iv. 2. S. Maria Antiqua. 105 importance were found with the skeletons which the graves contained,1 wemay assume that they belonged to the same period as the main decorationsof the bui
The church of SMaria antiqua . ft by the dispensator Eustathius at S. Maria in Cosmedin already referred to?(p. 44, n. 2). It begins thus : Hacc tibi praeclcva virgo caelestis regina. 5 Lib. Pont., ii. 132. Cf. 128, and i. 432. The best known instance is the inscription in recording the gift to the church of a Bible by the presbyter Gregorius in the time Grisar, Anal. Rom. i. 123, 172, T. iv. 2. S. Maria Antiqua. 105 importance were found with the skeletons which the graves contained,1 wemay assume that they belonged to the same period as the main decorationsof the building, the eighth and possibly the succeeding century. Mostof the graves, each of which held several bodies, were constructed of ancientmaterials and on the following plan (Fig. 7). The walls, which were ofcourse common to two parallel graves, were built of brick and fragments ofstone and marble. The floor, in the best preserved cases, was formed bya single slab, regularly pierced with holes for drainage. In other cases. Fig. 7.—Section and Plan of Graves in S. Maria Antiqua. the floor was paved with large square tiles. Each grave, lying, as it didin most cases, parallel to the axis of the building, opened at the endnearest to the entrance { the ) into a square chamber which we maysuppose was covered by a movable slab in the floor of the church, so thatbodies could be introduced through it without removing the pavementabove the grave In one case at least this chamber was approachedby two or three steps down from the level of the floor above, and in 1 Generally speaking, all the graves in and about the church were found to have been rifled inlater times. 2 The same method was followed in Rome till recent times. The square slabs closing the•opening are a familiar feature in the floors of Roman churches. 106 The British School at Rome. another it opened into a grave at either end ; but the normal arrange-ment was for each grave to have its separate entran
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