The church of SMaria antiqua . le ; the field is surrounded by a black line. Thesurface of the rock is very uneven, and has not been smoothed before beingstuccoed. Over the arch itself are traces of painting. Beyond this picture thepassage (which has quite recently been cleared out) continues for 41 m.,with a height of about r8o and a width of about 0*90, and then endsabruptly. The grotto must be the shrine of some secret worship, or atleast of some cult practised by preference underground. The prevalenceof such cults in this district is illustrated by the following funeral inscrip-tion, which
The church of SMaria antiqua . le ; the field is surrounded by a black line. Thesurface of the rock is very uneven, and has not been smoothed before beingstuccoed. Over the arch itself are traces of painting. Beyond this picture thepassage (which has quite recently been cleared out) continues for 41 m.,with a height of about r8o and a width of about 0*90, and then endsabruptly. The grotto must be the shrine of some secret worship, or atleast of some cult practised by preference underground. The prevalenceof such cults in this district is illustrated by the following funeral inscrip-tion, which I copied near the Osteria dell Osa (published in Bull. , 41 from my copy). It is cut on a slab of white marble 35 X 45 X 3cm. The letters are 35 mm. high in the first three lines, 25 in the last four, 1 See also the same authors New Tales of Old Koine, p. 192. 2 This star is not shown in the engraving, as it did not appear in the photographs from whichthis was made. Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna.—I. 179. Fig. 6.—Painting in the Grotta di Saponara. N 2 180 The British School at Rome. and their style is that of the second or third century. It had, however,been used in a later burial, and was placed, with the letters downwards,under the head of a corpse. The letters themselves are still filled withcement. •D- & -M- VERVS SACERDOSLIBERI PATRIS-ITEM-SOLIS INVICTIDOMVM AETERNAM-BAEBIAE-BERAE MATRI ? ET ? BAEBIAEsic TROFIMENI SORORI • ET ? PACCIAE SAL sic SAL-VISTIAE CONIVGI-SE VIVO SVIS sic ET POSTERISQVE AEORVM -FECIT- Between Ponte di Nona and the Osteria dell Osa (no further detailsare given) was found an altar dedicated to Hercules { xiv. 2789 = ), and a fragment of a slab bearing a dedication to a deity whose namehas perished { xiv. 2792). V—Gabii and its Neighbourhood. Just after the Osteria dell Osa the ancient Via Praenestina leaves themodern carriage road (which, as has been said, follows the line of anancient one) on the lef
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectchurchd, bookyear1902
