describes his sacrifice in the arena, in which the Christians too should participate in
order to encourage the lions, as a Eucharistic service in which he himself becomes
the sacrificial offering (Brent 1999: 231–3).
Archaeological evidence exists around 160 for the “victory monuments” of Paul
on the Via Ostiense and of Peter at the Vatican, which were already “shown” to
foreigners (Eus. HE2.25.7, cf. 4.22.2–3) (fig. 28.1). In the mid-third century we
hear of Christian “cultic sites,” amongst them the coemeteria(HE7.13). This could
also refer to those spots in cemeteries where martyrs were venerated (Rebillard 2003a:
16). When bishop Sixtus II arrived at a coemeteriumwith four deacons during the
Valerian persecution of Christians despite an interdict (Acta proconsularia Cypriani
1; Eus. HE7.11.10), it was surely in order to commemorate a martyr (Cyprianus,
Epist.80.1).
The burials of the martyrs under, and partly above, ground were neither separate
nor privileged. Nevertheless the bishops assumed authority over these graves (and
later on the complete cemeteries) because of their public interest. For this reason
they kept lists of those confessors who were threatened with a martyr’s death, not
only to appeal to the public authorities on their behalf but also in order to return
the bodies of exiled witnesses to Rome (Hippolytos, Refutatio9.12.10). The fact
that epitaphs on the martyrs’ tombs display only the name of the individual – as in
The Romanness of Roman Christianity 411Figure 28.1 Reconstruction of the memoriaof Peter at the Vatican during the second
half of the second century (Fiocchi Nicolai 2001: 13). R, R′, S, M, J =tombs.