the depositio martyrum (list of martyrs) – likewise points in this direction: the
martyrs were separated from the family (gens) and handed over to the whole church
to be venerated (ILCV1.953 – 6, 958, 960 –1, 1996, 2001).
Some martyrs’ graves from the period around 250 until the shift under
Constantine have been proven, or rendered likely, by archaeology. According to
the depositio martyrum, the church in Rome had begun to celebrate the days of the
martyrs at their tombs from the first half of the third century at the latest. Open
meeting-places were sufficient for congregations above ground to commemorate the
dead and the martyrs, thanks to the mild climate. They were protected by arcades
and porticos similar to the so-called tricliaunderneath S. Sebastiano, which served
the fervent veneration of Peter and Paul by Christians from Italy and overseas (Africa?)
from about 240 – 60 (258 according to the depositio martyrum). The graffiti of the
tricliashow that feasts for the dead (refrigeria) in honor of Peter and Paul were
“promised” or “arranged,” that is, banquets and meals for the poor were provided
in honor of the apostles. Presumably Christians could accept the church’s ban on
participating in epula publicaby legitimating their feasts for the dead as celebrations
of the martyrs.
The Constantinian Shift
When Constantine surprisingly achieved an overwhelming victory over his rival
Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312, he was convinced that he owed
it to the Christian god. His triumphal adventusin the city on October 29 ended at
the foot of the Capitol by the Tria Fata, a memorable place where once martyrs
had refused to ascend the Capitol to avoid having to sacrifice to Jupiter (Fraschetti
1999: 239). Christianity now fully entered into the public sphere. Without delay
Constantine had imposing churches built and endowed them richly: inside the city
the Church of the Savior at the Lateran as early as 312–13 (later also S. Croce in
Gerusalemme), on the suburban cemeteries – where documented, each related
closely to the location of martyrs – St. Peter (Vatican) around 319–22, St. Paul
(Via Ostiense), St. Laurentius (Via Tiburtina), St. Marcellinus and Petrus (Via
Labicana), probably the anonymous basilica on the Via Praenestina, and likely as
one of the first the “Basilica of the Apostles” ad catacumbas (Via Appia), later
called St. Sebastian.
Constantine erected some of these churches on imperial land above the catacombs.
His role as pontifex maximusallowed him to override the sacral property law, which
protected graves. Thus he leveled the cemetery of the Vatican in favor of the tomb
of St. Peter and dismantled the graves underneath the “Basilica of the Apostles.”
First of all Constantine wished to honor the martyrs, not only with the basilicas of
Peter and Paul on the overground cemeteries of the Vatican and the Ostian and
Appian Ways, but also with the “circus-shaped” basilicas above the catacombs. Even
if all these edifices contained many graves right from the beginning, it is unlikely
that their primary function was to create covered cemeteries. This would not have
required their exceptionally rich decoration and endowments. Rather, they were real
412 Stefan Heid