Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2120
Funerary inscription of the Presbyter Romanus. Rome, AD 461 or 482.
hic quiiscit Romanus pbb., / qui sedit pbb. ann. XXVII, m. X. / dep. X kal. Augus. / con. Severini v. cl.
 
(ed. Diehl 1961, no. 1133)
Presbyter Romanus reposes here. He sat as a presbyter for 27 years, 10 months. He was deposited on the 10th day before the Kalends of August [23 July] when Severinus, vir clarissimus, was the consul [461 or 482].
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The consular date may refer to Flavius Severinus, the consul in AD 461, or Severinus Iunior, the consul in AD 482. There are some grafitti at the same cemetery by a presbyter Romanus. We follow Carletti, Felle, and Rüpke in considering him a different person.
According to Rüpke: "It is uncertain whether he is the same as a presbyter Romanus who left his name in three graffiti in the same cemetery, and who was the brother of a monk named Sergius. Against this hypothesis is the fact that graffiti are usually by pilgrims, and would thus indicate an extra-urban presbyter".
On the other hand, Carletti thinks that this Presbyter Romanus could be the author of the grafitti at the same cemetery, with the first line of the Psalm 22 and signature: Romanus (ICUR V, 15940; Epigraphic Database Bari no. 10979, with illustration).

Place of event:

Region
  • Rome
City
  • Rome

About the source:

Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The epitaph was found in the cemetery of St Marcellinus and Peter in Rome. It is now in the Vatican Museum. It is a marble slab 83 x 90,3 x 1,7 cm, with the letters from 4,9 to 6,7 cm. The inscription is reconstructed in two versions (ICUR 16001a and b), with the Greek cross at the top or at the bottom, and with the number of the years of Romanus in presbyterate varying from 27 to 28.
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari no. 302 (with illustration)
Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae, Nova Series, 6,  16001
E. Diehl (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1, ed. 2., Berlin 1961, no. 1133.
Bibliography:
C. Carletti, Epigrafia dei cristiani in occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi, Bari 2008, no. 105, p. 211-212.
 
J. Rüpke, Fasti sacerdotum: a prosopography of pagan, Jewish, and Christian religious officials in the city of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499, Oxford 2008, no. 2911, Romanus (3), p. 869.

Categories:

Burial/Funerary inscription
Functions within the Church - Urban presbyter
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Devotion
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2120, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2120