Loculi within the arcosoleum of the mausoleum.

As we move toward an understanding of the transition from martyrdom to the veneration of martyrs we can do so through an understanding of the iconography of the martyr-hero in terms of feast, image, heroa, and dome. Here ...

Model of projected shelter for refrigeria at site for mausolea.

Model of apse of San Sebastiano showing original mausolea attached but outside the church on sloping ground.

Close up of feast of the martyr-hero evidenced by fish on the tripod table. Fresco at the catacomb of Pietro e Marcellino

The custom of the feast honoring the dead was occasionally carried to the extreme of running a pipe from the surface down to the buried sarcophagus in order that wine could be poured into the sarcophagus to include the ...

Stairs leading down to the mausolea beneath San Sebastiano. Three early 2nd century mausolea are beneath San Sebastiano.

One might also note the undulating landscape which originally gave its name to the catacombs. Pilgrims said that they were going to "ad catacumbas", or the hollows--meaning the hollows around the church of San Sebastiano. ...

Portraiture in veneration of the deceased. Portraiture of deceased with Dionysas inscription.

Friar standing near the entrance to the three mausolea entrances.