Jewish Catacombs of Rome

Tra i tanti scavi eseguiti da padre Fasola nelle catacombe di Roma, quelli effettuati nelle catacombe ebraiche di Villa Torlonia sono senz'altro fra i più interessanti e importanti 2 . Prima di parlare di questi lavori e di analizzare come padre Fasola ha contribuito in modo determinante alla nostra conoscenza della comunità ebraica nell'antica Roma, credo che sia opportuno spendere qualche parola sulla persona di padre Fasola. Un breve preludio inteso non solo a rendere omaggio a padre Fasola in occasione di questo bel convegno dedicato alla sua memoria e ai suoi lavori scientifici, bensì a capire anche le fondamenta dei contributi dello studioso nel campo dell'archeologia ebraica di Roma.

Early Christian art, which evolves in late antique figurative culture, proposes extensive and cyclical representations, but especially abbreviated expressions, to the point of involving symbols. In addition to the essential signs of the anchor, the fish, the sheep, the ship and the lighthouse, naturally deriving from the great cosmic, bucolic and maritime images, arise the first biblical scenes, mainly abbreviated, but also small cycles, such as the turbulent story of Jonah. The symbols/signs and the pictorial cycles have surprising comparison with the contemporaneous Jewish Art, showing a multi-religious attitude in the ideological culture of Late Antiquity.

The article focuses on the author's research on the chronographical background of the Zodiac Mosaic Calendar in Synagogue at Hammath-Tiberias. He researched to find the origin of mosaic decoration, the twelve zodiac sign, the four seasons, and Helios, which was found in synagogues in two parts of Palestine, Galilee and Judah. The chronograph of the mosaic art was extensively debated. The author further studied the history of Palestine Jews in the 4th century. Most of the work was done during the period of Hillel II.
The author concludes that the mosaic from the Stratum IIa synagogue with the Zodiac Calendar was executed in the time of Hillel II, who said to have died around 365 CE. He proposes the new date of the execution of the Zodiac Mosaic from Hammat-Tiberia (Stratum IIa) after the earthquake in 363, that is, in 364 or 365.

This advance copy of an article in press discusses the archaeological evidence of an ancient Roman necropolis below the Villa Torlonia in Rome.  The Jewish catacombs should not be seen as “isolated” from this greater context, and both material and literary evidence suggest that, in all probability, the underground cemeteries remained at least partially accessible in medieval times.  The article contains previously unpublished illustrations of Jewish artifacts from Rome and documentation of other catacombs known to have existed in the site.

Session One (Sunday): Communities and Contexts

Marginal or Monumental?  “Kokhim” in the Catacombs of Rome

Is there a distinctly “Jewish” type of funerary architecture employed in the catacombs of Rome?  This contribution examines the arrangements of the tomb form known as the “kokh” (pl. “kokhim”) within certain areas of the catacomb of the Vigna Randanini in Rome, drawing attention to their characteristics and organization in light of the kokh’s limited presence in the other catacombs of Rome in the third and fourth centuries CE.  The majority of Jews in this site – as elsewhere in Rome – buried their dead in a typically Roman fashion, using the most simple and common methods available to create a tomb.  The evidence of kokhim is concentrated in three small underground complexes or hypogaea that were excavated independently, and with very different points of origin, before being integrated into a larger, communal cemetery also used by Jews.  This situation is consistent with the development of distinctly “Jewish” and “Christian” underground cemeteries in the suburbs of Rome beginning in the third century CE, as the communal necropoleis appear to have been de-emphasized for largely homogeneous sites.  The Vigna Randanini catacomb thus exhibits signs of Jewish burial activity coupled with innovations in local cemetery design to create a uniquely Jewish cemetery on a scale not previously seen for this community in Rome.

Our topographical analysis of the site, including a complete inventory of the seventy or so kokhim revealed thus far and a new map of their situation, illustrates the distinct ways in which the “Randanini kokhim” are distributed and designed.  Some kokhim are strikingly uniform in their shape and dimensions; others have their inner shafts enlarged in an idiosyncratic fashion to accommodate additional tombs.  They can be one of many forms of burial in a “hybrid” setting, or be featured prominently in an environment that seems to have been created with exactly this form of tomb in mind.  With nearly every kokhim now violated and reduced to a simple cavity in the tuff, it is this data that must be collected and studied to help us to broaden our understanding of the appearance of this tomb in the Vigna Randanini catacomb and better define its structural relationship to variations on the kokh or tomb “a forno” in other subterranean funerary spaces in Rome.  This is a particularly critical process, because the design is quite rare in Rome, and outside of the Vigna Randanini catacomb is most often found in what have been termed “private” catacombs, in which a certain manner of coexistence between pagan and non-pagan patrons or clientele is preserved.  Almost none of the cemeteries in question have been adequately documented or restored, let alone definitively labeled as “pagan”, “Jewish” or “Christian”.  We explore, then, the possible motives for the inclusion of this distinctive tomb design in the development of these sites, and whether or not it can connect to certain religious beliefs or other expressions of identity in late ancient Rome. 

Session One (Monday): Practice and Politics 

Chair: Ruth Langer

“Teach Your Daughters Wailing”: mMo’ed Qatan 3:8-9 and the Gendering of Tannaitic Funeral Practice" Gail Labovitz (American Jewish University)

This paper will explore particularly the activities which the tannaitic authors imagine women to undertake as part of the funeral process, using mMo’ed Qatan 3:8-9 as a point of entry. Integrating biblical, rabbinic, Greco-Roman, and Christian materials, questions to considered here include: was public mourning a professional role for rabbinic women, what was the nature of women’s activities and laments at funerals, did the forms of lament and praise for the deceased offered at the funeral differ (materially and/or in terms of their social valuation) if offered by men or by women, why might these roles have been assigned especially to women?

“Staging Jewish death at the turn of the Medieval Era” Sylvie Anne Goldberg (EHESS)

The Treatise Semahot (3rd century) shows that during the Antiquity, death and all that surrounds it were subjected to special ceremonials: professional mourners, weeping, elegies, first burial and second-burial are displaying a spectacular image of death. However, this staging of death has undergone many changes over time. As it is well known that many rituals, customs, and prayers were introduced during the Middle-Ages, this paper will therefore seek to focus on some of them selected on the basis of their material aspects, containing concrete representation of the approaches of death in the Jewish world at that time.

“From matsevah to Grabmal -- Central European gravestones as markers of Jewish cultural evolution” Jess Olson (Yeshiva University)

The most ubiquitous -- and historically useful -- pieces of material culture surrounding death in Jewish cultural history is the matsevah, the tombstone. For the most part, historians have approached these often complex works of sculpture in the modern period primarily as conveyances of demographic information, but the design of Jewish matsevot in the 19th and 20th centuries provides valuable, and unique insight into the evolving tastes and cultural identities of central European Jews. This paper will examine and interpret the evolution of these monuments in the context of evolving Jewish identity in Germany and Austria-Hungary between 1848 and 1914.

"In-between Graves: Space and Class in Cemetery Conflicts among the Jews of Interwar Poland" Daniel Rosenthal (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Toronto)

The growth of the urban Jewish population of Poland after the First World War strained existing cemetery infrastructure to such an extent that communities were forced to reorganize how burial space was allocated and defined. These changes to the use of space in sanctified burials grounds indicate how Jewish officials navigated their dual responsibilities to their poor constituency and to the new governmental bodies of the Second Polish Republic.

“History, science and religious politics: The archaeology of medieval Jewish cemeteries” Samuel D. Gruber (Syracuse University)

The 19th-century rediscovery and excavation of the Rue de la Harpe Jewish cemetery in Paris and the Jewish catacombs in Rome alerted and excited historians about the potential rewards of the archeology of European Jewish sites, including cemeteries, but for the most part little conscious effort was made to identify the locations or to methodically examine the remains of Jewish cemeteries until the 1980s, when again, like in 19th-century Paris, new urban development encroached on previously undisturbed burial grounds. This paper and discussion will examine recent methods of and finds from Jewish cemetery excavations in England, Spain, the Czech Republic and elsewhere, and how new discoveries have been greeted with enthusiasm and opposition by different quarters of the academic and religious Jewish communities.

Session Two (Tuesday): Archaeology and Imagined Communities

Chair: Eric Meyers

"City and Periphery - Jerusalem and Judean Burials during the Late Second Temple Period - An Archaeological Overview" - Boaz Zissu (Bar Ilan)

While the urban necropolis of Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period (2nd c. BCE-1st c. CE) has been thoroughly studied, the more distant Jewish rural areas have been mostly neglected. The proposed paper attempts to present an overview of the tombs' architecture, burial customs and chronology of Jewish burial in the Judean countryside vs. those of the urban center of Jerusalem during the 2nd c. BCE - 2nd c. CE.Fine

"Jewish Others: Visual Culture and Ethnic Identification at Beit Shearim" - Sean Burrus (Duke, Ph.D. Candidate)

The catacombs at Beit Shearim (ca. 200-400 CE) offer a chance to explore how disparate communities, the local Galilean and the diasporic, come together in the same funerary sphere. This paper will examine the role of visual culture in the Beit Shearim catacombs as a point of demarcation between communities.         

“Between Beit She’arim and Eden: Rabbinic reflection on the Tomb of Makhpelah” Steven Fine (Yeshiva University)

This paper explores the ways that ancient rabbis constructed their own vision of the biblical Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. It suggests that the rabbis imagined the tomb complex in ways that reflect monumental communal burial complexes of late antiquity, most notably those at Beit She'arim in the lower Galilee. It further argues that the rabbis project burial practices and attitudes toward the dead of their own time onto the Tomb of Machpelah.

"Marginal or Monumental? Kokhim in the Catacombs of Rome” -  Jessica Dello Russo (Northeastern University)

This contribution to the AJS seminar on "The Materiality of Jewish Death" examines the arrangement of multiple examples of the distinctive tomb type known as the "kokh" (pl. "kokhim") within certain areas of the catacomb of the Vigna Randanini in Rome, drawing attention to their unusual characteristics and organization in this particular site in light of their limited presence in the other catacombs in Rome and most other cemeteries outside of Palestine in the period of Late Antiquity.

Concluding Discussion"

Using data collected in the early Christian catacombs of St. Callixtus on the Appian Way and comparing these with data from the Jewish catacombs of Villa Torlonia on the Via Nomentana, this article discusses what sort of labor the building of the early Christian catacombs of Rome entailed, what kind of investment this required, and how these expenses related to the costs incurred in other big architectural projects dating to the same general period. It then explores the significance of these expenses by historically contextualizing the evidence in reference to current debates on the issue of early Christian catacomb organization, early Christian social history, and managerial developments within the early church. The article concludes by highlighting how economic feasibility was a major factor that allowed the early Christian catacombs to develop into huge communal cemeteries and how this development, in turn, affected early Christian identity formation. catacombs early Christianity socioeconomic history Late Antiquity Judaism identity formation burial practices

Dating catacombs precisely is an issue that has not been resolved satisfactorily until now. In this article we propose an entirely new way of tackling this issue, namely through radiocarbon dating. In addition to presenting the final results of our efforts, we also explore some of the interpretational difficulties that beset a proper evalution of the data. We conclude that this new approach has far reaching ramifications for the study of both the Jewish and the early Christian catacombs of Rome. 1

Please join us on Thursday, May 24, 2018 to celebrate Boston women who have enhanced our experience of ancient Greek, Jewish, and Roman Art.
The event will take place on Boston's historic Beacon Hill at Grogan & Company Auctioneers, 20 Charles Street, Boston, MA

Local artist Janet Shapero will be our guest speaker and discuss sources of inspiration for her celebrated "Rete Chrome" series from ancient Jewish tombs and other monuments of the Greco- Roman era, which she explored in the company of International Catacomb Society founder and longtime Beacon Street resident, Estelle Brettman. She also will discuss how traditional artisan training in Italy has shaped her artistic vision and her unique approach to revitalizing our ancient heritage.

There will also be a screening of Boston-based film director Karen Audette's award-winning short documentary, "The Nike Chariot Earring" (2016), starring Florence Z. Wolsky (1923- 2018), whose incredible drive and remarkable sleuthing skills led to the recovery of the priceless Greek earring, which had been stolen from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1963.

In between the presentation and screening, several friends and family members will speak about Florence as a scholar, a mentor, a mother, and dear friend.

A social hour with refreshments will precede the program and allow people to meet and mingle with others from Florence’s many circles of friendship in Boston and beyond and especially at the Museum of Fine Arts and the International Catacomb Society.

We hope to see you at this special event honoring the remarkable work and vision of women with deep roots in the Boston community.

If you are unable to attend, but would like to contribute in Florence’s name to the scholarship program of the International Catacomb Society that she was instrumental in founding to support research on the Ancient Mediterranean, please use the attached donation form or make a charitable contribution online at www.catacombsociety.org/give. All donations are tax-deductible, and will be named in the event program.

RSVP no later than Friday, May 18, 2018 to:
[email protected]

Nuovi dati sulla demografia della comunità giudaica di Roma Preambolo Ricordo benissimo il mio primo incontro con Cesare Colafemmina, a Bari, circa venti anni or sono. Camminando per le strade del vecchio quartiere ebraico, mi colpì il suo entusiasmo e la sua passione per la storia degli ebrei italiani, nonché la sua generosità, tale da permettere ai colleghi l'accesso a documenti e a materiali di difficile reperibilità, se non irrintracciabili. Questa sua passione è per me a tutt'oggi fonte d'ispirazione, avendo inoltre sempre tratto grande profitto dalle sue ricerche, puntualmente inviatemi nel corso della nostra conoscenza. 1 Non meraviglierà dunque che personalmente non abbia mai avuto il coraggio di scrivere qualcosa sulle catacombe giudaiche di Venosa, che visitai per la prima volta proprio con Cesare e che, come egli stesso ha mostrato, dev'essere considerato il sito più importante per documentare le metamorfosi subite dalla comunità giudaica italiana fra la tarda antichità e l'alto medioevo. Poiché gli interessi di Cesare vanno ben oltre le scoperte di Venosa, sono lieto di poter presentare in questa raccolta di studi in suo onore un saggio relativo a un'altra catacomba giudaica che, peraltro, conosco molto meglio di quelle venosine: il complesso cimiteriale di Villa Torlonia, sulla Via Nomentana, a Roma.

A selection of pages from a draft paper presented at the Urban Religion Spring School in Rome, 12-16 March 2018, organised by the Max-Weber-Kolleg Erfurt and UrbNet Aarhus. I offer some hypotheseis and new approaches to a renewed understanding of the "Jewish" inscriptions of, chiefly, the Vigna Randanini catacombs in Rome (the paper was presented in situ). It is part of a larger research project on Jewish sacred spaces in cities in the Roman Empire.

Archaeology and Text: Toward Establishing a Meaningful Dialogue between Written Sources and Material Finds.
National Library in Jerusalem and Ariel University, May 10-11 2015

Title: “Traditions of the Rock: Discerning and Defining Ancient Jewish Burial Grounds in Rome”

Speaker: Jessica Dello Russo, Executive Director, International Catacomb Society and Doctoral Candidate, Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology

Abstract: The modern discovery and exploration of the burial sites in Rome that have taken on the universal denomination of “catacombs” because of their structural similarities to each other and to an additional number of underground cemeteries in Italy associated with the early Christian martyrs’ cults reads like a heroic epic spanning generations of humanistic conquest and plunder of ancient Rome.  From the convivial countryside outings of erudite gentlemen in a still-decadent post-Reformation age to the sensational disclosures of the Vatican archaeologists at a time when only a miracle could save the Papacy’s temporal authority over Rome, the power and the glory of Roman Catholicism was made to emanate from the discovery of specific groupings of long-forgotten Roman dead.  Special regulations governing the access to and study of these burial sites were put into place by the Papal Curia at a very early period of the catacombs' detection and study, and the manner in which their artifacts were extracted and displayed also made “catacomb archaeology” a very distinct activity in the field, some would say even into our present time. 
A question that archaeologists have had to contend with time and time again is that of the catacombs’ “Christian” nature, that is, how the structural and material evidence of the tombs relates to the textual sources for early Christianity and maintain a degree of continuity of Roman Catholic devotional practices from antiquity to the present.  This is the point when the story reads more like a detective novel than a romance, for the evidence is not at all clear as to which aspects of Christian life and devotion are actually represented, especially in the earliest phases of the excavation and use of these sites for burial in late Imperial times. 
A key factor used both in support and in denial of the catacombs' special relationship to the early Church is the undeniable presence of Jewish tombs in collective underground settings in Rome – the “Jewish catacombs” that in form and function are virtually identical to their so-called “Christian” counterparts at the time the catacombs were simply places for burial, rather than the evocative settings for Medieval martyrs’ shrines.  How these non-Christian tombs were pushed to the margins of research into the catacombs until quite recently brings a uncertain note to the tale, and one that needs elaboration in order to clarify the presence of both Jews and Christians in the cemeteries of Late Ancient Rome. This paper to present at the "Archaeology and Text" conference identifies the critical periods of Roman catacomb history – from the time they were burial sites in antiquity to the point when they became a source of apologetic evidence for the Counter-Reformation Church and its later resistance to secularization – and examines how the sites long conveyed a universal statement of Christianity at the expense of an equitable documentation of their habitat and distribution that comprised as well of the tombs of many Jews.

Figure 1. Restoration work carried out between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries (that of 2001 numbered 1–11) in the Vigna Randanini catacombs. Adaptation of the 1984 PCAS plan.(F. Balzani, Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra ufficio tecnico: archives). Figure 2. Proposal of architect F. Balzani for interventions in the catacomb (2001).

Vaults of Memory offers twentieth-century viewers a record of the catacombs of Rome. Glimpses of the Jewish catacombs of Villa Torlonia and Vigna Randanini, as well as of Christian and pagan cemeteries, document the present condition of paintings still visible on the walls and ceilings of these underground burial places.

10 April 2018
For immediate release (SSGP 2018-2019)

2018-2019 Shohet Scholars Awards

The officers and directors of the International Catacomb Society are pleased to announce the Shohet Scholars of 2018-2019:

Michael Flexsenhar (Rhodes College, Religious Studies)
Jewish Imperial Life in Ancient Rome: The Agrippesioi and Augustesioi Synagogues

Justin Leidwanger (Stanford University, Classics)
The Marzamemi “Church Wreck” Project

Lindsey Mazurek (Bucknell University, Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies)
Mapping Religious Communities Across the Ancient Mediterranean - The Ostia Connectivity Project

We congratulate these scholars on the quality and impact of their work.

Sincerely,

Annewies van den Hoek
Chair of the Shohet Scholar Program Committee, Vice President, International Catacomb Society

Jessica Dello Russo
Program Administrator, Executive Director, International Catacomb Society

About the Shohet Scholars Grant Program:

The Shohet Scholars Grant Program funds research on the Ancient Mediterranean from the Hellenistic Era to the Early Middle Ages. Shohet Scholars may do their research in the fields of archeology, art history, classical studies, history, comparative religions, or related subjects. Of special interest are interdisciplinary projects that approach traditional topics from new perspectives. For more information about the Shohet Scholars Program and other activities of the International Catacomb Society, please visit: www.catacombsociety.org or contact:

International Catacomb Society
217 Hanover Street, Suite 130413
Boston, MA 02113
[email protected]

The International Catacomb Society desires to support scholars of demonstrated promise and ability who are judged capable of producing significant, original research within the sphere of the Mediterranean world from the late Hellenistic Period to the end of the Roman Empire. Of special interest are interdisciplinary projects that approach traditional topics from new perspectives.
One or more Shohet Scholars will be selected each year and supported for a period of one year. Grants may be made to seed innovative approaches and new ideas or to cover specific expenses or phases of a larger project under the direction of the applicant. At this time, awards in the range of $2,000 to $30,000 will be made.
The application deadline for 2017-2018 is January 15, 2017.

Thursday, December 3, 2015, 10-12 noon, Room 2241, Nyack College, 2 Washington Street, New York, NY
NYACK Graduate Program in Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins Colloquia Series on Reading the New Testament as Second Temple Jewish Literature
10-10:40: Jessica Dello Russo. "Figures in the Shadows: Contextualizing Jewish Tombs in the Catacombs of Rome"
10:40-11:20: Steven Notley. "Pontius Pilate: Discordant Images in a Historical Portrait"
11:20-12:00: Steven Fine. "Between Paidea and Sinai: Torah Shrines and the Visual Culture of Diaspora Jews"
Free and Open to the Public