Swedish Research in 

San Lorenzo in Lucina 

(Rome) 

First page 

Why San Lorenzo in Lucina? 
 

THE EXCAVATIONS  

ROMAN AND    
EARLY CHRISTIAN    
PHASES   

AN EARLY CHRISTIAN  
BAPTISTERY 

INSCRIPTIONS    
AND FINDS  

LINKS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 
  

Made by: Olof Brandt  

Swedish Institute in Rome  
Web page:   
http://www.svenska-institutet-rom.org  
Via Omero 14  
I-00197 Rome, Italy  
E-mail: isvroma@vatlib.it  

 The fourth century funerary inscription of Flavia Hilarina

  
  

Latin text:   Fl(aviae) Hilarinae   quae vixit [annos---]   d(ies?) VI [---]   Translation: To Flavia Hilarina who lived [? years] and was buried [date]   The shape of the letters points to a date after the beginning of  the fourth century.   A "d", time and religion  if the "d" stands for "dies", "days", the author of the text carefully indicated the exact length of the life of Hilarina in years, months and days. Ancient funerary inscriptions show that time was very important but in a different way: often no year was indicated.   The "d" can also be interpreted as an abbreviation for "deposita", "buried", which is a Christian expression; or as the beginning of the word "dulcis", "sweet".  Only if the "d" stands for "deposita" there would be a clear sign of Christianity in the inscription.  The empty space in the beginning of the last line shows that the last line probably was symmetrically placed at the centre. This means that there were few words after the "d", which then most probably was the beginning of "dies". If this is correct, there is no explicit sign of Christianity in the text. However, the shape of the slab is exactly that of the tombs, loculi, in the Christian catacombs, and it is extremely probable that Hilarina was a Christian woman. Perhaps her tomb was among the many which were destroyed when the Popes Liberius and Damasus in the second half of the fourth century began to excavate crypts around the tombs of the martyrs in the catacombs.  For more details: Olof Brandt, "Un'iscrizione riutilizzata da S. Lorenzo in Lucina", Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 70, 1994, 197-201.