While the Catacombs are built in 4 levels, only the upper 2 levels are open to the public - most of the remains have been moved to the lower levels. The entire Catacomb covers about 7.4 acres underground. Our guide took her time and explained how the Catacombs were dug, who the martyrs were that were buried here and then how they decorated their tombs.
The Catacombs were dug and used by Christians. The Pagans build mausoleums and necropolis' which are cities for the dead. Typically the mausoleums were built above ground or exposed to the sky. Christians built catacombs where they would inter those who were dead - until the resurrection. About 40% of those buried in the Catacombs were children as infant mortality was high in the early Church. The fossori (those who were hired to dig the Catacombs), was a profession in Roman times who would dig out of the volcanic Tufta (a soft brown stone - almost like dirt) to create the tombs. Once they were dug, the moist air would turn the tufta into a kind of cement. When a person died, the fossori dug a niche for them, put their remains in the niche, wrapped in white garment (Think of your baptismal gown) and then covered them with some quick lime to speed along the decomposition process and place either terra-cotta or marble over the tomb with your name on it. Your family would come and place a catacomb lamp next to your tomb, and would return often to refill the oil, so you awaited the resurrection with a lamp at your side (think of the 10 virgins awaiting the bridegroom).
The wealthy would carve out burial crypts for the whole family, where each family member would get a niche and then they would decorate the niche with the scenes of from the story of salvation. From the Old Testament we saw multiple scenes associated with Baptism (Moses striking the rock and getting water from it from Exodus), Noah and the Ark (he looked like he was sailing around in a filing cabinet drawer), Daniel in the Lion's den, or of Jonah which pre-figures the resurrection.
Left side of the Arch - Moses striking Water from the Rock, Right side of the arch - Noah in the Ark
Back of the arch - the Blessed mother, Jesus and the Magi (there are only 2 depicted)
From the New Testament we saw scenes of the multiplication of the loaves, the Good Shepherd, The woman with the hemorrhage, the woman a the well, the Blessed Virgin Mary with Christ and the Magi, and then scenes of the Agape - or the communion meal that the early Christians celebrated. The scenes were all filled with hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come - which was filled with beauty, nature and a life of praising the Father.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd - coming to take his Sheep to his Father's sheepfold
We got out of the Catacombs just in time to catch a train and a bus to visit the Colosseum. The Colosseum is a spectacle on a grand scale. It is just massive, and it draws a crowd. We visited at 6 PM in the evening and thousands of people were there. Many came dressed up in fancy clothes to stage a picture with the Coliseum as a backdrop. I don't understand why - but John remarked how this struck him as odd. We saw a guy dressed as a Samurai (complete with sword) - looked cool but very out of place. Several people dressed to the "nines" and taking there time to take the perfect picture with the Colosseum as their backdrop. John thought this is part of crafting the "perfect life" narrative - it looks good but in realty is kind of hollow and self-focused. I wonder if this is related to establishing ones identity. Curious.
What really became clear is that the Colosseum manufactured death. The entire structure is designed as an entertainment machine that used the death of the innocent as entertainment for the masses. The "Games" involved the actual slaughter of people (not CGI, nor fake blood) for the purposes of entertainment. With the underworking's of the floor it was obvious that the Coliseum was a machine that produced death as a spectacle. The image below shows the floor of the Coliseum. On the right side in the center of the image you can see the ramps that the Romans built so they could spring out Gladiators, Lions, or Oxen or Bears to engage in combat with the victims - often Christians. In the foreground you see the complex system of rooms that made up the under-chambers of the Colosseum - where there were prison cells and cages for those to be sacrificed during the games.
In Chapter VIII of the Confessions, St. Augustine wrote about the powerful effect that the Games had on his friend Alypius in Rome at the Colosseum. "When they had arrived thither, and had taken their places as they could, the whole place became excited with the inhuman sports. But he (Alypius), shutting up the doors of his eyes, forbade his mind to roam abroad after such naughtiness; and would that he had shut his ears also! For, upon the fall of one in the fight, a mighty cry from the whole audience stirring him strongly, he, overcome by curiosity, and prepared as it were to despise and rise superior to it, no matter what it were, opened his eyes, and was struck with a deeper wound in his soul than the other, whom he desired to see, was in his body; he fell more miserably than he on whose fall that mighty clamor was raised, which entered through his ears, and unlocked his eyes, to make way for the striking and beating down of his soul, which was bold rather than valiant hitherto; and so much the weaker in that it presumed on itself, which ought to have depended on Thee. For, directly he saw that blood, he therewith imbibed a sort of savageness; nor did he turn away, but fixed his eye, drinking in madness unconsciously, and was delighted with the guilty contest, and drunken with the bloody pastime. Nor was he now the same he came in, but was one of the throng he came unto, and a true companion of those who had brought him thither. "
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