Catacomb of Callixtus

Image: Wikimedia

Clavis number: ECMA 106

Other descriptors: none

Location: Cubiculum of the sheep, Catacomb of Callixtus (Callisto), Appian Way, Rome

Category: frescoes

Featured characters and locations: Moses (patriarch), Peter (apostle).

1. DESCRIPTION

Material: water colors on stone

Size: 18.7 × 23.6 cm

Image: The figure on the left (perhaps Moses, or at least evoking Exod 3:5: “put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground”) removes his shoes; God’s presence is shown by a hand reaching from above. On the right a bearded figure strikes a rock and produces water, caught by another figure. Literature on this image varies in identifying the bearded figure as Peter or Moses.

Date: ca. 4th cent. CE

Provenance: in situ

2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

The water miracle is found in the Martyrdom of Blessed Peter the Apostle, attributed to Linus, and the Passio of saints Processus and Martinianus:

But the guards of the prison, Processus and Martinianus, together with the other magistrates and those associated by way of their office, appealed to him, saying, “Lord, go where you wish, because we believe that the emperor has now forgotten about you. But that most wicked Agrippa, enflamed by lust for his concubines and the intemperance of his passion is eager to destroy you. If an order from the king were accusing you, then we would have a command concerning your execution from Paulinus—a very prominent man to whom you were handed over and from whom we received the order to guard you. After we believers in this region of the Mamertine prison were baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity in a spring brought forth from stone by prayers and the glorious sign of the cross, you went around as freely as you pleased. No one bothered you or would be doing so now, if the demonic fire that troubles the city had not taken over Agrippa so violently. For this reason we beg you, minister of our salvation, to do us this favor in return. Because you freed us from the chains of sin and demons, now depart free from prison and being fettered with chains—a cruelty that we are charged to enforce—not just with our permission but our request, for the salvation of so great a multitude.” (Lin. Mart. Pet. 5; trans. David L. Eastman, The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul [WGRW 39; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015])

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cartlidge, David R. and J. Keith Elliott. Art and the Christian Apocrypha. London and New York: Routledge, 2001 (pp. 162–64).

Cumbo, Cristina, and Fabio Cumbo. “GMS – Gammadiae Management System: cataloguing and interpretation project of the so-called gammadiae starting from the iconographic evidences in the Roman catacombs.” Conservar Património 31 (2019): 145–54.

Dresken-Weiland, Jutta. “The Role of Peter in Early Christian Art: Images from the 4th to the 6th Century.” Pages 115–34 in The Early Reception an Appropriation of the Apostle Peter (60–800 CE): The Anchors of the Fisherman. Edited by Roald Dijkstra. Euhormos 1. Leiden: Brill, 2020 (pp. 117–18).

Huskinson, Janet M. Concordia Apostolorum: Christian Propaganda at Rome in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries: A Study in Early Christian Iconography and Iconology. Oxford: B. A. R., 1982 (p. 132, fig. 45).

Moorsel, Paul van. “Il miracolo della roccia nella letteratura e nell’arte paleocristiane.” Rivista di archeologia cristiana 40 (1964): 221–51 (p. 244, fig. 9).

Spier, Jeffrey. Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007 (p. 239).

Wilpert, Joseph. Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms. 2 vols. Freiburg: Herder, 1903 (vol. 1, p. 423; vol. 2 p. 506, pl. 237, 2).

4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“Catacomb of Callixtus.” Wikipedia.

“Catacombe di San Callisto.” Churches of Rome.

Rome Reports. “Artwork from the Roman Catacombs.” Youtube. Posted 12 April 2011.

World Site Guides. “Catacombs of San Callisto, Rome.” Youtube. Posted 18 January 2011.

Entry created by Charles Mishiyev, under the supervision of Tony Burke, York University, 5 April 2021.