Catacombs of San Sebastiano

The Catacombs of San Sebastiano are a hypogeum cemetery in Rome , rising along Via Appia Antica, in the Ardeatino Quarter.
They are one of the very few Christian burial places that have always been accessible. The first of the former four floors is now almost completely destroyed.

In ancient times the catacombs were simply known with the name in catacumbas, a Greek term composed by two words, katà and kymbe, literally meaning "close to the cavity". Actually, along the Appian Way, close to the cemetery, an evident dip in the ground is visible even now. Moreover, before its employment as a burial ground, the area was occupied by pozzolan mines, now placed about ten meters above the floor of the Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura: these mines gave rise to a pagan cemetery, then used by Christians. The word catacumbas, through a process of extension and assimilation, was gradually used to identify all the hypogeum burial sites, thus simply called catacombs.

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