Catacombs

kat'a-koms, subterranean burial vaults. The custom of depositing the dead in cavern-like passages excavated in rock appears to be widespread. Catacombs have been found in Phoenicia, Asia Minor, on the coasts of Africa and Cyprus and Syria, Persia, Upper Egypt, Sicily, and elsewhere. Even the Aztecs of Central America deposited bodies, perhaps to the extent of millions, in rocky caverns which they enlarged and extended for the purpose. Abraham, it may be remembered, bargained with the children of Heth for the cave of Macpelah in which to bury his dead.

The most extensive catacombs known are those excavated by the early Christians in the tufa or volcanic rock underlying the Campagna, or plain, near the city of Rome. The Romans cremated, but the Christians adopted the Jewish mode of burial. These catacombs were made by the early Christians as a place of burial, but came also to be used for refuge. Chapels and places for holding public worship were excavated in connection with them. The total length of the passages is from 350 to 900 miles. It is thought that they contain the bones of over 6,000,000 people. Many chambers, or vaults, are arranged along the sides of the passages. Those of important families appear to have been marked with slabs of stone bearing suitable inscriptions.

Extensive catacombs are also found near Naples, and underground at Cairo. In excavating the stone of which the principal buildings of Paris are constructed the quarrymen extended their works to great distances beneath the surface of the city, leaving pillars to uphold the roof. When it became desirable to use the church cemeteries within the city for other purposes, the bones were collected and deposited in these old quarries, and they became places of burial. It is said that the catacombs of Paris contain several times as many people as now dwell within the city. Visitors accompany the officials on their periodical visits of inspection. The air of the catacombs is pure and dry. They are guarded carefully by the police to prevent their becoming the haunts of criminals. Guides carrying wax tapers conduct the party downward to a distance of seventy feet. There are many objects of special interest, including an underground chapel, memorial tablets, and a museum of curiosities. Some of the passages are hung with ghastly festoons of skulls and thigh bones. However desirous the visitor may be to visit these silent realms of death, he is thankful to reach the outer world again.