Tag: Underworld
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Virgil was a sorcerer?
Publius Vergilius Maro (traditional dates 15 October 70 – 21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars consider his…
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Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Herculaneum (Neapolitan and Italian: Ercolano) was an ancient Roman town, located in the modern-day comune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of Pompeii, Herculaneum is famous as one of the few ancient cities to be preserved nearly intact, as the ash that blanketed the town protected it against…
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The Grotta di Cocceio is an ancient Roman tunnel connecting Lake Avernus with Cumae, dated 38-36 BC
The Grotta di Cocceio (Cocceius’ Tunnel) is an ancient Roman tunnel nearly a kilometre in length connecting Lake Avernus with Cumae and dating from 38-36 BC. It was burrowed through the tuff stone of Monte Grillo by the architect Lucius Cocceius Auctus at the command of Agrippa who was in the process of converting the Lake into a military port, the Portus Julius. The tunnel was wide enough to…
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The Bourbon Tunnel
The Bourbon Tunnel, Tunnel Borbonico or Bourbon Gallery (Italian: Galleria Borbonica) is an ancient underground passage, constructed for military purposes to connect the Royal Palace to military barracks in Naples, Italy. The monarchy in the era of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon was fearful of the revolution-prone populace of Naples. Errico Alvino was commissioned to construct a military passage for troops connecting the Royal Palace of Naples to Via…
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Crypta Neapolitana, Virgil’s Tomb and more
The Crypta Neapolitana (Latin for “Neapolitan crypt”) is an ancient Roman road tunnel near Naples, Italy. It was built in 37 BC and is over 700 metres long. The tunnel connected Naples with the so-called Phlegrean Fields and the town of Pozzuoli along the road known as the via Domiziana. Via Domiziana is the modern name for the Via Domitiana in the Campania region of Italy, a major Roman road built in 95 AD under (and…
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Catacombs of Saint Gaudiosus
Are you ready for a journey into the macabre underbelly of Naples? Welcome to the Catacombs of San Gaudioso, where the dead don’t just rest – they put on a show! Nestled beneath the bustling Rione Sanità district, these 4th-century catacombs are a veritable playground for the morbidly curious. Here’s what awaits you in this…
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Manes or Di Manes
In ancient Roman religion, the Manes or Di Manes are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the Lares, Lemures, Genii, and Di Penates as deities (di) that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category of di inferi, “those who dwell below,” the undifferentiated collective of divine dead. The Manes were honored during the Parentalia and Feralia in February.…
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Ceres, Roman goddess
In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome’s so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as “the Greek rites of Ceres”. Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales (Ceres’ games). She was also honoured in the May lustration (lustratio) of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival: at…
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Keres, bloodthirsty death spirits in Greek Mythology
In Greek mythology, the Keres (/ˈkɪriːz/; Ancient Greek: Κῆρες), singular Ker (/ˈkɜr/; Κήρ), were female death-spirits. They were the goddesses who personified violent death and who were drawn to bloody deaths on battlefields. Although they were present during death and dying, they did not have the power to kill. All they could do was wait and then feast on the dead. The…
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Umbilicus and Mundus (Roman Forum) and a depiction of Ceres holding a caduceus on a CSA $10 note
The Umbilicus Urbis Romae (“Navel of the City of Rome”) was the symbolic centre of the city from which, and to which, all distances in Ancient Rome were measured. It was situated in the Roman Forum where its remnants can still be seen. These remains are located beside the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Vulcanal, behind the Rostra. Originally covered in marble, the Umbilicus is…
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Seven heavens notes
In religious or mythological cosmology, the seven heavens refer to seven levels or divisions of the Heavens. The concept, also found in the ancient Mesopotamian religions, can be found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; a similar concept is also found in some other religions such as Hinduism. Some of these traditions, including Jainism, also have a concept of seven earths or seven underworlds both with the metaphysical realms of deities and with observed…
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A columbarium is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremains of the dead
A columbarium (pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin columba (dove) and originally solely referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons, also called dovecotes. Background Roman columbaria were often built partly or completely underground. The Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas is an ancient Roman example, rich in frescoes, decorations, and…
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Brno Ossuary holds the remains of over 50 thousand people
Brno Ossuary is an underground ossuary in Brno, Czech Republic. It was rediscovered in 2001 in the historical centre of the city, partially under the Church of St. James. It is estimated that the ossuary holds the remains of over 50 thousand people which makes it the second-largest ossuary in Europe, after the Catacombs of Paris. The ossuary was founded in the 17th century,…
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San Bernardino alle Ossa, Milan
San Bernardino alle Ossa is a church in Milan, northern Italy, best known for its ossuary, a small side chapel decorated with numerous human skulls and bones. In 1210, when an adjacent cemetery ran out of space, a room was built to hold bones. A church was attached in 1269. Renovated in 1679, it was destroyed by a…
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Catacombs of Lima, Peru
The Catacombs of Lima (Spanish: Catacumbas de Lima) are underground ossuaries in the historic centre of Lima, Peru. The catacombs were built under the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco and currently function as a museum. History In 1546, the Franciscan order began construction of the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco in Lima, which included the catacombs, built to support the convent in the event of an earthquake. The crypt’s use as a cemetery continued for almost…
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An arcosolium is an arched recess used as a place of entombment
An arcosolium, plural arcosolia, is an arched recess used as a place of entombment. The word is from Latin arcus, “arch”, and solium, “throne” (literally “place of state”) or post-classical “sarcophagus“.[dubious – discuss] Early arcosolia were carved out of the living rock in catacombs. In the very earliest of these, the arched recess was cut to ground level. Then a low wall would be…
