Catacombs,
the usual term for rock-hewn burial grounds, which were in widespread use until the 6th C. Although catacombs were not the prerogative of any one religious group, or limited to a single region (witness Naples, Syracuse, and Alexandria), they are commonly associated with Christianity, under whose aegis they flourished, and the city of Rome, where the largest body of them has been discovered. From the 3rd C. Roman Christians largely buried their dead in extramural subterranean tombs composed of networks of corridors and cubicula that ranged in size from the small and presumably private (e.g., catacomb of Vibia), single-family complex to the large, multistoried structure housing thousands of tombs, administered by the church (e.g., catacombs of Calixtus, Domitilla). In the Roman catacombs all classes and ages were buried, in ... ...
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