The site was originally called 'ad catacumbas' or, according to the most common explanation, 'near the quarry', due to the presence of ancient pozzolana quarries. Through habitual usage, this place name was then used to mean the Christian underground cemeteries, known today as catacombs. As often happened in ancient times, the quarry was adapted by Christians into the cemetery, with modest burial places such as loculi and arcosoli.
The Christian community, given the large number of its members, the inumation process and the high cost of suburban land, continued to dig the tuff quarry to form a network of 12 km of underground tunnels divided into three levels. Before the advent of Christianity the Romans called their burial places "nekropolis", a Greek word meaning city of the dead.
The first Christians, on the other hand, preferred to call their burial grounds 'cemetery', from the Greek 'koimào' which means 'to sleep'. Along the underground galleries you will notice the great variety of tombs and decorations. Each tomb had its own small mark to be recognized, such as an object or a simple fragment of a lamp, a coin, a cup bottom, jewelry, or a child's toy.
In many cases, a name scratched on the closing mortar has handed down to us the memory of the deceased. The burial of the martyr Sebastian was a fundamental event for the development and notoriety of the catacomb, and the veneration of this witness of God caused profound changes within the catacomb. Thanks to his presence, places near his venerated tomb were increasingly sought out.
