ANALECTA ROMANA - Det Danske Institut i Rom

Constructing Myths 1
ANALECTA ROMANA
INSTITUTI DANICI
EDENDA CURAVERUNT
OFFPRINT
XXXIII
2008
ROMAE MMVIII

ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI XXXIII
Accademia di Danimarca Via Omero, 18 - 00197 Rome
© 2008 Accademia di Danimarca
Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. — Vol. I (1960) — . Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
From 1985: Rome, «L’ERMA» di Bretschneider. From 2007 (online): Accademia di
Danimarca
ISSN 2035-2506
Redaktionskomité/Scientific Board/Comitato Scientifico
Ove Hornby (Bestyrelsesformand, Det Danske Institut i Rom)
Jesper Carlsen (Syddansk Universitet)
Astrid Elbek (Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium)
Karsten Friis-Jensen (Københavns Universitet)
Helge Gamrath (Aalborg Universitet)
Hannemarie Ragn Jensen (Københavns Universitet)
Mogens Nykjær (Aarhus Universitet)
Gunnar Ortmann (Det Danske Ambassade i Rom)
Marianne Pade (Aarhus Universitet)
Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen (Nationalmuseet, København)
Lene Schøsler (Københavns Universitet)
Poul Schülein (Arkitema, København)
Anne Sejten (Roskilde Universitet)
Redaktionsudvalg/Editorial Board/Comitato di redazione
Erik Bach (Det Danske Institut i Rom)
Patrick Kragelund (Danmarks Kunstbibliotek)
Gert Sørensen (Københavns Universitet)
Birgit Tang (Det Danske Institut i Rom)
Maria Adelaide Zocchi (Det Danske Institut i Rom)
The journal ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI (ARID) publishes studies
within the main range of the Academy’s research activities: the arts and humanities,
history and archaeology.
Intending contributors should get in touch with the editors. For guidelines, cf. homepage.
Accademia di Danimarca, 18 Via Omero, I - 00197 Roma, tel 0039-06 32 65 931 fax
06 32 22 717. E-mail: accademia@acdan.it

Contents
Antonella Mezzolani: I materiali lapidei nelle costruzioni di età fenicia e punica
a Cartagine
7
Gitte Lønstrup: Constructing Myths: The Foundation of Roma Christiana on 29
June
27
Jens Viggo Nielsen: ”L’Esistenzialismo non è un umanesimo” La dialettica come
approccio all’esistenzialismo di Luigi Pareyson
65
Lise Bek: Innocence Lost. Symbolism to Rhetoric in Architecture and the Renaissance
Concept of Invention
91

Constructing Myths:
The Foundation of Roma Christiana on 29 June
by Gitte Lønstrup 1
“Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the renovatio urbis, the foundation of a nova Roma by
Peter and Paul, was celebrated on 29 June, the same day as the anniversary of the foundation, or
refoundation, of Rome by Quirinus-Romulus.”
J. M. Huskinson 2
Abstract. According to the early Christian calendar, June 29 th was the day on which the Apostles Peter and Paul
were martyred in Rome, by this sacrifice bestowing upon the Roman Church a unique authority. Already Ireneaus
of Lyons (Adversus Haereses, 2 nd century) and Clement of Rome (The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, 1 st
century) had announced that these apostles were the pillars and foundation of the Roman Church. This claim was
later elaborated by Pope Damasus (366-384), during whose pontificate the cult of Peter and Paul was intensified, a
monumental epigram being erected in their honour at the so-called Memoria Apostolorum on the Via Appia outside
the city gates. On this common cult site, June 29 th was celebrated every year, a celebration not only of the sacrifice
of the Princes of the Apostles, but also of the foundation of the Roman Church.
According to the Fasti Venusini, a Roman calendar of the first century (16 BC-4 AD), June 29 th had once commemorated
the inauguration of a temple dedicated to Quirinus, the semi-mythical founder of Rome. This inauguration,
which Augustus seems to have been responsible for, is not, however, registered in any other preserved Roman
calendar. Nevertheless, the coincidental parallel occurrence of these two events on June 29 th has led scholars mistakenly
to claim that Christian Rome was founded on the same day upon which the Romans celebrated the city’s
foundation by Romulus Quirinus.
The present article aims at deconstructing this myth by careful analysis of the sources – Roman and Christian
calendars, basilicas and golden glasses, graffiti and marble epigrams. It argues that a celebration of Peter and Paul
on June 29 th in imitation of the festival of Quirinus is unlikely. This is not least because the commemoration of
the temple of pagan Rome’s legendary founder already seems to have been fading away when Ovid composed his
Fasti – the only other source which testifies, however vaguely, to the inauguration of the temple of Quirinus on
June 29 th .
If the foundation day of Rome was actually
celebrated on 29 June, as described in the
introductory quotation, the Christian appropriation
of this legendary day would be
intriguing. However, this event was not celebrated
on 29 June. Ancient sources and calendars
testify to the celebration of the foundation
of Rome on 21 April – even after the
Emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and
Arcadius had annulled several conventional
holidays in 389. 3
When reading in the Enciclopedia dei

28 Gitte Lønstrup
Papi (2000) I was intrigued by a comment
in the entry for Pope Damasus that 29 June
was “lo stesso giorno in cui i pagani celebravano
l’anniversario della fondazione di
Roma.” 4 This article has its origin in the
curiosity aroused on this occasion. I would
therefore like to examine the significance of
29 June in the calendars of both the ancient
Romans and the Roman Church, in order to
verify whether this day had any connection
to the traditional foundation day of Rome as
suggested in the quotations above.
Pope Damasus (366-384) was a central
figure in the creation of the myth about Christian
Rome, founded by Peter and Paul. 5 His
works constitute a corner stone of this study.
During his pontificate he composed between
60 and 80 poems carved into monumental
stone tablets (epigrams) which were placed
at the martyr tombs in the Roman catacombs
(Pl. I and Fig. 7). 6 Damasus had crypts constructed
in the catacombs specially designed
for the cultic and liturgical rituals which he
staged there. The pilgrims did not arrive at
the crypts until after they had passed through
a route, the itinera ad sanctos, 7 in the subterranean
network of streets whose endlessly
long, dark and narrow corridors, with tombs
from floor to ceiling, a permanent smell of
putrefaction, served as a constant reminder
to the believer that he/she was in the realm
of the dead. Then – as now – a visit to the
catacombs was an overwhelming experience,
as very clearly evoked by Jerome’s
description of such a visit:
We descended into the galleries, carved out
of the bowels of the earth, full of graves so dark
that the words of the Psalms [55, 16] ‘Let the
living sink into the Realm of Death’ seemed to
become real. The darkness which surrounded us
may be described through the words of Virgil:
‘Horror is dense everywhere, even silence thickens
with terror’ [Aeneid II. 755]. 8
The labyrinthine procession increased the
tension, which was eventually released upon
arrival to the Damasian crypt where single
rays of light penetrated the darkness and
reached the saint’s grave, decorated with an
epigram.The inscriptions, the atmospheric
rooms and the routes served to promote the
martyr’s cult in support of the myth of the
Christian foundation of Rome which Damasus
was in the process of constructing. The
purpose of this myth was to ensure Rome
the position as the authoritative diocese of
Christianity. The martyrdoms of Peter and
Paul, both celebrated on 29 June, 9 would
serve as the legitimisation of Apostolic authority.
These martyrdoms became absolutely
fundamental in the foundation of Roma
Christiana.
The term ‘myth’ must here be conceived
through two lenses: partly as a traditional
foundation myth, 10 in which mortal and immortal
figures appear (i.e. the martyrs); partly
through Roland Barthes’ theory of myths
introduced in his book Mythologies (1957).
According to Barthes, the myth is a phenomenon,
or a mechanism, which transforms historical
constructions and makes them appear
natural and self-evident. 11 Neither the subject
matter nor the source material of this article

Constructing Myths 29
have previously been studied through this
lens, but it proves highly applicable, both
in an analysis of the Christian foundation
myth as constructed by Damasus, and in
the scholarly myths attached to it, amongst
them the discussion of whether 29 June was
both the legendary and the Christian foundation
day of Rome.
29 June and other Significant Days in the
Roman Calendar
This is not the right occasion for an account
of the complex construction and history of
the Roman calendar. 12 The issues here are
29 June and holidays in the Roman calendar,
dedicated to the celebration of the
founders and the foundation of Rome. Julius
Caesar’s reform of the Republican calendar
in 46 BC should, however, be mentioned
by way of introduction. The structure
of the Julian system, which consists of 365
days divided into 12 months, is in principle
still valid, although it has been subjected to
an ongoing Christianisation, partly through
the inclusion of such Christian holidays as
Christmas and Easter; partly through the annulment
and the appropriation of traditional
holidays as when Pope Gelasius (492-96)
consecrated the day of LUPERCALIA (15
February) as the Feast of the Purification of
the Virgin Mary in 494. 13
The Fasti Antiates Maiores (84-55 BC)
is the only example of the Republican calendar,
which was replaced by the Julian calendar
that has been handed down to us. In
the month of junius the 29 June is in no way
emphasised. The most important days of the
month – marked with capital letters – were,
however, VESTALIA on 9 June and MAT-
RALIA on 11 June. Out of the 45 calendars
examined, 14 the date of 29 June has actually
only been preserved in the Republican
Fasti Antiates Maiores and in the following
Julian-Augustan calendars: the Fasti Maffeiani
(8 BC), the Fasti Esquilini (7 BC)
and the Fasti Venusini (16 BC - 4 AD), together
with Ovid’s poetic Fasti, and the two
calendars preserved in manuscript form: the
Fasti Philocaliani (354) and the Fasti Silvii
Polemii (449). The month of June is either
entirely or in part lost in the other calendars.
Among the seven relevant calendars, only
the Fasti Venusini and Ovid’s Fasti register
an event on 29 June. Ovid writes very
briefly: “When as many days of the month
remain as the Fates (Parcae) have names,
a temple was dedicated to thee, Quirinus,
god of the striped gown.” 15 Since there were
three goddesses of Fate (Nona, Decima and
Morta), this must refer to the antepenultimate
day of June. According to the Julian
calendar, the month of June had 30 days
(against 29 according to the Republican
calendar), so logically the antepenultimate
date should be 28 June. It was, however,
29 June. What logically should have been
the penultimate day of the months was indicated
by means of the Roman numeral
III, as can be seen in e.g. the Fasti Praenestini
(6 – 9 AD) (Fig. 1). The last day of
the month, i.e. 30 June, was marked PR for
priedie (which means “the day before”) and
counted as the penultimate day, whereas the
kalends itself (the first day of the month)

30 Gitte Lønstrup
Fig. 1. Fasti Praenestini, Rome, 6-9 AC, Palazzo
Massimo (photo: with permission from Il Ministero
per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza
Archeologica di Roma).
both counted as the last day (of June) and as
the first day of the next month (July). After
kalends you counted backwards from nones
which occurred either on the fifth or the seventh
day, depending on the length of the particular
month.
According to Ovid, a temple to Quirinus
was consecrated on 29 June. This is in accordance
with a note in the Fasti Venusini,
“Quirino in Colle”, which appears to indicate
a celebration for Quirinus on the Quirinal
Hill which was named after him. The
note is, however, written in smaller letters
as an indication that the celebration was not
among the 45 most important celebrations
of the year which, as already mentioned,
were marked by capital letters, as was the
case with the great Roman festival of the
QUIRINALIA. 16
The QUIRINALIA was celebrated on 17
February in honour of the divine founder
of Rome, Romulus-Quirinus. Romulus and
Quirinus were one and the same figure, as
Quirinus was the name given to Romulus after
his apotheosis. 17 The festival took place in
the middle of the so-called parentalia from
13 to 21 February when the Romans honoured
their dead. 18 On this day in the calendar,
abbreviated QUIR NP (Fig. 2), is noted
“Quirino” in the Republican Fasti Antiates
Maiores, “Quirino in Colle” in the Julian
calendars Fasti Caeretani, Fasti Praenestini
and Fasti Farnesini, and eventually “Quirinalia”
in Polemius Silvius’ calendar, written
60 years after the three Christian emperors
Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius
had annulled a series of traditional holidays
in 389. 19
The oldest temple to Quirinus, dedicated
by Lucius Papirius Cursor in 293 BC, was
most probably consecrated on the QUIRI-
NALIA of 17 February. 20 One may therefore
wonder how 29 June came into being. According
to Cassius Dio (164-229) the Emperor
Augustus rebuilt the temple to Quirinus
which was reconsecrated in the year
when Lucius Domitius [Athenobarbus] and
Publius [Cornelius] Scipio were consuls, i.e.
in 16 BC, which corresponds to the dating of
the Fasti Venusini (16 BC – 4 AD). 21 Cassius
Dio, however, mentions neither the day of
consecration nor the geographical position
of the temple; nor does Augustus, when he
mentions “aedem Quirini” in the Res Gestae
(19). Only in Ovid’s poetic Fasti and in
the Fasti Venusini is 29 June mentioned. If,
however, we assume that Augustus actually
did reconsecrate the temple on that day, what

Constructing Myths 31
Fig. 2. Fasti Caeretani (in which I have marked the following holidays: * 17 February, QUIRINALIA; ** 23
March, TUBILUSTRUM; *** 21 April, PARILIA), Rome, 12 BC, Musei Capitolini (NCE 2449)
(photo: Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini, Rome).
may have been the reason that he chose this
particular date rather than 17 February
Equinox, solstice, victories, birthdays and
other important events in the life of Augustus
provided occasions for the consecration
of buildings and the founding of holidays. 22
A victory would have been an obvious occasion
for the consecration of the Augustan
temple to Quirinus, since Quirinus was a god
of war. 23 Yet no victories were registered for
29 June. 24 The Emperor’s birthday might
also have provided an occasion, as he may
have wished, as suggested by Cassius Dio,
to celebrate his 26 years by means of the 26
columns in the temple to Quirinus. 25 Augustus’
birthday was, however, on 23 September,
which – according to ancient astrologers
– coincided with the birthday of Romulus. 26
This day was and is the autumnal equinox.
At both the vernal and the autumnal equinox,
Augustus’ sundial (Gnomon) would draw a
line from the dial in the West to the Altar of
Peace (Ara Pacis) in the East. At sunset the
ray would touch the entrance with its reliefs

32 Gitte Lønstrup
Fig. 3. Fasti Antiates Maiores, Rome, 84-55 BC, Palazzo Massimo (photo: with permission from Il Ministero per
i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma).
of Romulus and Aeneas. The entire cosmic
universe thus marked the birthday of the
Emperor Augustus and his connections to
the legendary founding father and ancestor
of Rome in a way which was worthy of a
divine ruler. 27
The Augustan festival which comes
closest to 29 June is 26 June when Augustus
adopted Tiberius as the successor to the
throne. 28 Yet in the Fasti Triumphalis inscriptions,
no victories, birthdays or other
memorable events are registered for 29 June
which could have provided Augustus with
an occasion to consecrate the rebuilt temple
to Quirinus on that day. According to Cassius
Dio, Augustus’ imminent departure for
Gaul would appear to have been the practical
reason for reconsecrating the temple. 29
As already mentioned, he does not, however,
indicate on what day the event took place.
It is worth noting that the festival “Quirino
in Colle” on 29 June is neither registered
in the Fasti Maffeiani (8 BC) nor in
the Fasti Esquilini (7 BC), both dating from
within the same time span as the Fasti Venusini
(16 BC – 4 AD), less than ten years
after the consecration of the temple. It is also
intriguing that Ovid’s poem about 29 June
(VI. 795-796) is by far his shortest poem of
only two stanzas. By comparison his poem
about 17 February runs to 57 stanzas (II.
475-532), while the poem about 21 April
is his longest of 141 stanzas (IV. 721-862).
Might Ovid’s taciturnity about the cult and
the ceremony of 29 June be an indication
that the festival occasioned by the consecration
of the second temple to Quirinus had
almost been forgotten when, between 4 and
7 AD, he wrote his Fasti, in which he often
reports in great detail about the ritual which
took place on particular festivals Is it possible
that the festival celebrating the recon-

Constructing Myths 33
secration of the temple to Quirinus ceased
a few years later, when the divine founder
of Rome, his temple and the foundation of
the city had already been celebrated on 17
February and 21 April at two of the greatest
festivals of the year If the Fasti Venusini
was written immediately after the consecration
of the temple in 16 BC, and the other
calendars were not written until ten years
later (when the day of consecration was possibly
no longer celebrated), it might serve as
an explanation of why the festival appears
in neither the Fasti Maffeiani nor the Fasti
Esquilini. Here the day is not even marked
by an N for nefasti (festival), but by an F for
fasti (weekday). 30
While 17 February was a festival celebrating
the divine founding father of Rome, and
while the reconsecration of his temple may -
for a while at least - have been celebrated on
29 June, the founding of the city itself was
celebrated on 21 April. Like the QUIRINA-
LIA the foundation day was one of the most
important of the 45 holidays. They have
both been passed down in all the calendars
in which the months of February and April
are preserved. 31 Both in the Republican and
in the Julian calendars, 21 April is marked
by PAR or PARIL, which are abbreviations
of PARILIA (Fig. 3). 32 In the Fasti Antiates
Maiores and the Fasti Caeretani among others,
PARILIA is followed by the note “Roma
condita. Feriae coronatis omnibus” (Figs. 2
and 3), while in such Late Antique calendars
as the Fasti Philocaliani and Polemii Silvii
it is referred to as “N Urbis” and “Natalis
Urbis Romae”.
Ovid describes PARILIA as a festival
of agriculture and purification, celebrated
in honour of the god Pales. Judging from
his poetic account, the festival of Pales
existed before Romulus, who supposedly
chose to perform the ritual of consecration
in connection with this festival. 33 Whether
the event originally took place on 21 April is
insignificant. The fact is that the foundation
of Rome was celebrated on 21 April. 34 One of
the most spectacular celebrations took place
in 248 in occasion of the city’s millennium.
Even the Christian Emperor Theodosius
I (379-395) issued a dispensation for the
celebration of the traditional foundation
day, possibly because the idea of Rome as
the Eternal City lived on in his own politics;
possibly because it was an event celebrating
the city rather than its pagan founder
Romulus-Quirinus. As it appears from a
notice in the Fasti Philocaliani (“Natalis
Urbis. Circenses missus XXIIII”) the day was
still celebrated with games, circenses, in the
fourth century. This practice of celebration
continued until 444, when the games in the
circus ceased. 35 This explains why they are
not registered in Polemius Silvius’ calendar
of 449, where both “Natalis Urbis” and
PARILIA still appear under 21 April. 36 The
foundation day itself was, in other words,
still commemorated after Christianity had
become the state religion in 380. 37
In the Fasti Praenestini there would appear
to be a difference between PARILIA
and the foundation day of Rome. 23 March
(which was one among the 45 most important
holidays called the TUBILUSTRUM)

34 Gitte Lønstrup
Fig. 4. Fasti Praenestini, Rome, 6-9 AC, Palazzo Massimo (photo: with permission from Il Ministero per i Beni e
le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma).
carries the note “Romulus Urbem inauguraverit”
(Fig. 4). Scholars have attempted
to explain this exception with a reference
to the Augustan desire to make the foundation
day coincide with the vernal equinox,
in order to make it correspond to Augustus’
birthday which coincided with the autumnal
equinox. Vernal equinox is, however, on 21
March rather than on 23 March, but it would
appear that there was some confusion about
the exact date, which, according to Ovid,
was on 26 March (III. 877-878). According
to Professor Carandini, the TUBILUSTRUM
might have marked the day when the Augur
saw the birds flying from the Aventine Hill
as a sign of the gods’ blessing of Romulus
and his imminent consecration of Rome.
Romulus was then supposed to have ad-

Constructing Myths 35
dressed the Etruscan priests in order to receive
the rules for the initiation ritual which
was to take place a month later at the festival
of Pales, the PARILIA. 38
Amongst the exceptions is also the Fasti
Fratrum Arvalium (36-21 BC) in which
Quirinus is mentioned in the note “Quirino
in Colle Volk Comit” for 23 August,
when people presumably made sacrifices
to Quirinus as part of the festival in honour
of the god Vulcan, Feriae Volcano. 39
Like the QUIRINALIA, the VOLCANALIA
was amongst the 45 most important Nefasti
(festivals). The day is documented in
the Fasti Pinciani (VOLC-N Volcano), the
Fasti Maffeiani (VOLC NP) and the Fasti
Vallenses (VOLCAN NP – “Volcano in Circo
Flaminio”), but here “Quirino in Colle”
is not mentioned. 40 Whether the note in the
Fasti Venusini might likewise be a reference
to a sacrifice to Quirinus on the occasion of
another festival is mere guesswork, as no
festivals for other gods, rulers, victories,
birthdays or natural phenomena are registered
for this day. 41
The note “Quirino in Colle” appears for
17 February in several calendars, and exceptionally
for 29 June in the Fasti Venusini and
23 August in the Fasti Fratrum Arvalium. It
refers to the founding father of Rome, Romulus-Quirinus,
and not to the foundation
day of Rome on 21 April, whereas the notes
“Roma condita […]” and “Natalis Urbis Romae”
refer to the foundation itself and not
to the founder. Nor does it say “Quirino in
Colle” for 23 March, the alternative foundation
date which appears exclusively in the
Fasti Praenestini.
It cannot be dismissed that the consecration
festival for the Augustan temple to
Quirinus took place on 29 June, and that
this is the festival referred to in the Fasti Venusini
and in Ovid’s Fasti. Two of the most
important holidays of the year had, however,
already celebrated the founder of Rome on
17 February, and the foundation of the city
on 21 April respectively, so it would not be
surprising if the festival on 29 June lost its
significance after a few years. There would,
in other words, appear to be no evidence for
referring to 29 June as “the anniversary of
the foundation, or refoundation, of Rome”
or “lo stesso giorno in cui i pagani celebravano
la fondazione di Roma”, as stated in
the introductory quotations to this article.
It is therefore problematic to base an argument
on the coincidence between 29 June,
the reconsecration of the temple to Quirinus,
the legendary and Christian foundation
of Rome, and the dies natalis of Peter and
Paul. 42 The conflation of these events looks
more like an after rationalisation. But how
could it have arisen The claim that 29 June
was the foundation day of Rome appears in
such a recent publication as the Enciclopedia
dei Papi of 2000 referred to above. It is,
however, not supported by any source references.
Huskinson, on the contrary, does refer
to a monograph on the Apostle Peter written
by Antonio Rimoldi in 1958. It is interesting
to pursue this reference, as Rimoldi actually
stresses that 29 June was not the foundation
day of Rome. 43 He states that it may have
been the date for the consecration of the

36 Gitte Lønstrup
temple to Quirinus, but does not enter into a
discussion of 29 June and 21 April. Rimoldi’s
discussion arises out of his criticism of
Oscar Cullmann’s claim that “c’est le 29.
juin qu’était célébrée la fête anniversaire de
la fondation de Rome, Quirinus-Romulus. A
cette fête du fondateur de la ville correspondit
celle des fondateurs de la communauté
chrétienne.” 44 Cullmann refers to Carl Erbes
(1899), but he does not claim 29 June for the
foundation date of Rome either. With a reference
to the Fasti Venusini, Erbes speaks of
this day as a festival for Romulus-Quirinus.
Subsequently he maintains that Pope Sixtus
II established the cult of the Apostles for the
founders of the Church on 29 June 258. 45
The reason for Sixtus II’s choice of this particular
date was, according to Erbes, that
this was the closest available date which had
any connection to the founder(s) of Rome.
The QUIRINALIA had long passed when the
second Valerian edict was issued to immediate
effect in the summer of 258. 46 This edict
commenced the persecution of those priests
who refused to perform traditional sacrifices
to the imperial cult. Among the persecuted
priests were Pope Sixtus II and his six deacons,
among them St. Lawrence to whom
Damasus dedicated his titular church S.
Lorenzo in Damaso. Sixtus II was executed
on 6 August 258; St. Lawrence followed suit
only four days later on 10 August. Damasus
honoured both of them with epigrams.
The claim that 29 June was the foundation
date of Rome consequently appears
to have its origins in Cullmann. Cullmann
merges Erbes’ thesis – about the connection
between the founder Romulus-Quirinus
and the founders of the Church – with the
festival celebrating the founding of the city.
It would appear that Rimoldi’s criticism of
Cullmann’s article has not been registered,
since this misunderstanding still circulates
in 2000, some forty years after the publication
of Rimoldi’s monograph. One inevitably
wonders why Huskinson allies himself
with Cullmann without taking Rimoldi’s
argument into consideration, despite his explicit
reference to Rimoldi’s work. 47
In the very same monograph of 1958,
Rimoldi furthermore counters Erbes’ idea
of a parallel between the legendary founder
Romulus-Quirinus and the founders of the
Church, Peter and Paul. 48 As quite rightly
pointed out by Rimoldi, the parallel between
Romulus-Quirinus and Peter and
Paul makes no sense, since Romulus and
Quirinus were one and the same person. If
it were to have made any sense, the parallel
should have referred to another pair, like
Romulus and Remus. 49 Charles Pietri has,
however, introduced a correspondence between
Peter and Paul on the one side and the
eastern Dioscuri, the twins Castor and Pollux,
who became the guardians of Rome, on
the other: “Pourquoi s’étonner si Damase,
dans son ambition de donner à Rome ses
véritables héros et ses vrais patroni, suggère
de remplacer les Dioscures, encore
populaires, par les deux apôtres” 50 This
correspondence has recently been resumed
by Dennis E. Trout who writes that “They
[Peter and Paul] would assume the city’s celestial
guardianship, replacing such former

Constructing Myths 37
heavenly transplants as Romulus-Quirinus,
the Dioscuri, and the deified emperors.” 51
Taking their starting point in Pope Damasus’
epigram to Peter and Paul, in which the
Apostles are referred to as the ‘new stars’,
nova sidera, 52 Pietri and Trout would appear
to suggest that these ‘new stars’ took over
the position of the ‘old stars’, i.e. the stellar
constellation (“l’image astrale”) of Castor
and Pollux. Pietri and Trout thus stress the
corresponding characteristics and responsibilities
of the heroes rather than any correspondence
between the dates on which the
heroes were celebrated. When seen from
this angle, Peter and Paul could potentially
also correspond to the twins Lares Praestites.
Like Romulus and Remus they were
brought up among wild animals, and like the
Dioscuri they took the roles as the guardians
of Rome. 53 According to Pietri and Trout,
this role was taken over by Peter and Paul.
The heroic couple of Evander and Hercules
could likewise be introduced as corresponding
founders, in so far as Evander and his
retinue supposedly founded a settlement on
the hill of Pallantion (i.e. the Palatine Hill)
by the Tiber where Hercules paid them a
visit. 54
These hypothetical correspondences between
Peter and Paul, Lares Praestites, the
Dioscuri, Evander and Hercules do, however,
not reflect any correspondences between the
Saints’ day and the festivals for the ancient
heroes. The consecration date for the temple
to the Dioscuri was 27 January. 55 The original
festival days for Lares Praestites were 21
February and 1 May. 56 The story of Evander
and Hercules was commemorated on 12
August when the consecration of Hercules’
Ara Maxima, erected by either Evander or
Hercules himself, was likewise celebrated. 57
As it appears from Ovid’s Fasti (I. 461-581)
their story was likewise commemorated on
11 January in connection with one of the 45
great annual festivals, the KARMENTALIA,
named after Evander’s mother Carmenta or
Carmentis. While the festival on 12 August
is not registered in any of the calendars from
the fourth and the fifth centuries AD, the
memory of the KARMENTALIA was, surprisingly
enough, still vivid by the mid fifth
century, as suggested by the following note
in Polemius Silvius’ calendar of 449: “Carmentalia
de nomine matris Evandri. Natalis
[…] Theodosii Augusti.” One can only speculate
on whether the coinciding dates of the
Emperor Theodosius’ birthday and the KAR-
MENTALIA may have had any influence on
this non-Christian festival still being registered
in a calendar of 449. The fact is that
the story of Evander’s mother, her son and
Hercules was still being remembered even
after the myth of Romulus’ (and Remus’)
founding of Rome had been solidly established
around the third century BC. 58 The
KARMENTALIA is registered in the Fasti
Antiates Maiores, the Fasti Maffeiani and
the Fasti Praenestini. Paradoxically enough,
it would appear that one founding myth did
not preclude the existence of another.
If the Christians had wanted to take over
a date which directly associated the foundation
of Roma Christiana with the legendary
foundation of the city, they had a choice

38 Gitte Lønstrup
Fig. 5. Plan of the S. Sebastiano complex at the Via Appia showing the plan of the circus-shaped basilica as well as
the catacomb beneath it, Rome, fourth century (Archivio Disegni, Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra,
Rome).
between 21 April and 23 March (cf. Fasti
Praenestini). Had they wanted to associate
Peter and Paul with the founding father of
Rome, 17 February would appear far more
obvious than 29 June. Alternatively, the
KARMENTALIA on 11 January was a possibility.
Had the Christians wished to connect
Peter and Paul with the guardians of Rome,
they could have taken over the festival of the
Dioscuri on 27 January or the Lares Praestites
festivals on 21 February and 1 May.
According to the saints’ calendar, nothing,
however, took place on those dates. 59 It may
well be that the priests deliberately avoided
any dispositions on these traditional Roman
festivals, partly in order to avoid any competing
festivals, partly not to give rise to any
unrest. We know of similar discretions from
the Emperor Constantine who presumably
erected the first Christian basilicas outside
the monumental city centre of Rome, in order
not to provoke the aristocratic elite by
building churches side by side with the temples.
60
Carl Erbes may have been right when
suggesting that, because of the persecutions
introduced in Valerian’s second edict, it became
impossible to postpone the transferral
of the bodies of the Apostles to the most
important festivals in the spring of the fol-

Constructing Myths 39
lowing year. He concludes that 29 June was
the closest available date connected with the
founders of Rome. The question is, however,
whether the significance of the festival of
“Quirino in Colle” was still so vivid in the
collective memory by 258 that an appropriation
would have made any sense This seems
questionable in the light of the taciturnity
which even 250 years previously characterised
Ovid’s brief poem about this date. Such
brevity may well speak for itself.
Given the seriousness of the persecutions,
it made little sense to waste any time on considering
which dates to move the relics in
order to create continuity between the legendary
and the Christian founders of Rome. In
the following, the implications of this date
will step into the background, to make room
for a sketch of the actual significance of 29
June within the Roman-Catholic Church.
29 June in the Christian Calendar: Dies natalis
Petri et Pauli
The first time 29 June is mentioned in the
Christian source material is in the part of
the Fasti Philocaliani (336-354) called the
Depositio Martyrum. 61 It consists of a list of
the burial places and the death days of primarily
Roman martyrs – dies natales. For
29 June on this list we find the following
note: “III KAL. IUL. Petri in Catacumbas et
Pauli Ostense Tusco et Basso cons.” From
this we may infer that Peter and Paul were
celebrated on 29 June (the third day before
the kalends of July), since Tusco and Basso
were consuls, i.e. in 258 when Sixtus II
was Pope. 62 We are furthermore informed
that Peter was celebrated “in catacumbas”,
while Paul was celebrated “in Ostense”, i.e.
in the Via Ostiense where Paul supposedly
was beheaded and buried. 63 “In catacumbas”
refers to the toponym ad catacumbas,
which was the name of the Christian burial
ground underneath the present Basilica of S.
Sebastiano in the Via Appia outside the Roman
city walls (Fig. 5). Not until the ninth
century did this toponym become a common
denomination for the type of subterranean
burial place of which there were about 60
in Rome by the fourth century, namely the
catacombs. 64
Under S. Sebastiano more than 600 inscriptions
have been found which testify to
the fact that since the middle of the third
century both Apostles had been worshipped
“in catacumbas” in the part of the burial
ground which was later called the triclia. 65
In these graffiti Peter and Paul appear side
by side in the believers’ prayers to them
(Fig. 6). Amongst the believers was the man
Sozomenus who visited the triclia on 22
June (ten days before the kalends of July): X
KL iulias Paule Petre in mente habete Sozemenum
et tu leges. 66 Other graffiti like Petro
et Paulo Tomius Coelius refrigerium feci[t]
recount how the ritual meal, the refrigerium,
took place here. 67 This meal belonged to
the private cult, and judging from the graffiti
which indicate a date, it would appear to
have taken place all the year round, while
the official Eucharist liturgy was presumably
only being celebrated on 29 June. 68 It
has been much discussed what provided the
occasion for the rise of this cult. The main

40 Gitte Lønstrup
Fig. 6. Graffiti in the catacomb beneath the S. Sebastiano complex. Among them Sozomenus’ prayer to Peter and
Paul: X KL iulias Paule Petre in mente habete Sozemenum et tu leges. Rome, third-fourth century (photo: Pontificia
Commissione di Archeologia Sacra, Rome).
points in this discussion will be summed up
in the following. 69
In the biography of Pope Cornelius
(251-253) in the Liber Pontificalis (compiled
ca. 530) we find the following version:
[…] at the request of a certain lady Lucina,
he took up the bodies of the apostles Saints Peter
and Paul from the catacombs at night; in fact
first of all the blessed Lucina took the body of St.
Paul and put it on her estate on the Via Ostiensis
close to the place where he was beheaded; the
blessed bishop Cornelius took the body of St.
Peter and put it close to the place where he was
crucified […], on the Mons Aureus, on the Vatican
at Nero’s palace, on 29 June. 70
Abbé Duchesne was, however, of the impression
that Peter and Paul had originally
been buried close to the place where they
died and that, during the Valerian persecutions
in 258, they had been removed to the
Via Appia because people were fearing for
the safety of the relics. Duchesne’s explanation,
which is generally accepted, is the
most plausible one, if one is to believe the
testimonial given by the Roman Christian
Gaius in the second century: “If you will

Constructing Myths 41
go to the Vatican or to the Ostian way, you
will find the trophies of those who laid the
foundations of this church.” 71 Gaius mentions
no Apostolic tomb “in catacumbas”
where Peter, according to the later Depositio
Martyrum was supposedly celebrated.
In the Apostolorum Passio hymn from the
beginning of the 380s it is suggested that the
Apostles were celebrated in three different
places. 72 This is confirmed by the liturgical
calendar Martyrologium Hieronymianum
of 431-50 according to which Peter was
celebrated on the Mons Vaticanus, Paul at
Ostiense and both “in catacumbas”: “III KL.
IUL. Romae natale sanctorum apostolorum
Petri et Pauli. Petri Via Aurelia in Vaticano.
Paulo vero in Via Ostensi. Utrumque in catacumbas,
(passi sub Nerone), Basso et Tusco
consulibus.” 73 The information given in
the Depositio Martyrum and in the Martyrologium
Hieronymianum are thus not in accordance
with one another. It may well be
that they reflect two different situations. In
336, when the first compilation of the Fasti
Philocaliani (which contains the Depositio
Martyrum) took place, Paul had apparently
been moved to the modest Constantinian
Basilica of Paul whereas the monumental
Basilica of St. Peter presumably had not yet
been consecrated. 74 It is therefore possible
that Peter was still being worshipped in the
so-called Memoria Apostolorum Basilica
which by the beginning of the fourth century
was superimposed upon the triclia in the
Via Appia. 75 The separation of the Apostles
may thus have resulted in a similar separation
of the cult of the Apostles in the Via Appia
until Damasus resumed it and placed the
monumental epigram dedicated to Peter and
Paul to which I shall return shortly. 76
As for 29 June, the issues up for discussion
are partly when and where the Apostles
were worshipped, and partly whether this
date did at all refer to the day of the Apostles’
deaths, or whether it simply marked a temporary
translation of their relics to or from
the Via Appia, if such a translation ever took
place. 77 These issues have been much debated,
partly because there is no evidence to
prove that the Apostles actually died on 29
June. In Gaul the death of the Apostles was
celebrated on 22 February, whereas the Oriental
Church, according to a martyrology of
411, celebrated the day on 28 December and
regarded 29 June as the date of the translation.
78
The fact is that a cult of the Apostles –
with or without translation – arose ad catacumbas
about 100 years before Damasus
became Pope. He either passed on or resumed
this tradition by marking the day, the
cult and the Apostolic agreement – concordia
apostolorum – with a cenotaph to Peter
and Paul in the form of a metric epigram, as
is stated in the life of the Pope in the Liber
Pontificalis: “At the Catacombs, the place
where lay the bodies of the apostles St. Peter
and St. Paul, he adorned with verses the
actual tablet at the place where the holy bodies
lay.” 79 The implications behind the positioning
of this epigram in the basilica in the
Via Appia – and not elsewhere – will be the
central issue of the next section.

42 Gitte Lønstrup
Concordia Apostolorum. The Myth of the
Christian Foundation of Rome on 29 June
“You should know that two saints used to
dwell here (Hic habitasse/habitare prius
sanctos cognoscere debes, v. 1).” So Damasus
begins his poem to the Apostles. 80
“Their names which you seek are Peter and
Paul (nomina quisq. Petri pariter Paulique
requiris, v. 2). The East sent us her disciples
whom we willingly receive (discipulos
Oriens misit, quod sponte fatemur, v. 3). 81 By
the merit of blood (sanguinis ob meritum, v.
4), they followed Christ to the higher spheres
through the stars to the realm of the pious
(Xpumq. per astra secuti / aetherios petiere
sinus regnaque piorum, v. 5).” Since God let
Peter and Paul receive their martyrdom in
Rome “this city was far more deserving than
any other city of claiming the two Apostles
for its honorary citizens (Roma suos potius
meruit defendere cives, v. 6). Damasus here
conveys your praises to the new stars (Haec
Damasus vestras referat nova sidera laudes,
v. 7).”
Sadly, the Apostolic epigram has been
lost, but the stanzas have been handed down
in several pilgrim itineraries, amongst them
the so-called Sylloge Laureshamensis (821-
846) from the monastery in Lorsch in Germany.
82 During his visit to the so-called Memoria
Apostolorum, a pilgrim had copied
the inscription which had in all likelihood
been placed at the altar. The altar was close
to the entrance to the crypt where the Apostles’
communal place of worship was, the
place previously referred to as the triclia. 83
At the beginning of the fourth century, the
tomb and the crypt were, however, buried
under the 70 meter long circus-shaped
basilica which was later consecrated to St.
Sebastian. 84 The Damasian inscription thus
marked the original place in which Peter
and Paul had been worshipped more than a
hundred years previously. 85 The Apostles’
contact with this place (v. 1) had invested it
with a sacred atmosphere which it was in the
Pope’s best interest to preserve – or possibly
rather to resume, if we recognise the information
in the Depositio Martyrum that at the
beginning of the fourth century the Apostles
were worshipped individually, “in catacumbas”
and “in ostense” respectively. 86 The essence
of the Papal project was to preserve
and retrace the martyrs. The purpose of this
project was to secure the memory of the legends
about the martyrs, then on the point of
perdition. He therefore composed numerous
verses and had them carved in marble tablets
that were erected close to the martyr tombs.
Although the physical traces of the early
place of worship had disappeared, a kind
of architectonic continuity was preserved,
since the inscription was placed close to
the crypt which marked the original place
of worship. This position was quite atypical
for Damasus who often placed his epigrams
in subterranean crypts (Pl. I). The pilgrim’s
experience of a visit must necessarily have
been different in the 2000 square metre large
and well lit processional hall of the Apostolic
Basilica from a visit to the subterranean
crypts of 10-15 square metres to which
you arrived after having winded your way
through the dark labyrinthine corridors, as

Constructing Myths 43
described by Prudentius:
Into its hidden depths a downward path shows
the way by turning, winding steps, with the help
of light from a source unseen […]; then as you
go forward easily you see the dark night but you
find openings let into the roof far above, so as
to throw bright rays down into the chasm. However
doubtful you may feel of this fabric of narrow
halls running back on either hand in darksome
galleries, still through the holes pierced in
the vault many a gleam of light makes its way
down to the hollow interior of the disembowelled
mount, and thus underground it is granted
to see the brightness of a sun which is not there,
and have the benefit of its light. 87
Such an atmosphere could not be created
in the space surrounding the Apostolic epigram
which merely marked where the lost
triclia had been. Cultic and liturgical continuity
prevailed, however, partly because the
refrigerium was still being celebrated within
the framework of the private cult, and partly
because the Eucharist liturgy for the two
Apostles was probably celebrated here on
29 June. We must presume that on this occasion
Damasus gave a sermon and read aloud
the Apostolic epigram. Reciting inscriptions
and texts was common practice, since silent
reading was generally not much used
before the Middle Ages, with a few exceptions
such as St. Ambrose whose silent reading
intrigued St. Augustine so much that he
suspected St. Ambrose of either wishing to
conceal the content of his book or of wishing
to rest his voice. 88 When Damasus read
the epigram aloud, he could stress its direct
appeal to the believer (cognoscere debes
and requires) in the first two stanzas of the
poem and hence promote the proliferation
of the message carried by the epigram. But
what was this message When seen in the
light of the foundation myth of Roma Christiana,
the essential part of this inscription is
Damasus’ declaration that “more than any
other city” Rome fully deserved “to claim
Peter and Paul for its honorary citizens” (v.
6), despite their Eastern origins (v. 3). This
was justified by the two Apostles having met
their martyrs’ deaths in Rome (v. 4 and 5).
He thereby maintains that more than any
other city Rome has the supreme prior claim
as the highest Apostolic See. This was also
given to Rome officially at the Ecumenical
Council in Constantinople in 381, when it
was agreed that the Bishop of Constantinople
was allotted the rank just under that of
Rome in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. 89 The
question is whether Damasus composed his
Apostolic epigram before or after the Ecumenical
Council in 381. Did the epigram
confirm the recently established hierarchy,
or was it an attempt to obtain a position of
sovereignty in the form of the primateship
(Lat. primatus, first rank) 90
On the basis of the decisions reached
at the Ecumenical Council, Damasus constructed
a myth about the foundation of
Roma Christiana on 29 June. The central
message of this Damasian myth, reflected in
the epigram to the Apostles, was to emphasise
that they had jointly and equally founded
the Roman Church. Such equality between

44 Gitte Lønstrup
Peter and Paul is remarkable and novel. The
Roman Church had so far not exposed Paul
on an equal footing with Peter, presumably
because Paul was not among the Disciples
of Christ. 91 Damasus created a special profile
for Rome as a diocese by promoting
the Apostles as an inseparable pair, supplementing
one another: Peter was the rock, the
representative of the faith and the preacher
of the Jews; Paul was the messenger of the
Doctrine and the preacher of the Gentiles. 92
This inseparability was of great importance
for Damasus’ interpretation of the Apostolic
agreement – concordia apostolorum – and
for Peter and Paul’s joint foundation of the
Roman-Catholic Church due to their martyrdom
on the same day.
Ever since Clement Romanus (30-100)
had written to the congregation in Corinth
around 97, the bishops of Rome had maintained
that the Roman Catholic Church rested
on the blood of the Apostles Peter and
Paul. 93 Damasus’ predecessor Liberius (352-
366) also had the Apostles’ foundation of the
Roman diocese in mind when he supposedly
commissioned the, now severely restored,
mosaics for the niches in S. Costanza (Pl.
II). Here Christ is flanked by Peter and Paul,
the lambs and the symbolic representations
of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Iconographic
representations of the pair also begin to appear
at around this time (350-360), as can be
seen from miniature art (in glass, bronze and
ivory) and from reliefs on sarcophagi, catacomb
paintings and mosaics. 94 The idea of
concordia found iconographic expression in
the double portrait of the two Apostles as can
be seen in several vetri dorati – small glasses
whose bottoms are decorated with gold (Pl.
III). The Apostle motifs became highly popular,
not least during Damasus’ pontificate
where his own portrait occasionally figures
side by side with those of Peter and Paul (Pl.
IV). One can only speculate on whether this
might have been a way of stressing or signing
his revised interpretation of the concordia
apostolorum. Whatever may have been
their exact significance, the Apostolic motifs
continued their existence for centuries,
irrespective of the liturgical and theological
roles which Peter and Paul played together,
as well as separately. 95
In his approach to the Apostolic agreement
and the foundation of the Roman-
Catholic Church, Damasus differed from his
predecessors, none of whom had yet connected
these matters with the discussion of
the primateship of Rome or her sovereignty.
Before Damasus the Roman diocese had
been regarded as an Apostolic seat, but not
as the Apostolic See that he desired to make
it. 96 The legitimization of such a sovereign
position was the equality of Peter and Paul
and their joint foundation of the Roman-
Catholic Church which took place when
they received martyrdom in Rome – not in
Constantinople, Alexandria or Antioch. 97
The Apostles had been joined by their simultaneous
presence in Rome, by a joint dies
natalis, a joint place of worship and possibly
also a joint place of burial, and it was on the
background of this Roman ‘construct’ that
Damasus was able to proclaim that Rome
had obtained her primateship.

Constructing Myths 45
There is, however, a certain discrepancy
with respect to the idea of concordia. On the
one hand, the Apostles were equals as they
founded the Roman Church by receiving
their glorious deaths in Rome on the same
day. On the other hand, Peter and Paul could
not share the post as the first Bishop of Rome;
a post which belonged solely to Peter. 98 Not
many years would pass before Paul was
again placed in the shadow of Peter, since
Damasus’ successors again stressed Peter’s
primateship, just like his predecessors had
done. 99
Dilemma or no dilemma; the concordia
construct had a remarkable effect, as reflected
not merely in the iconography of the
time, but also in its architecture. The idea
for a new Pauline memoria was most probably
conceived at the first Roman Council
in 382. 100 This led to the construction of the
three Emperors’ (Theodosius, Gratian and
Valentinian II) Basilica of St. Paul, designed
to replace the smaller Constantinian structure
which could not match the Basilica of
St. Peter. 101 But apart from these two sepulchral
basilicas, the Memoria Apostolorum
also became a significant site, since Damasus
decided to mark it by means of a cenotaph.
102 The cult place thus regained – for a
time at least – its raison d’être as a communal
memoria for Peter and Paul.
During Damasus’ pontificate, the deaths
of Peter and Paul were thus celebrated on 29
June. As already mentioned, it cannot be ascertained
whether he continued or resumed
the older liturgical tradition which had been
documented in the Depositio Martyrum and
also ad catacumbas. The epigram which he
placed there supplemented the information
from the calendars and the architectonic
framework of the cult with accounts which
primarily derived from the apocryphal Acts
of the Apostles in which the actual date of
29 June is not mentioned. Damasus enlarged
the tradition of the Apostles’ association
with Rome by stressing their inseparability
and equality in his emphasis that they were
celebrated as martyrs on the same day. Together
with the idea of their Roman “citizenship”,
this was designed to legitimise
the supreme status of Rome as the Apostolic
See within the Christian world, a status the
Roman diocese no longer intended to share
with the other patriarchies.
During Damasus’ reign the celebration
of 29 June took place in the three basilicas
in the Via Appia, the Via Cornelia and the
Via Ostiense. Here the pilgrims took part in
liturgical ceremonies, and in the basilica in
the Via Appia they probably listened to the
recitation of the Apostolic epigram. Some
even copied it into their diaries. In addition
they could purchase small vetri dorati, the
gilt bottom of which were decorated with
double portraits of Peter and Paul in concordia
(Pl. III). 103 On the occasion of 29 June
it even became the custom for Christians
to donate to friends and family such a glass
upon which had been engraved the exhortation
“Pie Zeses” (“drink and live”) as a reference
to the function of these small glasses
at libation sacrifices in connection with the
refrigerium (Pl. III). 104
Both the Apostolic epigram and the gold

46 Gitte Lønstrup
glasses contributed towards the spreading of
the Papal message by ‘naturalising’ the myth
of the saints’ day, the cult of the martyrs and
the foundation of Roma Christiana. 105 ‘To
spread’ is the original meaning of the term
‘propaganda’ (from the Latin verb propagare),
and it is widely believed that Damasus
used the epigrams and the gold glasses
as means of propaganda. When Huskinson
refers to the glasses as “weapons of propaganda”,
and when Carletti describes the
epigrams as “strumenti di propaganda” their
terms produce negative connotations with
respect to the objects concerned as well as to
the ambitions of Damasus. 106 These connotations
of ‘propaganda’ have primarily their
origin in the use of the term ever since the
First and the Second World Wars. Damasus’
use of the decree, the epigrams and the gold
glasses – with or without the Papal portrait
(Pl. III and IV) - in order to convince the
competing patriarchies of Constantinople,
Alexandria and Antioch that the Roman
Church was worthy of its primateship does,
however, not turn him into a propagandist.
He was merely an educated man who understood
how to employ visual as well as rhetorical
effects in order to spread and naturalise
his message. 107 It is therefore my conviction
that the mechanism of naturalisation, which
Roland Barthes called ‘myth’, offers a far
less value-laden perspective on Damasus’
strategies than does the term ‘propaganda’.
Myth as a Construct of Memory and a
Mechanism of Naturalisation
According to Barthes, ‘myth’ is a mechanism,
which makes historical constructions
look like natural ones by way of associative
relations. 108 Taking my starting point in the
Barthesian theory of myth as a mechanism
of naturalisation, I should like to employ
the term ‘myth’ to the Damasian foundation
history.
The naturalisation of historical constructions
is Barthes’ primary objection against
the phenomenon of myth as launched in his
book Mythologies (1957). In this book he
defines myth as “[…] pas par l’objet de son
message, mais per la façon dont il le profère
[…].” 109 Barthes did not focus on the contents
of myths, but rather on their form and
function. “Le mythe est une parole”, he
wrote. 110 It is a system or a mechanism of
communication, significance and memory.
Barthes held that the people subjected to
myth, conceived of the relation between expression
and intension as a natural relation,
not as a historically constructed one. 111
When Damasus’ project is viewed in the
light of this, albeit summary, version of Barthes’
theory, the Roman congregation and
the pilgrims become subjected to myth. The
imaginary spectator did not conceive of the
Apostles’ joint dies natalis, the martyr acts
and their relation to the Christian foundation
of Rome in terms of a historically construed
relation, but rather as a fact of nature. It is this
naturalisation of meaning which Barthes objects
against. He maintains that “Le rapport
qui unit le concept du mythe au sens est essentiellement
un rapport de déformation.” 112
The reason for this is that mythical meaning,
as construed by the producer of the myth,

Constructing Myths 47
pretends to be a matter of fact. 113 This was
what Damasus did when, as the producer of
the myth, he discreetly concealed lacunae in
some of the legends about the deaths of the
martyrs which had been passed down orally,
and when, with the expression Credite per
Damasum, he pretended that these legends
were true. 114 In this sense Damasus’ project
takes the form of a myth, as a mechanism
of significance which achieved the naturalisation
of a historical construct; a construct
which revolved around Peter and Paul as
joint founders of Roma Christiana by their
deaths on the same day. The means of realising
and naturalising this historical construct
were the epigrams, the gold glasses,
the martyr tombs, the subterranean crypts
and the basilicas, together with the Latin
translation of Paul’s letters, the Hebrew Bible
and the mass which had until then been
celebrated in Greek. Each in their way these
objects, writings, rituals and spaces can be
conceived as systems of communication and
mechanisms generating meaning, spreading
the papal message and contributing towards
a naturalisation of the Christian legend of
the foundation in the memory of the users.
When seen from this angle, the relation
between history and memory is reciprocal.
If, however, Damasus’ historical construct is
viewed through Maurice Halbwach’s theory
of collective memory, the relation between
history and memory becomes a relation of
opposites. 115 This relation has its roots in the
view that as long as the memory of an event
is vivid in the collective memory, there is no
need to fix it in writing. 116 On the contrary,
when memory is no longer vivid, there is a
need to write it down. The distance to the
past makes room for the construction of history.
If you transfer this to Damasus’ project,
it is obvious that a noticeable distance had
entered to the time of the persecutions and
the martyrs, a time which Damasus described
in the frequently appearing metaphorical
phrase: tempore quo gladius secuit
pia viscera matris. 117 (Burial) sites had been
forgotten and the fixing in writing of the
orally transmitted evidence had begun when
Damasus had them carved in stone. According
to Halbwachs, events which previously
existed in the collective memory will
slowly be transformed into imaginary and
fictitious episodes and periods. 118 This was
the case with the macabre executions which
had almost become absent in the collective
memory, and which instead found their way
into the poetic universe of Damasus. The
Pope’s rewriting of history was, however,
at the same time materially rooted in the
architecture. The crypts and the epigrams
were to contribute towards the creation of
a Christian historical awareness of the past,
since the collective memory in a Halbwachsian
sense could no longer be kept alive. It
is interesting that Abbé Duchesne has called
the Damasian epigrams devoid of history
(“vides d’histoire”), when their form, contents
and contexts appear so full of legends,
myths, stories and constructs. 119
Another aspect of the Barthesian theory
about myth, of great methodological relevance
in my analysis, is that which Barthes
en passant calls the mythologie du mytho-

48 Gitte Lønstrup
Fig. 7. Damasian epigram to S. Agnes, S. Agnese fuori le mura, Rome, 366-384 (photo: Pontificia Commissione
di Archeologia Sacra, Rome).
logue, i.e. the scholars’ own myths. 120 This
notion is central to my uncovering of the
scholars’ myth about the reputed interrelationship
between the celebration of Peter
and Paul on 29 June, the foundation day
of Rome and Romulus-Quirinus. As demonstrated,
the myth created by Damasus
about the foundation of Roma Christiana
on 29 June was, however, neither indicative
of propaganda nor a direct takeover of the
foundation day of Rome.
Conclusion. The Deconstruction of the Construct
at the Time of Pope Gregory and Pope
Honorius in the sixth and seventh century
“When so much else falls into silence, monuments
remain” - writes Dennis E. Trout. 121
It is tempting to agree with him when faced
with one of the few intact Damasian monuments
such as the epigram to St. Agnes (Fig.
7). 122 Sadly, things are not quite so. Several
Damasian inscriptions perished during the
fifth- and sixth-century invasions by the
Visi- and Ostrogoths, the Vandals and the
Longobards, as witnessed by Pope Vigilius
(537-555), 123 who restored them, and from
the mid seventh century the Damasian epigrams
no longer played a significant role in
the martyr cult. They were therefore unscrupulously
hacked into pieces and employed as
spolia in the marble-paved floors, as was the
case with the Hippolytus epigram which was
adapted to fit the pattern of the cosmatesque
pavement in the Lateran Basilica in the fifteenth
century. 124 Several have been lost and
are only known from the pilgrims’ copies
in their itineraries from the seventh to the
ninth centuries. 125 The epigram to St. Agnes
is one of the few preserved because it was
recycled in one piece and placed front down
in the pavement of the ad corpus basilica
which Pope Honorius (625-638) built over
the tomb of the female saint. After having
decorated the martyr’s tomb for almost 300
years, Damasus’ epigram was taken down.
For the very same reason it is not mentioned
in any of the itineraries from after the mid
seventh century. Only 1100 years later it was
discovered by Giovanni Marangoni. 126
The pontificate of Gregory the Great
(590-604) was also of importance for the deconstruction
of Damasus’ work. The equal-

Constructing Myths 49
ity of the Apostles, which he had stressed
in order to convince the Christian world of
Rome’s primateship, was annulled. As soon
as the primateship had been secured, the
Apostolic pair began to lose their liturgical
significance, and Damasus’ successors
again emphasised Peter’s primateship, just
as his predecessors had done. Gregory the
Great had even the celebration of Paul’s dies
natalis moved from 29 June to 30 June. 127
This significant separation is commented
upon in a sermon of the seventh century. 128
Here it is reduced to a merely practical issue,
namely that it was supposedly difficult
to make the congregation attend mass in
both the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul
on the same day. The sermons of Leo the
Great (440-461) testify to the fact that the
Church was competing against such other
kinds of traditional entertainment as the
theatre, since Leo complains over the fact
that “mad spectacles draw greater crowds
than blessed martyrs.” 129 But no matter how
great may have been the challenges encountered
by the popes in terms of capturing the
attention of the congregation, one would
have believed that the celebration of the
Apostle’s death could not be moved all that
easily. Gregory did so, however, because he
intended to promote Peter’s supreme position
as the founder of the Church. 130 By
separating the saint’s days he had created
a new official construct, thus superimposing
Damasus’ myth which was not merely
attached to Peter’s primateship, but to the
Apostles’ joint foundation of Roma Christiana
on 29 June.
Gitte Lønstrup
M.A. & Ph.D.-fellow
Aarhus Univeristy
Department of Church History
Taasingegade 3
DK-8000 Århus C
gl@teo.au.dk

50 Gitte Lønstrup
ABBREVIATIONS
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 1871-.
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Paris 1866-1926.
CCEL Christian Classics Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/
ICUR Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores, De Rossi,
G. B. (a cura di) († 1894), Romae 1857-1915.
LCL The Loeb Classical Library.
LTUR Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, Steinby, M. (a cura di),
Roma 1993-2000.
PL Patrologia Latina, Migne, J. P. (ed.), Romae 1906-.
RAC Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baldovin, J. F.
1987 The Urban Character of Christian Worship.
The Origins, Development and
Meaning of Stational Liturgy, (Orientalia
Christiana Analecta 228), Rome.
Barthes, R.
1957 Mythologies, Paris.
Batiffol, P.
1925 “Papa, sedes apostolica, apostolatus”,
RAC 2, 99-117.
Beard, M.
1993 “Looking (Harder) for Roman Myth:
Dumézil, Declamation and the Problems
of Definition”. In: Graf, F. (hrsg.): Mythos
in mythenloser Gesellschaft. Das Paradigma
Roms, (Colloquium Rauricum 3),
Stuttgart & Leipzig, 44-67.
Bodel, J.
2001 Epigraphic Evidence – Ancient History
from Inscriptions, London & New York.
Brandenburg, H.
2005 Le prime chiese di Roma, IV-VII secolo:
l’inizio dell’architettura ecclesiastica occidentale,
Milano.
Brind’amour, P.
1983 Le calendrier romain: recherches chronologiques,
Ottawa.
Cameron, A.
1991 Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire,
Berkeley - Los Angeles - Oxford.
Carletti, C.
2000a “Damaso”. In: Enciclopedia dei Papi,
349-372.
Carletti, C.
2000b “L’epigrafia di apparato negli edifici di
culto da Costantino a Gregorio Magno”.
In: Pani Ermini, L. & Siniscalco, P. (a cura
di), Comunità cristiana di Roma, la sua
vita e la sua cultura dalle origini all’alto
medioevo, Roma, 439-460.
Chadwick, H.
1957 “Peter and Paul in Rome. The problem of
Memoria Apostolorum”, Journal of Theological
Studies 8, 31-52.
Chadwick, H.
1962 “Pope Damasus and the Peculiar Claim of
Rome to St. Peter and St. Paul”. In: Neotestamentica
et Patristica. Eine Freudesgabe,
Herrn Prof. Dr. Oscar Cullmann zu
seinem 60. Geburtstag überreicht, Leiden,
313-18.
Chevasse, A.
1960 “Les fêtes de saint Pierre (29 juin) et de
saint Pierre (30 juin) au VII-VII siècle”,
Ephemerides Liturgicae. Analecta historico-ascetica
74/1, 166-167.
Cullmann, O.
1952 Saint Pierre – Disciple, Apôtre, Martyr,
Paris.
Degrassi, A. (a cura di)
1963 Inscriptiones Italiae, vol. XIII, 2. Fasti
anni numani et iuliani, Roma.
Donati, A. (a cura di)
2000 Pietro e Paolo. La storia, il culto, la memoria
nei primi secoli, Milano.

Constructing Myths 51
Dvornik, F.
1958 The idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium
and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew,
Harward.
Enciclopedia dei Papi
2000 Enciclopedia dei Papi, Roma.
Erbes, C.
1899 Die Todestage der Apostel Paulus und Petrus
und ihre Römischen Denkmähler,
Leipzig.
Faedo, L.
1978 “Per una classificazione preliminare dei vetri
dorati tardoromani”, Annali della scuola
normale superiore di Pisa, 1025-1070.
Ferguson, E. et al.
1997 Encyclopedia of the Early Church, New
York.
Ferrua, A.
1942 Epigrammata Damasiana, Città del Vaticano.
Ferrua, A.
1956 “Rileggendo i graffiti di San Sebastiano”,
Civiltà Cattolica III, 428-37 and IV, 134-
41.
Ferrua, A.
1974 “Pie Zeses è ZHCHIC O ZHCAIC”, Aevum
48, 329-334.
Ferrua, A.
1975 “Pie Zeses per i defunti”. In: Forma Futuri
– Studi in onore del cardinale Michele
Pellegrino, Torino, 1115-1124.
Ferrua, A. (a cura di Carletti, C.)
1991 Scritti vari di epigrafia e antichità cristiane,
Bari.
Février, P.-A.
1992 “Un plaidoyer pour Damase. Les inscriptions
des nécropoles romaines”. In: Christol,
M. et al. (eds.), Institutions, societé et
vie politique dans l’Empire Romain au
IVeme siècle ap. J.-C. (Actes de table ronde
autour de l’oeuvre d’André Chastagnol,
Paris 20-21 janvier 1989), Rome, 497-
506.
Fiocchi Nicolai, V.
1995 “Itinera ad sanctos. Testimonianze monumentali
del passaggio dei pellegrini nei
santuari del suburbio romano”. In: Akten
des XII. Internationalen Kongresses für
christliche Archäeologie, Bonn 22.-28.
September 1991, Münster & Città del
Vaticano, II, 763-775.
Fiocchi Nicolai, V.
1995-1996 “La nuova Basilica Circiforme sulla
via Ardeatina”, Rendiconti della Pontificia
Accademia Romana di Archeologia
68, 69-233.
Fiocchi Nicolai, V.
2001 Strutture funerarie ed edifici di culto
paleocristiani di Roma dal IV al VI secolo,
Città del Vaticano.
Grig, L.
2004 “Portraits, Pontiffs and the Christianization
of Fourth-Century Rome”, Papers of
the British School at Rome 71, 203-230.
Hannah, R.
2005 Greek and Roman Calendars: Constructions
of Time in the Classical World, London.
Haas, C. J.
1983 “Imperial Religious Policy and Valerian’s
Persecution of the Church, A.D. 257-260”,
Church History 52/2, 133-144.
Halbwachs, M.
1950 Le Mémoire Collective, Paris.
Huskinson, J. M.
1982 Concordia Apostolorum: Christian Propaganda
at Rome in the Fourth and Fifth
Centuries: A Study in Early Christian Iconography
and Iconology, (British Archaeological
Reports International Series 148),
Oxford.
Invernizzi, A.
1994 Il calendario, (Vita e Costumi dei Romani
Antichi, 16), Roma.
Josi, E.
1969 “La venerazione degli apostoli Pietro e
Paolo nel mondo cristiano antico”. In:
Saecularia Petri et Pauli 1969, 149-197.
Judge, E. A.
1987 Augustus and Roman History, Macquarie.
Krautheimer, R.
1937 Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae,
Città del Vaticano.
Lanciani, R. A.
1891 “L’Itinerario di Einsiedlen e l’ordine di
Benedetto canonico”, (estratto da Monumenti
Antichi a cura dell’Accademia dei
Lincei. Vol. I° - Punt. 3a), Roma.

52 Gitte Lønstrup
Lietzmann, H.
1927 Paulus und Petrus in Rom, Berlin & Leipzig.
Lim, R.
1999 “People as Power: Games, Munificence
and Contested Topography”. In: Harris,
W. V. (ed.), The Transformations of Urbs
Roma in Late Antiquity, (Journal of Roman
Archaeology. Supplementary series
33), Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 265-283.
Marangoni, G.
1744 Cose Gentilesche e profane trasportate ad
uso e adornamento nelle chiese, Roma.
Marucchi, O.
1912 Christian Epigraphy: An Elementary Treatise
with a Collection of Ancient Christian
Inscriptions Mainly of Roman Origin,
(translated from Manuale di epigrafia
cristiana by J. Armine Willis), London.
Mazzoleni, D.
1996 “Sarcofagi cristiani”, Archeo Dossier 138,
50-77.
Michels, A. K.
1978 The Calendar of the Roman Republic,
Princeton.
Mohlberg, K. L.
1952 “Historisch-kritische Bemerkungen zum
Ursprung der sogenannten ‘Memoria Apostolorum’
an der Appischen Strasse”. In:
Colligere Fragmenta. Festschrift für A.
Dold zum 70. Geburtstag am 7.7. 1952,
Beuron in Hohenzollern, 52-74.
New Catholic Encyclopedia: www.newadvent.org/
cathen/
Pani Ermini, L. (a cura di)
2000-2001 Cristiana Loca. Lo spazio cristiano
nella Roma del primo millenio, I-II,
Roma.
Pauly, A. et. al.
1894-1972 Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft, Stuttgart.
Pavia, C.
1999 Roma Sotterranea, Roma.
Pietri, C.
1961 “Concordia Apostolorum et Renovatio Urbis.
Cultes des Martyrs et propagande pontificale”,
Mélanges de l’École française de
Rome 73, 275-322.
Rehak, P.
2001 “Aeneas or Numa Rethinking the Meaning
of the Ara Pacis Augustae”, The Art
Bulletin June, 190-208.
Richardson, L.
1992 A new Topographical Dictionary of Ancient
Rome, Baltimore & London.
Rimoldi, A.
1958 L’apostolo San Pietro: fondamento della
Chiesa, principe degli apostoli ed ostiario
celeste nella Chiesa primitiva dalle origini
al Concilio di Calcedonia, (Analecta Gregoriana
96), Romae.
Ruysschaert, J.
1965-1966 “Les deux fêtes de Pierre dans la
Depositio Martyrum de 354”, Atti della
Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia
III, 38, 173-184.
Ruysschaert, J.
1969-1970 “Pierre et Paul à Rome. Textes e
contextes d’une inscription damasienne”,
Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia
Romana di Archeologia 41-42, 201-218.
Saecularia Damasiana
1986 Saecularia Damasiana. Atti del convegno
internazionale per il XVI centenario della
morte di Papa Damaso I (11-12-384 –
10/12-1984), Città del Vaticano & Roma.
Saecularia Petri et Pauli
1969 Saecularia Petri et Pauli. Conferenze per
il centenario del martirio degli apostoli Pietro
e Paolo tenute nel Pontificio Istituto di
Archeologia Cristiana, Città del Vaticano.
Saenger, P.
1997 Space between the Words – the Origins of
Silent Reading, Stanford, California.
Sághy, M.
2000 “Scinditur in partes populus: Pope Damasus
and the Martyrs of Rome”, Early Medieval
Europe 9, 273-287.
Salzman, R. M.
1990 On Roman Time. The Codex-Calendar of
354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late
Antiquity, Berkeley, Los Angeles &
Oxford.
Saxer, V.
1969 “Le culte des apôtres Pierre et Paul dans le
plus vieux formulaires romains de la messe
du 29 juin. Recherches sur la thématique
des sections XV-XVI du sacramentaire
Léonien”. In: Saecularia Petri et Pauli
1969, 199-240.

Constructing Myths 53
Saxer, V.
2000 “Il culto di Pietro e Paolo”. In: Donati
2000, 73-87.
Shepherd Jr., M. H.
1970 “The Liturgical Reform of Damasus I”. In:
Granfield, P. & Jungmann, J. A. (hrsg.),
Kyriakon. Festschrift Johannes Quasten,
Münster, Westfahlen, 847-863.
Susman, F.
1961 (1964) “Il culto di Pietro a Roma dalla
morte di Leone Magno a Vitaliano (462-
672)”, Archivio della Società Romana di
Storia Patria 84, 1-195.
Tolotti, F.
1982 “Le basiliche cimiteriali con deambulatorio
del suburbio romano: questione ancora
aperta”, Römischen Mitteilungen 89, 153-
211.
Torelli, M.
1992 “Le basiliche circiformi di Roma.
Iconografia, funzione simbolo”. In: Sena
Chiesa, G. & Arslan, E.A. (a cura di), Felix
temporis reparatio. Atti del Convegno
archeologico internazionale Milano capitale
dell’Impero Romano, Milano 8-11
Marzo 1990, Milano, 203-217.
Trout, D. E.
2003 “Damasus and the Invention of Early
Christian Rome”, Journal of Medieval and
Early Modern Studies 33, 517-36.
Wiseman, T. P.
1995 Remus. A Roman Myth, Cambridge.
Wiseman, T. P.
2004 The Myths of Rome, Exeter.
Wissowa, G.
1912 Religion und Kultus der Römer, (Handbuch
der klassischen Altertums-Wissenschaft
in systematischer Darstellung 5/4),
ANCIENT SOURCES
Augustus
Res Gestae: www.penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/
Roman/Texts/home.html
Calendarium Vetus Romanorum, Codex Vaticano Latino
9135, saec. XVII.
Codex Laureshamensis/Codex Vaticano Palatino 833.
Res Gestae: www.penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/
Roman/Texts/home.html
Calendarium Vetus Romanorum, Codex Vaticano Latino
9135, saec. XVII.
Codex Laureshamensis/Codex Vaticano Palatino 833.
Codex Vaticano Barberini 2154.
Dio, C.
Rome: www.penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/home.html
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
1960 The Roman Antiquities, LCL, London &
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Liber Pontificalis
1886 Le Liber Pontificalis. Texte, introduction
et commentaire, Duchesne, L’Abbé L.
(ed.), Paris.
2000 Liber Pontificalis. The Book of Pontiffs:
The Ancient Biographies of the First Ninety
Roman Bishops to AD 715, Davis, R.
(ed.), Liverpool.
Livy, T.
1919 Ab Urbe Condita, LCL, New York.
Marcellinus, A.
1935 Rerum Gestarum Libri, LCL, Cambridge.
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
1931 Martyrologium Hieronymianum, Delehaye,
H. (ed.), (Acta senatorum novembris, II.
2), Bruxelles.
Mommsen, T. & Meyer, P. M.
1905 Theodosiani leges novellae Libri XVI,
Berlin.
Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series: http://
www.bible.ca/history/fathers
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso).
1929 Fasti, Frazer, J. G. (standard English edi-

54 Gitte Lønstrup
tion), London.
1958 Fasti, Bömer, F., Heidelberg.
1976 Fasti, LCL, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
London.
Pharr, C.
1952 The Theodosian Code and Novels and the
Sirmondian Constitutions, Princeton.
Plutarch, M.
1914 Vitae Romuli. LCL, London & New York.
Prudentius, A. C.
1953 Peristephanon, LCL, London & Cambridge.
Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio)
1999 Ten Books on Architecture, Rowland, I. D. &
Dewar, M. J. (eds.), Cambridge.
NOTES
1
I would like to thank the Princess Margrethe and Queen Ingrid Foundations for awarding me scholarships for the
Danish Academy in Rome during 2005 and 2006. I would also like to thank the New Carlsberg Foundation for
financing the illustrations of this article, and the Elisabeth Munksgaard Scholarship for financing its translation
into English by Dr. Lene Østermark-Johansen.
2
Huskinson 1982, 82. It is worth noting that Nova Roma here refers to Rome rather than Constantinople,
although the latter was also often referred to in that term. The foundation day of Constantinople was, however,
celebrated on 11 May.
3
The foundation day of 21 April is registered in the Republican calendar Fasti Antiates Maiores (84-55 BC)
and in such Julian-Augustan calendars as the Fasti Caeretani (12 BC) and the Fasti Esquilini (post 7 AD), as
well as the Fasti Philocaliani (354 AD) and the Fasti Polemii Silvii (449 AD). Amongst the ancient writers
referring to the foundation day on 21 April are Varro (116-27 BC) quoted by Solinus (fourth century AD): “Ut
affirmat Varro auctor diligentissimus, Romam condidit Romulus […], duodeviginti annos natus undecimo
kalends Maias” (I. 18); Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD) IV. 806; Plutarch (46-120 AD) XII. 1 and Asinus Quadratus
(third century AD) who described the millennium of the city on 21 April 248. His History of a Thousand Years
is, however, lost to us. A lecture of 29 October 2006 in the Roman Auditorium by Professor Carandini on the
significance of 21 April can be downloaded at http://www.laterza.it/novita/lezionidistoria.asp For the annulment
of holidays in 389, see Codex Theodosianus II. 8. 19-22. See also Salzman 1990, 155; Lim 1999, 279.
4
Enciclopedia dei Papi 2000, 362.
5
The names of saints, popes and emperors are as far as possible given in English and Latin (St. Agnes, St.
Sebastian, Damasus, Augustus, Constantine), whereas the names of basilicas and catacombs are mentioned by
their Italian place names (e.g. S. Agnese fuori le mura (f.l.m.), S. Sebastiano, S. Callisto).
6
Damasus’ poems were carved in stone by Furius Dionysius Filocalus who signed both several of the epigrams
and the frontispiece of the Fasti Philocaliani, named after him.
7
For the itinera ad sanctos (the routes to the holy martyr tombs in the catacombs), see Fiocchi Nicolai 1995.
8
In Ezechiel 12, 40 (in: PL 25, 375): “[…] crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in terrarum profunda defossae, ex
utraque parte ingredientium per parietes habent corpora sepultorum et ita obscura sunt omnia, ut propemodum
illud propheticum compleatur: Descendant ad infernum viventes (Ps. Liv, 16): et raro desuper lumen admissum
horrorem temperet tenebrarum, ut non tam fenestram, quam foramen demissi luminis putes: rursumque
pedetentim acceditur, et caeca nocte circumdatis illud Virgilianum proponitur (Aeneid. Lib. II.): ‘Horror ubique
animos, simut ipsa silentia terrent’.”
9
See Fasti Philocaliani (354).
10
For this aspect, see also Trout 2003, 524.
11
Barthes 1957, 215-216. I shall return to the discussion of Barthesian myth later in this article.
12
See Michels 1978; Brind’amour 1983; Invernizzi 1994; Hannah 2005.
13
Invernizzi 1994, 30 and 36. The traditional caristia festival on 22 February was for example appropriated by
the Christian natale Petri de cathedra. For St. Augustine’s commentary on this appropriation, see epistles 22
and 29 (in: PL 33). See also Ferrua 1956, IV, 134.
14
44 of them are published in Inscriptiones Italiae XIII. 2 and CIL I. Ovid’s Fasti is in addition to these.
15
VI. 795-6: “Tot restant de mense dies, quot nomina Parcis, cum data sunt trabeae templa, Quirine, tuae.”
English translation of quotations from Ovid by Frazer, LCL 1976.

Constructing Myths 55
16
QUIRINALIA is documented as the 17th day of the month of februarius in: Fasti Antiates Maiores, Fasti
Caeretani, Fasti Maffeiani, Fasti Philocaliani and Fasti Polemii Silvii, and in the Codex Vaticano Barberini
2154 and the Codex Vaticano Latino 9135, which contain calendars from the time of Constantine until 403.
17
According to my correspondence with Michele Salzman: “Quirinus was made the equivalent of Romulus – in a
rather nebulous way – as another founder of Rome, from the third century BC on.” See also Ovid II. 475: “[...]
qui tenet hoc nomen, Romulus ante fuit […].” (“[…] he who owns this name [Quirinus] was Romulus before
[…].”).
18
Ovid (II. 533): “Est honor et tumulis.” (“Honour is paid, also, to the tombs.”).
19
Codex Theodosianus II. 8. 19-22; Salzman 1990, 155; Lim 1999, 279.
20
Livy (X. 46. 7) mentions briefly L. P. Cursor’s triumph and dedication of the temple, but he does not mention
where or when. See also Ovid’s Fasti 1929, 343-44; 1958, 365; 1976, 382; Richardson 1992, 326-327; LTUR,
185-187.
21
Dio LIV. 19. 3.
22
16 January 10 AD became a holiday when Augustus consecrated the temple of Concordia. In 38 BC 17 January
became a holiday in celebration of Augustus’ and Augusta’s wedding anniversary. 4 July became a holiday at
the consecration of the Ara Pacis in 13 BC. Cf. Judge 1987, 59-63.
23
Wissowa 1912, 154.
24
The closest victories are on 1 August 30 BC and 14 August 29 BC. Cf. Judge 1987, 59-63. As a consequence
of these victories, and because Augustus was proclaimed consul for the first time in August, the Republican
month of sextilis was renamed and called after him – after 16 January 27 BC when Octavian was given the name
of Augustus.
25
Dio LIV. 19. 3. Vitruvius III. 2. 7. Augustus’ birthday is registered as a holiday in the Fasti Maffeiani (CIL I,
225): “Augusti natalis LUD CIRC.”
26
See Rehak 2001, 15 for the astrologer Publius Nigidius Figulus’ calculation of the birthdays of Romulus and
Augustus at the autumnal equinox. This theory is challenged by Brind’amour 1983, 240-49; Hannah 2005,
125.
27
Rehak 2001, 7. Equinox is on 21 March and 23 September.
28
Fasti Amiterni (in: Inscriptiones Italiae XIII. 2); Michels 1978, 176: “26. a.d. V Kal. Quinct. = a.d. VI Kal.
Iul. anni Iuliani. NP. Feriae ex s. [c.q]uod e[o] die [imp. Caes(ar)] Augus[tus ado]p[tav]it [sibi] filiu[m Ti.
Caesarem] Aelio [et Sentio cos]. AMIT.”
29
Dio LIV. 19.
30
The days were divided into five categories marked by the following abbreviations: F (Fasti, workdays or court
days), N (Nefasti, festivals), C (Comitiales, workdays when the popular assembly, comitia, would meet), EN
(Endotercisi, festival at the beginning and the end of the day, but workday in the middle of the day) and NP, the
full significance of which is not quite clear, but which almost consistently follows the ides and festivals of the
months. See Invernizzi 1994, 13.
31
See the following Fasti: Antiates Maiores, Ostiensis, Caeretani, Maffeiani, Esquilini, Praenestini, Philocaliani
and Polemii Silvii.
32
In such calendars as the Fasti Praenestini, Fasti Maffeiani and Fasti Ostiensis the festival of 21 April is only
indicated by the capital letters PAR[ILIA]. Invernizzi 1994, 14.
33
Ovid IV. 819-20. The ritual consisted in the marking of the pomerium, also called the moenia: “Apta dies
legitur, qua moenia signet aratro. Sacra Palis suberant: inde movetur opus.” (“A suitable day was chosen on
which he should mark out the line of the walls with the plough. The festival of Pales was at hand; on that day
the work began.”). See also Dionysius of Halicarnassus (first century BC) I. 88. 3, who has reservations about
whether the festival existed before Romulus.
34
Cf. Solinus I. 18; Ovid IV; 806; Plutarch I. XII.
35
Salzman 1990, 122 table 2.
36
The event is, however, not mentioned in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum.
37
According to the Cunctos Populos edict, issued by the Emperor Theodosius in 380, “the faith which Peter
passed on to the Romans and which Pope Damasus continues” was recognised as the state religion. Cf. Codex
Theodosianus XVI. 1. 2. Mommsen & Meyer 1905, 477: “De fide Catholica”, titulum I. II.
38
Cf. Prof. Carandini’s lecture of 29 October 2006. MP3: http://www.laterza.it/novita/lezionidistoria.asp. As for
the sign of the flying birds, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus I. 85 and Ovid IV. 812-819, where it would likewise
appear to be an event preceding 21 April; Wiseman 1995, 6-8.

56 Gitte Lønstrup
39
CIL I, 215.
40
These are the only three calendars, apart from the Fasti Fratrum Arvalium, in which 23 August is
documented.
41
There are similar examples from Diana’s festival on 13 August when people also made sacrifices to the Dioscuri
and other gods “in circo Flaminio”.
42
According to Christian terminology, dies natalis means day of death, since you were born to eternal life on that
day.
43
Rimoldi 1958, 34.
44
Cullmann 1952, 116.
45
Erbes 1899, 39.
46
Haas 1983, 133-144. The first edict of 257 prohibited any kind of Christian adoration. The previous edict issued
by Decius (249-51) prohibited any frequenting of cemeteries.
47
Pietri 1961, 311. Although Pietri’s article appeared three years after Rimoldi’s (1958) he still quotes Cullmann’s
argument: “[…] le 29. juin était célébrée la fête anniversaire de la fondation de Rome, Quirinus-Romulus.”
48
Rimoldi 1958, 34. See also Cullmann 1952, 116. Cullmann refers to both Erbes and Mohlberg. Mohlberg
(1952, 64-65) introduces the coincidence between 29 June, the festival of Romulus-Quirinus, the Feast of the
Apostles in the Via Appia and the date for the funeral of Pope Novatian, together with the role played by St.
Quirinus during the fifth and sixth centuries. It never becomes clear, however, which significance this saint may
have had for 29 June.
49
As a founding figure Remus was, however, inferior to Romulus-Quirinus, the divine founder of Rome. On
Remus, cf. Ovid IV. 835-856.
50
Pietri 1961, 316. The cult of the Dioscuri arose around 499 BC and would still appear to have been popular
by the middle of the fourth century when the city Prefect Tertullus asked them to stop the famine in 359. Cf.
Marcellinus XIX. 10, 4.
51
Trout 2003, 521-23.
52
Haec Damasus vestras referat nova sidera laudes. Ferrua 1942, no. 20.
53
Pauly, A. et al.: “Lares Praestites”: Sons of Mercury and the nymph Lara/Larunda, and guardians of Rome. The
nickname praestites was given to them because they guard everything with their eyes and come to the rescue
of mankind. See also Wiseman 2004, 117.
54
Wiseman 1995, 40-41, 52; Wiseman 2004, 26 and 179. Ovid I. 539-42: “Puppibus egressus Latia stetit exul
in herba […]. Nec mora longa fuit: stabant nova tecta […].” (“Landing from his ships, Evander stood an exile
on the Latian sward […]. But little time elapsed until new dwellings rose […].”). I. 581: for the erection of the
Ara Maxima. For the name of Pallantion, see also Dionysius of Halicarnassus I. 78. 5; I. 79. 8. Wiseman 1995,
40-41, 52; Wiseman 2004, 26 and 179.
55
On 13 August they were celebrated “in Circo Flaminio” in the context of the festival for Diana where, as
already mentioned, sacrifices were made to several gods.
56
According to Wiseman (1995, 71) 1 May can indicate the conception of the twins and 21 February (FERALIA)
their birth. See Wissowa (1912, 171) for a discussion of Augustus’ reconsecration of a previous Lares sanctuary.
See also Augustus: Res Gestae, 19. It appears from the Republican calendar Fasti Antiates Maiores (84-55 BC)
that the Lares were also celebrated on 27 June. Ovid likewise describes that a sanctuary was consecrated to the
Lares on 27 June (VI. 791-794). It is uncertain whether this is a reference to Lares Praestites or to other Lares
(cf. Pauly, A. et al for Lares Privati and Lares Publici). It is, however, obvious that Ovid, in his poem about
1 May, suggests that the altar to the Lares twins was in a state of disrepair (V. 131-2): “[…] multa vetustas
destruit, et saxo longa senecta nocet.” (“[…] length of time destroys many things, and age prolonged wears
out a stone.”). Something suggests that the memory of this festival was fading at Ovid’s time – possibly as the
Dioscuri took over the role previously played by the Lares.
57
Wissowa 1912, 277ff. There were two types of Hercules cults in Rome: the Greek at the Circus Flaminius, and
the Tiburtan at the Circus Maximus. Hercules was celebrated on 1 February (natalis Herculi), 3 April, 30 June,
and on 12 August and 11 January together with Evander. See also Wiseman 2004, 28.
58
Among the earliest artistic evidence of the myth of the female wolf, Romulus and Remus, is the sculpture group
erected by G. and O. Ogulnius in 296 BC (Livy X. 23). Cf. Wiseman 1995, 72-76 and lecture given by Dr.
Christopher Smith at the British School at Rome (December 2006).
59
Shepherd 1970, 854-57.
60
Baldovin 1987, 112. As one of the only churches, the Lateran was just inside the city walls.
61
Fasti Philiocaliani , CIL I, 2. The date or the location of the Apostles’ martyrdom is neither mentioned in the

Constructing Myths 57
canonical writings (e.g. Acts of the Apostles) or in the apocryphal writings (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, i.e.
the acts of Paul of ca. 170 and the acts of Peter of ca. 225). For an extensive discussion of these sources, see
Erbes 1899; Lietzmann 1927; Rimoldi 1958.
62
A list of consuls can be found in Marucchi 1912, appendix.
63
Ruysschaert 1965-1966, 173-174.
64
The martyr Sebastian is supposedly also buried here and later the church was named after him. Catacumbas
means cave in the earth or in the rock, for the oldest core of the burial place arose in an arenarium, i.e. a cave
from which you dug out tuff. Christian burial grounds were originally called coemeteria, i.e. resting places
where the body was awaiting resurrection.
65
Krautheimer 1937, 103. Graffiti dated 260 when Saeculari II et Donato II cos were consuls. See also Josi 1969,
166. For the history of the building, see Krautheimer 1937, 99ff; Donati 2000; Fiocchi Nicolai 2001, 10ff;
Brandenburg 2005, 63-69.
66
Ferrua 1956, III, 432-33.
67
Ferrua 1956, IV, 135. At least ten of the S. Sebastiano graffiti refer to meals for the Apostles. Some of them
are dated: XIIII kal apriles [14 March] refrigeravit Parthenius in deo and Idus (iuli)as [15 July] refrigeravit
restituita (in domi)no at Paulu(m) et Pet(rum) refri(geravi). Chadwick 1957, 47 and 33.
68
Saxer 1969, 166: “Le date offerte dai graffiti sono quelle del loro pellegrinaggio a Roma: in febbraio, marzo,
giugno, agosto, novembre; una sola data non si legge mai: quella del III kal. Iulias!” Nothing specific is known
about the official cult in the Via Appia. See Lietzmann 1927, 125; Susman 1961, 16-18.
69
It is dealt with in detail in Chadwick 1957 and 1962; Rimoldi 1958; Donati 2000.
70
Hic temporibus suis, rogatus a quodam matrona Lucina, corpora apostolorum beati Petri et Pauli de Catacumbas
leuauit noctu: primum quidem corpus beati Pauli accepto beata Lucina posuit in praedio suo, via Ostense,
iuxta locum ubi decollatus est; beati Petri accepit corpus beatus Cornelius episcopus et posuit iuxta locum ubi
crucifixus est, inter corpora sanctorum episcoporum, in templum Apollinis, in monte Aureum, in Vaticanum
palatii Neronis, III kal. Iul. Translation from Davis 2000, 28.
71
Eusebius, II. 25, 6-7 (translation from CCEL). According to Fiocchi Nicolai (2001, 13), the testimonial dates
from the second century. Ferrua 1956, IV, 138, 141; Chadwick 1962, 313-14; Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 205;
Brandenburg 2005, 63-69.
72
“[…] trinis celebratur vis/festum sacrorum martyrum” (in: PL 17, 1215). According to Susman (1961, 17 ref.
6 to Simonetti) the hymn is attributed to Pseudo Ambrose. According to Josi (1969, 156ff) it is attributed to
Ambrose or Ambrosiaster. In the Gelasian Sacramentarium (750) three masses are registered for 29 June: one
“in Natali S. Petri proprium”; another “in Natali Apostolorum Petri et Pauli”; and a third one “in Natali S. Pauli
proprium.”
73
Martyrologium Hieronymianum (ed. Delehaye 1931): “[…] lectio codicis Bernensis suppressa tamen sententia
‘passi sub Nerone’.” The Martyrologium Hieronymianum has been passed down in several manuscripts. In the
Codex Bernensis the sentence in the parenthesis has been omitted.
74
Lietzmann 1927, 109; Saxer 2000, 76. The first compilation of the Fasti Philocaliani took place in 336.
The expression “Petri in Catacumbas et Pauli Ostense” dates from this time. It is worth noting that in the
Martyrologium Hieronymianum we find the following commentary for 25 January: “Roma translatio Pauli
apostoli ad viam Ostiensem.” This might be a reference to the removal of Paul from the Via Appia back to
Ostiense.
75
Lietzmann 1927, 112; Rimoldi 1958, 26 and 34. As for the naming of the Memoria Apostolorum in 1916, see
Mohlberg 1952, 53.
76
Chadwick 1957, 47.
77
According to Delehaye, the translation never took place; the Christians merely founded a place to meet and
worship in the Via Appia in order to find a safe spot, but without removing the bodies of the Apostles. Cf. Saxer
2000, 76.
78
Erbes 1899, 54; Lietzmann 1927, 125, 135, 141; Mohlberg 1952, 65; Rimoldi 1958, 35-36; Susman 1961,
20. Erbes was amongst those who believed that 29 June marked the date of the translation. He was also of the
opinion that the Apostles died on 22 February 63. In the calendar of Polemius Silvius the note “depositio Petri
et Pauli” is also registered for 22 February in accordance with the practise in Gaul, but also with the traditional
Roman celebration of the dead (caristia) on this day, which the Roman Church appropriated for the celebration
of the natale Petri de cathedra as mentioned above. Erbes was accordingly of the opinion that the apostles died
before the famous fire of Rome on 18 July 64. This particular event is otherwise often regarded as the reason for
the intensification of the persecution of the Christians under Nero, which led to the execution of the Apostles.
There are, however, endless discussions of which year the Apostles were executed, but it is generally assumed
that Peter was executed between 64 and 67, and Paul in 67. Christiana Loca I, 2-4 (a cura di Pani Ermini 2000-

58 Gitte Lønstrup
2001).
79
“[…] et in catacumbas ubi iacuerunt corpora sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, in quo loco platomam
ipsam, ubi iacuerunt corpora sancta, versibus exornavit. Hic multa corpora sanctorum requisivit et invenit,
quorum etiam versibus declaravit.” Translation from Davis 2000, 29.
80
Ferrua 1942, nr. 20; Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 205-15; Trout 2003, 532 ref. 38. Both Ferrua and Trout write
habitasse in full accordance with ICUR V. 13273. Ruysschaert discusses variant readings alternating between
habitasse and habitare. Damasus does not specify whether the Apostles were buried here first or in the places
where they were executed. He completely omits the use of such verbs relating to the funeral as depositus, iacet
and requiescit. Instead he uses the much more discreet term habitare/habitasse as a more general indication that
the apostles had dwelt here – dead or alive – as also referred to in the apocryphal writings (Acta Apostolorum
apocrypha) which relate that Peter and Paul had either lived or been there.
81
Whereas the death of the Apostles is only described in the apocryphal acts of Peter and Paul, their journey from
their home in the East to Rome in the West has been related in the canonical Acts of the Apostles.
82
Codex Vaticano Palatino 833. This has likewise been documented in Itinerarium Einsiedlense of the eighth and
ninth centuries. They have both been published in ICUR II. I and Lanciani 1891.
83
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 216.
84
Pavia 1999, 42ff; Christiana Loca (a cura di Pani Ermini 2000-2001) I 74, 93-94 and II 8; Brandenburg
2005, 63-69. For discussions of the circus-shaped deambulatory basilicas in general (Basilica Apostolorum
(S. Sebastiano f.l.m.), S. Agnese f.l.m., S. Lorenzo f.l.m., Ss. Marcellino e Pietro ad duas lauros and the
anonymous basilica in the Via Prenestina), see Krautheimer 1937; Tolotti 1982; Torelli 1992. For the most
recently discovered basilica in the Via Ardeatina, see Fiocchi Nicolai 1995-1996.
85
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 215.
86
Ruysschaert 1965-1966, 176.
87
Prudentius XI. 154-178: “[…] mersa latebrosis crypta patet foveis: huius in occultum gradibus via prona
reflexis ire per anfractus luce latente docet. Primas namque fores summo tenus intrat hiatu inlustratque
dies limina vestibuli. Inde ubi progressu facili nigrescere visa est nox obscura loci per specus ambiguum
ccurrunt celsis inmissa foramina tectis, quae iaciant claros antra super radios. Quamlibet ancipites texant hinc
inde recessus arta sub umbrosis atria porticibus, len excisi subter cava viscera montis crebra terebrato fomice lux
penetrat. Sic datur absentis per subterranea solis cemere fulgorem luminibusque frui.” Translation from LCL 1953.
88
Saenger 1997 (introductory chapter). As for St. Augustine’s comments on St. Ambrose, see Confessiones VI. 3
(in: Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series). For the recitation of inscriptions, see Bodel 2001, 16.
89
Enciclopedia dei Papi 2000, 358 (on the Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, canon 3, 32).
90
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 211-212: “L’un et l’autre sont, en effet, invoqués au concile tenu a Rome en 382, sous
Damase, lorsqu’il s’est agi d’affirmer en face de Constantinople le droit de l’Eglise de Rome d’occuper la
première place.” There has been no attempt to date the Apostolic epigram. For their chronology in general, see
Enciclopedia dei Papi 2000, 351.
91
Huskinson 1982, 79 and 88. Damasus did, however, ask Jerome, who worked as his secretary, to obtain a
version of the letters of Paul. Ferguson, E. et al. 1997, 218.
92
Pietri 1961, 295.
93
Clement Romanus, chapter 5 (in: Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series); Chadwick 1957, 35.
94
The iconography of the Apostles is dealt with in great detail by Huskinson 1982, 3-62; Mazzoleni 1996, 66. As
early as 310-320 specific iconographic programmes were developed allowing the spectator to distinguish the
two Apostles from one another. Paul is characterized by being the eldest; he is partly bald and has a long beard,
whereas Peter has far more hair and a shorter beard. No apsidal paintings in churches from the time of Damasus
have survived, and it is therefore not possible to ascertain to which extent the motif has been employed there.
95
Huskinson 1982, 62.
96
Cf. Batiffol 1925, 106. Huskinson 1961, 90.
97
Huskinson 1982, 86-88, 90. Concordia apostolorum was, according to Huskinson, developed during the second
half of the fourth century as a legal legitimization of the primateship. Constantinople’s claim to a primateship
was founded later in the 7 th or 8 th century on the Apostles Andrew (Peter’s brother) and Luke (the companion
of Paul), see Dvornik 1958, 122. Antioch’s claim to a primateship was based on the belief that their church
had been founded by Peter and Paul before the Apostles arrived in Rome. Here the Christians were called
christianoi for the first time, cf. Martyrologium Romanum, 22 February. See also Pietri 1961, 304; Ruysschaert
1969-1970, 211-212.
98
Paul is not mentioned in the so-called Liberian Catalogue in the Fasti Philocaliani 354; nor does the Liber
Pontificalis (ca. 530) contain his biography, but Peter’s death on 29 June (III Kal. Iul.) is, however, mentioned

Constructing Myths 59
there in his biography, as the first Bishop of Rome.
99
Huskinson 1982, 86. I shall return to this discussion later.
100
According to Février, André Chastagnol has demonstrated how the construction of the Basilica of St Paul was
begun in 383-84: “cette reconstruction a eu pour l’inspirateur Damase.” Février 1992, 505; Carletti 2000b,
448.
101
CSEL 35, 3: “De constructione basilicae sancti apostoli Pauli.”
102
The popularity of the site is reflected in the intensified sepulchral cult. At the time of Damasus several tomb
monuments were erected around the basilica in the so-called Platonia.
103
Pietri 1961, 279; Grig 2004, figures 5-6.
104
Zeses is a Latin transliteration of the Greek verb záo (ζάω). It was inserted in the phrase dignitas amicorum
vivas pie zeses (“honour and good luck befall your friends, drink and live”) as it says in the bottom of the
glass in Pl. III. The phrase was originally intended as a congratulatory greeting to the living, as the gold
glasses had so far been used as gifts for one’s hosts. See Pietri 1961, 307-8; Ferrua 1974 and 1975; Faedo
1978, 1026.
105
‘Naturalising’ is a term which takes its starting point in Barthesian theory and method. The term refers to
the process of something becoming natural and matter-of-course, as if it had never been any different. I shall
enter into a further discussion of the term and its application in connection with Damasus’ project in the
following section.
106
Huskinson 1982, 90; Carletti 2000a, 367-369. See also Pietri 1961, 305, 307, 322; Cameron 1991, 82; Février
1992, 505; Sághy 2000, 279, 285-286.
107
I shall expand upon the criticism of the whole concept of propaganda in a forthcoming article.
108
Barthes 1957, 215-216: “au principe même du mythe: il transforme l’histoire en nature.” “[…] il va le
naturaliser.” His italics.
109
Barthes 1957, 193.
110
Barthes 1957, 193.
111
Barthes 1957, 214-217.
112
Barthes 1957, 207.
113
Barthes 1957, 210.
114
Epigram to Nereus et Achilleus, Ferrua 1942, no. 8.
115
Halbwachs 1950, 68.
116
Halbwachs 1950, 68-69.
117
The expression can be found in epigrams nos. 17, 31, 35, 43, 46, cf. Ferrua 1942. Translation: “When the
sword was still ravaging the holy interior of the Mother.”
118
Halbwachs 1950, 37, 70, 73.
119
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 205 quotes Duchesne: Histoire ancienne de l’Eglise t. 2, Paris 1907, 483.
120
Barthes 1957, 10 (preface). His italics. This aspect has been developed by Dr. Mary Beard. Cf. Beard 1993,
45.
121
Trout 2003, 527.
122
Apart from the inscription to St. Agnes, the martyr epigram to St. Euthychius in S. Sebastiano is intact. It has
been possible to reconstruct the inscription in the papal crypt in S. Callisto because of the large number of
fragments which have come down to us (Pl. I). Far more fragmented are the inscriptions to St. Felicissimus
and St. Agapitus in the Pretestato catacomb, the inscriptions to St. Eusebius and St. Cornelius in S. Callisto
and the St. Nereus and St. Achilleus epigram in the catacomb of Domitilla.
123
Ferrua 1991, 332-339.
124
From the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries the Cosmati family adapted several epigrams to the patterns in
the cosmatesque pavements in S. Martino ai Monti, Ss. Quattro Coronati and S. Giovanni in Laterano.
125
Among these itineraries are De Locis Sanctis and Notitia Ecclesiarum Urbis Romae from the seventh century
and Itinerarium Einsiedlense and Sylloge Laureshamensis of the eighth and ninth centuries.
126
Marangoni 1744, 402-3.
127
Huskinson 1982, 86. Moreover, in Prudentius’ hymn to Peter and Paul (XII, 3-6) he suggests that Paul
became a martyr a year after Peter: “Festus apostolici nobis redit hic dies triumphi, Pauli atque Petri nobilis

60 Gitte Lønstrup
cruore. Unus utrumque dies, pleno tamen innovatus anno, vidit superba morte laureatum.” (in: PL 60, 556).
(“Today we have the festival of the apostles’ triumph coming round again, a day made famous by the blood
of Paul and Peter. The same day, but recurring after a full year, saw each of them win the laurel by a splendid
death.”). Translation from LCL 1953.
128
The sermon is taken from Agimondo’s collection of sermons (in: PL 54, 513); Chevasse 1960, 166-167;
Susman 1961, 19.
129
Sermon 84. 1 (in: Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series).
130
Susman 1961, 188-189.

Constructing Myths 61
Pl. I. The crypt of the popes containing a Damasian epigram, S. Callisto, Rome, 366-384 (photo: Pontificia
Commissione di Archeologia Sacra, Rome).

62 Gitte Lønstrup
Pl. II. Mosaic with a representation of Peter and Paul, S. Costanza, Rome, fourth century (photo: with permission
from the ‛Parrocchia di S. Agnese’, Rome).

Constructing Myths 63
Pl. III. Gold glass, vetro dorato, with a double portrait of Peter and Paul framed by the inscriptions Petrus, Paulus
and fragments of the sentence dignitas amicorum vivas pie zeses. Rome, fourth century, The British Museum
(photo: The Trustees of The British Museum).

64 Gitte Lønstrup
Pl. IV. Gold glass, vetro dorato with a representation of “Pastor”, the christological monogram, and the portraits
of Damasus, Peter and Paul, whose names are inscribed on the glass as well. Rome, fourth century, Musei Vaticani
(photo: Musei Vaticani, The Vatican City, Rome).