This important book is the revised Paperback edition. It presents the most recent scientific research on the Christian catacombs of Rome. In particular, it focuses on their origins and development, their artistic decoration and the inscriptions found there. Three chapters deal with the topography, iconography, and epigraphy of the catacombs, and abundant illustrations document the current state of the catacombs after the extensive restorations of recent years and incorporate the results of the latest excavations.

Every story in catacomb art is a tale of deliverance, a tale of the powerlessness of death and the certainty of the resurrection. Looking back through fifteen hundred years of Christian art, it appears the crucifixion of Jesus holds the highest place. We haven’t looked back far enough. Go back to the first three centuries after Jesus walked among us. Walk the dark corridors of those subterranean burial chambers of the persecuted Christians. There we find a much different theology at work: a theology with resurrection hope and power at the center. If catacomb art were all we had of Christian theology and practice from the first three centuries AD—no Scriptures—we would have no choice but to conclude that the first message of the Christian faith was the Easter gospel.

An archaeologist who has worked extensively in Greece and Italy, Webb sets out 13 itineraries for travelers who want to visit monuments of Christian Rome from the first century, when the Apostles Peter and Paul came to the imperial capital, to the late ninth, the end of the Carolingian Renaissance. She also includes directions for seeing the pope. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Rome was the largest city in the ancient world. As the capital of the Roman Empire, it was clearly an exceptional city in terms of size, diversity and complexity. While the Colosseum, imperial palaces and Pantheon are among its most famous features, this volume explores Rome primarily as a city in which many thousands of men and women were born, lived and died. The thirty-one chapters by leading historians, classicists and archaeologists discuss issues ranging from the monuments and the games to the food and water supply, from policing and riots to domestic housing, from death and disease to pagan cults and the impact of Christianity. Richly illustrated, the volume introduces groundbreaking new research against the background of current debates and is designed as a readable survey accessible in particular to undergraduates and non-specialists.