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The Church Fathers · c. 366–384
The Epigrams
Damasus I · c. 305 – 384
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What it is
Some sixty verse inscriptions composed by a bishop of Rome for the tombs of martyrs in the catacombs, cut in a purpose-designed letterform by the calligrapher Filocalus and set up where pilgrims would read them.
Why it lasted
A deliberate programme to turn Rome's Christian dead into the city's founding heroes, replacing Romulus with Peter and Paul. It created the pilgrim geography of Rome and, with it, the papacy's claim to the city.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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