Recent Studies on the Jewish Catacombs of Monteverde in Rome: A Review Article

Abstract

As the subtitle of the book under critical review suggests (D. Rossi, M. Di Mento eds., La catacomba ebraica di Monteverde: vecchi dati e nuove scoperte, Rome 2013), the four-year study by the Soprintendenza Speciale dei Beni Archeolo­gici di Roma on evidence for Jewish burials on the hill slopes above the via Portuense and Pozzo Pantaleo valley (in the present XII Circoscrizione of Rome) analyses textual evidence and documented artifacts as well as new excavations at or near the last finding of Jewish tombs in galleries below the far southwestern corner of the Janiculum ridge. This compilation of data leads to logical conclusions on the catacomb’s contents, chronology and location, but should one ask point-blank if anything of the Jewish catacomb (the subject of the title) has actually been found, the answer will seem as unclear as the reasons for the site’s present obscurity. The reflections on the Rossi-Di Mento publication focus in particular on the circumstances affecting the study and preservation of this Jewish catacomb since its inception and on the question of how the investigations in course should lead to a better understanding of what has contributed to the catacomb’s present state.