La signora di Priscilla. Un nuovo cammeo dai recenti scavi del secondo piano delle catacombe di Priscilla sulla via Salaria nova

In the last two years the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology resumed the archaeological excavations of the second level of Priscilla Catacombs, along the via Salaria Nova. On the front of a low loculus in the main gallery, covered by a great amount of earth, was discovered, still in situ, a precious cameo in white and brown sardonyx, engraved with a portrait of a noblewoman. The jewel, which can be dated to the first half of the 3rd century AD, was probably a "family treasure", possibly belonging to one of the ancestress of the deceased. For these reasons, the burial could be dated back to the beginning of the IVth century, This new cameo could express, not only the self-representational feeling of a high-level and wealthy patronage, but also- for the distinctive catacombs phenomenon of the funerary equipment used as a decoration - a semantic path linking patronage and fruition, which means the connection between life, death and afterlife aspiration of the Christians of the first centuries.