A new study states that the accepted dating of a Jewish catacomb in Rome was wrong, and sheds new light on the relationship between religions
Burial in burial chambers (catacombs) among Jews in Rome preceded the Christian catacombs by at least 100 years - so claims an article published yesterday (Wednesday) in the journal "Nature". The discovery indicates that the first people in Rome who used to bury in underground crypt systems were not the early Christians, as has been claimed in this research for many years.
The researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands dated organic materials from Jewish catacombs in Rome. A carbon 14 test revealed that the catacomb in Villa Torlonia was built between the first century BC and the first century AD - long before the construction of the 60 Christian catacombs in the city. Until now, it was estimated that the catacomb in Villa Torlonia dates from the third century AD.
According to the researchers, it seems that the Christians duplicated this burial method, after the Jews had already used it. Jewish life in Rome is documented as early as the first century BC, and it seems that they were buried in the catacombs from the very beginning. The architecture of Villa Torlonia is also very similar to that of early Christian catacombs. The copying of burial practices may teach about the nature of the relationship between the early Christian culture and the culture from which it developed, Judaism.
