One of the most interesting and fascinating studies in the history of mankind is that concerning catacombs. The city of the dead, usually known as the Catacombs of Rome, is a strange and alluring place to modern travelers and to modern historians. Full appreciation and comprehension of the catacombs can only result after a thorough study of the description, meaning, history, and purpose of the catacombs. Outstanding in this study is the fact that the catacombs are among the most noteworthy of the Christian antiquities of Rome. It is beneath the suburbs of Rome, with their endless streets of tombs, and their countless chapels, adorned with paintings, inscriptions, and roughly sculptured designs, that the catacombs throw light upon the doctrines, belief, hopes and onlooks of the Christians of the first day
