(14) The Catacombs. These are vast subter ranean galleries (whether originally sandpits or excavations is uncertain). Their usual height is from eight to ten feet and their width from four to six feet, and they extend for miles, especially in the region of the Appian and Nomentane Ways. 1 Catacombs were early used by the Christians as places of refuge, worship and burial. More than four thousand inscriptions have been found in these subterranean passages, which are considered as belonging to the period between the reign of Tiberius and that of the Emperor Constantine. Among the oldest of the inscriptions in the Catacombs is one dated A. D. 71. The names of twenty-four Christians at Rome are given in the salutations contained in the Epistle to the Romans. The house of Clement of Rome, where the early Christians probably met for worship, has recently been discovered beneath the church of St. Clement.
(15) Founding of the Christian Church. The question, Who founded the church at Rome? is one of some interest as between Catholic and Protestant. The former assigns the honor to Peter, and on this grounds an argument in favor of the claims of the papacy. There is, however, no sufficient reason for believing that Peter was ever even so much as within the walls of Rome.
(16) Past Biblical History. The Christian church at Rome, which appears to have been founded before the visit of the apostle, probably by Roman Jews who had heard the gospel in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii :to), was strengthened by Paul, and the metropolitan character of the city gave the church a position of importance and gradually increasing power, until it became the seat of a metropolitan bish opric, and then of the papal see. The earliest re ligious centers under Christianity were Ephesus, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. Each of these gradually claimed superior powers in the Church, and their decrees were accepted as law. Soon the bishop at Rome, from his position in the capital of the world, and from an assumption that he was the spiritual successor of Peter, claimed su preme power in the Church, and, after long re garding themselves as his equals in rank and authority, the patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople were led to acknowledge the claim of the Roman bishop to a primacy of honor, but not to a supremacy of jurisdiction (about A. D. 451-604). Since the ninth century the great schism divided Christendom into the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Church, independent of the papal power of Rome. The
popes ruled Europe with varying degrees of power and ability until the Reformation broke out, in the sixteenth century, since which era the papal power has gradually declined at Rome. The French army entered Italy in 1796, and later the pope became a prisoner, first at Rome, then in France, and Rome • was formally governed by France (18o6). In 1814 the pope returned to his palace, but in 1848 the people rebelled, and es tablished a republic. France again interfered; the republic ended. The pope returned, but when the French troops were withdrawn in 1870, Italy became united under Victor Emmanuel, Rome was made the political capital of the nation (1871), and the temporal power of the Holy Sec was abolished. The pope still occupies the Vati can, and is supported by contributions of Roman Catholics of France, Austria, Belgium, England, the United States and other countries. Pius IX indignantly refused the government pension, and called himself a prisoner in the Vatican. Leo XIII, though firm in maintaining his claim to the "patrimony of Peter," is more peaceable and con ciliatory. (Schaff, Bib. Diet.) Archbishop John Ireland has recently written strongly in favor of restoring the temporal power of the pope.
(17) Modern Rome. The site occupied by modern Rome is not precisely the same as that which was at any period covered by the ancient city; the change of locality being towards the northwest, the city has partially retired from the celebrated hills. About two-thirds of the area within the walls (traced by Aurelian) is now desolate, consisting of ruins, gardens, and fields, with some churches, convents, and other sacred habitations.
The ground on which the modern city is built covers about one thousand acres, or one mile and a half square; its walls form a circuit of fifteen miles, and embrace an area of three thousand acres. Three of the seven hills are covered with buildings, but are only thinly inhabited. The greatest part of the population is now comprised within the limits of the Campus Martins. The ancient city, however, was more than treble the size of the modern, for it had very extensive sub urbs beyond the walls. Gibbon estimated the population of the city during the reign of Augus tus as 1,500,000. Its population is now about 300,000.
Figurative. Rome, as a persecuting power, is referred to by the "seven heads" and "seven mountains" in Rev. xvii :9, and described under the name of "Babylon" elsewhere in the same book (Rev. xiv :8 ; xvi :19 ; xvii :5 ; xviii :2, 21).