Vatican Museums

The name of the dedicant Soricio (for Soricius) is derived from sorex “mouse”; the woman, possibly his wife, has a name derived from the Old Testament (the feminine form of the prophet’s name Elias), divided in two by a Christological symbol alluding to the name and passion of Christ: the “monogrammatic cross” (or staurogram), formed by the Latin cross with the vertical axis constituted by the Greek letter Ρ. The unusual appearance of the horizontal arm, curved upwards, seems to evoke the image of the Jewish seven-branched candelabrum (the menorah), which in the past has led some to believe that Eliasa was a proselyta, a convert to Judaism. The inscription opens with D(is) M(a)n(ibus): a formula from pagan tradition that consecrated the grave to the Manes, the spirits of the dead residing in the afterlife. It was also sometimes used by Christians as it made the tomb inviolable as a res religiosa, “religious item”, protected by law.