Vatican Museums

This marble slab was intended for the burial of a boy named Gentianus, who died at twenty years of age and was buried in the "Maior" cemetery of the Via Nomentana. The youth was defined as "faithful", indicating that he belonged to the Christian community by virtue of baptism. The second part of the inscription, brusquely conjugated in the second person, takes the form of an intimate conversation between the deceased and his loved ones, and is a glowing testimony of faith in the life of the Hereafter and in the "communion" of the living with the dead, in the presence of God. "And in your prayers, pray for us, because we know that you are in Christ!" The engraving of the text is accurate and some characters have a rounded ("uncial") shape, as was sometimes the case in the late era (fourth century). In the centre of the third line there is a "Christological monogram" (combination of chi and rho, initials of the Greek name of Christ) between two birds; the same monogram concludes the inscription, as an abbreviation of Christ's name.