Inscription of Siddi

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Inscription of Siddi
Inscription of Siddi
Dated inscriptions

This stone closed the tomb of little Siddi (Siddinus?), who died at less than five months of age on 11 April 431, and was buried in the cemetery of Commodilla, on the Via Ostiense. The space is almost entirely filled with a "monogrammatic cross" (composed, that is, with the first letters of the Greek name for Christ, chi and rho), surrounded by a laurel wreath and flanked by two doves, while the epitaph - untidy and full of errors - is relegated to the remaining space below. The "apocalyptic letters" (alpha and omega, the first and the last of the Greek alphabet, which refer to Christ as the "beginning and end" of the world in Rev 22:13), are suspended from the arms of the cross in reverse order, meaning that the end of earthly existence is the prelude to the beginning of a new life. Indeed, according to the epitaph, the little deceased child, following his brief experience in the world, was "called in peace": this unusual expression clearly expresses trust that this "innocent child" now rests in the peace of Christ.