Vatican Museums

This inscription is concise, as is usually the case for texts of the early nuclei of catacombs, and consists of the name of the deceased and the acclamation in pace, of sepulchral or eschatological value and alluding, in the first case, to peace in the grave, and in the second to peace in the afterlife. The name Agàpe (Acàpe on stone) is specifically Christian and derives from the transliteration of the Greek ἀγάπη, the meaning of which passed from simple human love to the love of one’s neighbour deriving from God’s love, as preached by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 13). In the sepulchral inscriptions of Rome, as well as appearing as a person’s second or baptismal name, this word is present in the Greek acclamations èis agàpen, en agàpe, metà agàpes and in the Latin in agàpe, which along with the more widespread en eiréne (Greek) and in pace (Latin) contain the lexical duo agape-irene evocative of the atmosphere of funeral feasts at the tombs of the deceased.