CATACOMBS

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) In Architecture, subterraneous places used for burying the dead. The hypogsa, crypt a, and cimeteria of the ancients were used for the same purpose. In some cities those vast excavations were made use of for other purposes than those of sepulture; at Syracuse, for instance, the same cavern served for a prison as well as a public cemetery. It has been said that in the early ages of Christianity they also served as places of devotion. The most celebrated for their extent are those of Rome, Naples, Syracuse, .; and the more modern ones of Paris, which have been formed by quarrying for the stone with which the city is built. CATACOUSTICS, or [s. 216]