The Tunnel Where Every Rank Disappeared

Beneath the Via Appia in Rome, the Catacomb of Callixtus stretches through miles of narrow tunnels carved into volcanic rock. Beginning in the second century, Christians buried their dead here during waves of imperial persecution — and what archaeologists discovered centuries later is remarkable. Inscriptions appear in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic. A Syrian merchant rests beside a Roman senator's daughter.…