The Catacomb of Balbina or Catacomb of Mark is a

catacomb Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

between the ancient

via Appia antica The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, record ...

and

via Ardeatina The Via Ardeatina (Ardeatine Way) was an ancient road of Rome leading to the town of Ardea, after which it is named. Ardea lay 24 miles (39 kilometers) distant from Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most ...

in the

Ardeatino Ardeatino is the 20th ''quartiere'' of Rome, identified by the initials . It belongs to the Municipio I and VIII. Geography Boundaries Northward, the ''quartiere'' borders with ''rioni'' San Saba (R. XXI) and Celio (R. XIX). Eastward, it b ...

district of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. It is one of the funerary areas in the Callixtian complex, which is sited between the via Appia antica, via Ardeatina and the vicolo delle Sette Chiese. The complex also includes the catacombs of Callixtus (with all its diverse burial areas) and Santi Marco e Marcelliano. The Catacomb of Balbina is mentioned in the ''

Depositio episcoporum The ''Liberian Catalogue'' ({{langx, la, Catalogus Liberianus) is a list of the bishops of Rome from Peter to Liberius (died 366). For each bishop, the list gives the lengths of his episcopate, the corresponding consular dates and the names of t ...

'' (which records

Pope Mark Pope Mark () was the bishop of Rome from 18 January to his death on 7 October 336. Little is known of Mark's early life. According to the ''Liber Pontificalis'', he was a Roman, and his father's name was Priscus. Mark succeeded Sylvester I as ...

being buried "in Balbinae" in January-October 336), the ''Index coemeteriorum vetus'' (which mentions a ''cymiterium Balbinae ad sanctum Marcum'' or 'cemetery of Balbina at St Mark') and two inscriptions (including one relating to a Sabinus who prepared his own tomb ''in cymiteriu Balbinae in cripta noba'' or 'in a new gallery of Balbina's cemetery'). The usual name for it thus relates to the owner of the land in which it was dug ( Balbina of Rome), whilst the other refers to the main saint buried in it (Pope Mark), to whom the related circular above-ground basilica is also dedicated. Despite these sources, the catacomb's identification is still uncertain. On 3 September 1991, it was accidentally discovered in a field used for growing medical herbs, the

Salesian The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...

Tarcisio Gazzola identified traces of the plan of the Constantanian-style basilica, 66 metres long and 27 metres wide, Baruffa A., ''Le catacombe di S. Callisto. Storia, archeologia, fede'', Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 1992, p. 164 soon identified as the basilica dedicated to Pope Mark mentioned in the literary sources.

References

Balbina Rome Q. XX Ardeatino {{Rome-stub