Coemeterium (
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for "cemetery", from the Ancient Greek, κοιμητήριον, ''koimeterion'' = "bedroom, resting place") was originally a free-standing, multi-roomed
gravesite in
Early Christianity. Bodies were buried in wall niches and under the floor. In later times ''coemeterium'' became synonymous with ''
cemetery'', which, like the French ''cimetière'', was derived from the Latin word.
Literature
* Hugo Brandenburg: ''Coemeterium. Der Wandel des Bestattungswesens als Zeichen des Kulturumbruchs der Spätantike.'' In: ''Laverna'', No. 5, Scripta Mercaturae, St. Katharinen, 1994, pp. 206–233, .
* Steffen Diefenbach: ''Römische Erinnerungsräume: Heiligenmemoria und kollektive Identitaten im Rom des 3. bis 5. Jahrhunderts n. Chr''. De Gruyter, 2007, (= ''Millennium Studien,'' Vol. 11; ''Zu Kultur und Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausend'', a
dissertation at the
University of Münster, 2004).
Cemeteries
{{Christianity-stub