An underground system of tunnels and chambers with recesses for graves, used (in former times) as a cemetery; a subterranean tunnel system used for burying the dead, as in Paris or ancient Rome
Catacombs are ancient underground passages and rooms, especially under a city, where people used to be buried. an area underground where dead people are buried = tomb (Catacumbas underground place in Rome where the bodies of St Peter and St Paul were said to be buried). Subterranean cemetery of galleries with recesses for tombs. The term was probably first applied to the cemetery under St. Sebastian's Basilica that was a temporary resting place for the bodies of Sts. Peter and Paul in the late 3rd century AD, but it came to refer to all the subterranean cemeteries around Rome. In addition to serving as burial sites, catacombs in early Christian Rome were the sites of funeral feasts celebrated in family vaults on the day of burial and on anniversaries. They were used as hiding places during times of persecution; Pope Sixtus II was supposedly captured and killed (AD 258) while hiding in the St. Sebastian's catacomb during Valerian's persecution. Catacombs are also found in Sicily and other parts of Italy, in Egypt, and in Lebanon
An underground system of tunnels used by the Romans for burial, also called a hypogeum Urns and busts of the dead were placed in niches along the tunnels, which crisscrossed the area under an existing cemetery and often incorporated rooms (cubiculae) and several different levels
A cave, grotto, or subterraneous place of large extent used for the burial of the dead; commonly in the plural
An underground place for burials with recesses for tombs and urns; these are often large enough that one can easily get lost
an underground tunnel with recesses where bodies were buried (as in ancient Rome)
Early Christian underground burial place, consisting of long tunnels with niches and chambers
A Roman underground burial ground where Christians formerly indulged in symbolic cannibalism among the proscribed bodies of friends, relatives, and countrymen Now used to name any underground burial ground with walking space including the basements of mausoleums and the sewers of Paris
an underground system of tunnels and chambers with recesses for graves, used (in former times) as a cemetery
1 Underground tunnels in early Christians would gather in to worship in secret 2 Any underground tunnel
Subterranean burial chamber used during the Roman Empite Catacombs were used for burial, not only by Christians, but they are usually associated with Christianity because the Christians held services in the catacombs while they were still persecuted by the Romans (First to early fourth centuries A D , though the persecution was not always severe at all times during this period) Some of the catacombs are decorated with Christian paintings