To the question of what the catacombs are, many today will answer: an underground tunnel, a labyrinth. However, in the time of Ancient Rome, and it was then that this word appeared, it had a narrower meaning. What are catacombs? What language did this word come from in Russian?
Etymology
What are the catacombs, in the Middle Ages people knew well. So called funeral galleries. The word is of Latin origin. Where this term came from in Russian is unknown. In Italian, German, French, it sounds approximately the same.
What are catacombs? In the Middle Ages, so-called underground tombs. In the Russian language, this word came in the XVIII century. But already in a slightly different meaning. Catacombs are any underground tunnels.
Catacombs of Rome
In the capital of Italy there are many ancient monuments. There are more than sixty catacombs in Rome. Where are these unique structures located? Most stretch along the Appian Way.
The first catacombs appeared in the pre-Christian period. There is a version that these are the remains of ancient quarries. The later ones are family crypts. At the dawn of Christianity, it was customary to worship at the tombs of martyrs installed in the catacombs. Hence the tradition of holding the liturgy at the relics of saints.
Catacombs are in Syracuse, Naples, as well as in France, the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Egypt. There are similar facilities in Ukraine.
Odessa catacombs
A huge underground labyrinth is located in the vicinity of the city. These, of course, are not tombs. Odessa catacombs are former quarries. Here, stone was once mined for the construction of the city. According to 1998, the length of the maze is about two and a half kilometers.
Crimea
There are catacombs in Sevastopol. They appeared in the XVIII century, were necessary to protect against the enemy. There are catacombs 5 kilometers from Kerch, where during WWII events took place that went down in history under the name “Defense of the Adzhimushkaysky Quarries”.