Abstract

This paper is intended as an offprint, focused on the history of studies, of a larger analysis about the so-called gammadia in the Roman catacombs and their computerized cataloguing which was the subject of my doctoral thesis. Over the centuries a basic confusion existed between gammadiae as symbols in the frescoes and in the mosaics, and the term as used in some biographies in the Liber Pontificalis. An important role was assigned to the illustrations in Antonio Bosio’s Roma Sotterranea, which conditioned the observations of all later authors, and to Antonio Quacquarelli’s studies which were based on a connection between gammadiae, numerology and patristics. Aided by recent opinions and studies, especially on the textiles from the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Israel, we can try to continue the analysis of gammadiae, searching for their real meaning.