The burial niches
Layers of hollows cut into the rock along both sides of the gallery.
Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Fotis Petrakogiannis โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0
**Among the oldest early-Christian catacombs in the world โ older than many in Rome** โ cut into soft volcanic rock near Tripiti. They date from roughly the **1st and 2nd centuries AD**, the **earliest Christian period**, when the faith was a small persecuted community. There are **three connected catacombs** of carved galleries and passages, their walls lined with **burial niches** cut into the rock in layers, estimated to have held **thousands of burials**. โ Only **a small section** of the network is open; the rest is closed for safety. Their importance is as **very early evidence** of an organised Christian community in the Aegean โ with Greek inscriptions on the walls. โ And they stand metres from the spot where the **Venus de Milo** was found in 1820. โ The interior is **narrow, low and dark**.
Layers of hollows cut into the rock along both sides of the gallery.
Wall texts among the earliest Christian evidence in the Aegean.
Metres from the Roman theatre and the Venus de Milo find spot.
Tripiti, 84800 Milos, Greece
**In the Louvre in Paris since 1821 โ and the story itself is part of visiting Milos.** โ **The discovery**: in **1820** a Milian farmer named Giorgos Kentrotas found the statue **in a field near Tripiti** โ metres from the catacombs and the Roman theatre, **and the find spot is marked today** and can be stood on. โ **What followed is disputed in its details**: French officers intervened, there were negotiations and a dispute with Ottoman representatives, **and the statue ended up on a French ship**, then was presented to Louis XVIII, who gave it to the Louvre in **1821**. โ **Why it became famous**: carved around **100 BC**, its mastery of the turning pose and drapery made it an icon โ and **its missing arms** added a mystery still debated (what was she holding?). โ **On Milos** there is a **cast** in the archaeological museum at **Plaka**, and the marked **find spot**. โ **Calls for its return** are raised from time to time, as with the Parthenon marbles.
**Age, scale and purpose โ and the differences help set expectations.** โ **Age**: the Milos catacombs are **1stโ2nd century**, **older than many in Rome**, most of which expanded in the 3rd and 4th. **These belong to the very earliest layer of Christian remains.** โ **Scale**: Rome's catacombs are **vast networks** running for kilometres on several levels, some holding hundreds of thousands of burials; **Milos is far smaller** โ three catacombs with thousands of burials, **and only a small part is open**. โ **The purpose is the same**: communal burial for an early Christian community, cut into **soft, easily worked rock** (volcanic here, volcanic tuff in Rome too) โ and not ยซhiding placesยป, as is often said; they were **known cemeteries**, not secret vaults. โ **So calibrate**: a **20-minute** visit along one gallery, not the exploration of a labyrinth. โ **Their value is their antiquity, not their size.**
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