Boxing Helena

Thoughts on a Late Roman Sarcophagus in St Peter’s Basilica (Rome)

Abstract

According to the tradition recorded by Delbrück (1932), Ceccelli (1924), and Casciola (1913), the porphyry sarcophagus within the altar of St. Simon and Jude Thaddeus in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, containing the eponymous martyrs, once belonged to the empress Helena (d. 360), wife of the apostate emperor Julian (331-363), and was initially found in the mausoleum-cum-church of Santa Costanza. This paper looks at the evidence for that assertion.