Hypotheses about Position of the Tomb of St. Cyril the Philosopher in the Old Basilica of San Clemente in Rome and about Identifications in the Adjacent Fresco

In 1863, archaeologist Giovanni de Rossi suggested with reasonable doubt that the tomb of St. Cyril the Philosopher was located to the southern wall of the southern aisle in Old Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, where it is venerated today. Five years later, in 1868, the last section of the Old Basilica was excavated, and then a fresco identified as Resurrection of Adam and Eve (Anastasis or Descent into Hell), with rare form of an arcosolium, was discovered. The fresco in question was not paid attention until announcement of John Osborne's hypothesis in 1979 about position of the tomb of St. Cyril the Philosopher in the Old Basilica of San Clemente. John Osborne suggests that the marble sarcophagus of Pope Hadrian II, in which in 869 according to the sources the body of St. Cyril the Philosopher was laid, was located under this fresco. This position corresponds to the information from medieval sources referring the tomb of St. Cyril the Philosopher "to the right of the altar". The position proposed by Giovanni de Rossi "to the right of the priest, facing congregation" does not correspond to historical records, takes out the tomb of St. Cyril from the nave and placed it in another premise – to the southern aisle. John Osborne did not pay attention to duplication of the nodal scene of the Christological cycle Resurrection of Adam and Eve in the nave of the Old Basilica of San Clemente. This casts reasonable doubt on his hypothesis for identification of St. Cyril the Philosopher in the scene. According to the Slavonic Hagiography of St. Cyril a new identification has been proposed of the scene in question as Resurrection of Adam's grandson, as well as new identifications of St. Cyril the Philosopher and of St. Methodius in the fresco.