And the cemetery on Vatican Hill appears to have been reserved for holy pagan prophets and soothsayers.
Where can I find more about that?
Here's a Newsweek article and there is more elsewhere on the www:
Oct. 13, 2006 - Just inside the Vatican's fortified walls, directly below the street connecting its private pharmacy and its members-only supermarket, lies a 2,000-year-old graveyard littered with bizarre, often disturbing displays of pagan worship. Under one metallic walkway, the headless skeleton of a young boy rests in an open grave. At his side, a marble replica of a hen's egg, which to pagans represented the rebirth of the body through reincarnation. Nearby, countless skeletons lie scattered among the remnants of terra cotta vases used in pagan ceremonies. The underground air is damp with the smell of wet dirt, and the clay tubes used by the pagans to feed their dead with honey and syrup still protrude, fingerlike, from the ground.
Walking among the exposed bones of any ancient graveyard would be chilling enough. But when it¡¯s a pagan necropolis directly beneath Vatican City, arguably Christianity¡¯s holiest shrine, then the situation redlines right into completely unnerving. Or it would be if it weren¡¯t so enthralling, especially for anyone who has ever pondered Roman Catholicism's pagan roots. The Necropoli dell'Autoparco (literally Necropolis of the Parking Garage), a 2,000-year-old burial ground, which opens to the public Oct. 20, offers a rarely seen glimpse of the close ties between pagans and Christians during the Augustan era (23 B.C.-14 A.D.).
"You see a mix of social class and even religious beliefs here,¡± says Francesco Buranelli, director of the Vatican Museums, who believes that including the pagan graveyard as part of the Vatican¡¯s museums will foster awareness of the roots of Catholicism and the importance of its Roman history. The site ¡°brings together the rich and the poor, the plebes and the nobles," he says. ¡°We have not opened an exhibit as historically significant in recent history."
The necropolis was discovered by accident in 2003 when construction workers broke ground for a new parking garage for Vatican employees. After local residents complained that dump trucks leaving the site were carrying tombstones and other seemingly important archaeological debris, the Vatican admitted uncovering what was believed to be an ancient Roman burial ground. Little further explanation was offered. But in the waning days of John Paul II¡¯s papacy, plans were made to open the graveyard to the public. John Paul himself was a student of Rome¡¯s pagan roots. But when he was succeeded by the more conservative Pope Benedict XVI, the plan was nearly derailed¡ªuntil the Vatican's official archeologists insisted that the Holy See carry through the plans to honor the former pope. Indeed, when it opens next week as part of the Vatican Museums' 500th anniversary, the very fact that it exists so publicly is a testament to the Holy See's curious new willingness to promote that which it does not necessarily believe. "Everyone always thinks that if it's not about pure Christianity, the Vatican isn't interested," says Cristina Gennaccari, an archaeologist with the Vatican Museums. "But there are many pagan aspects of all things modern, and when it comes to archeology, especially religious archeology, there is really no room for distinction."