Furius Dionysius Filocalus

Furius Dionysius Filocalus was a Roman scribe and stone engraver, specialized in epigraphic texts, who was active in the second half of the fourth century.

[1] The archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi suggests that his inscriptions were reserved for the cult of the martyrs.

[2] For these inscriptions, called the Epigrammata Damasiana,[3] Filocalus created an original letterform that is known as filocalian letter[2] or philocalian script.

[5] Three fourth-century fragments of the filocalian letter engraved in stone are known, which seem to have been signed in the same way, with the inscription Furius Dionysius Filocalus scribsit.

[2] These fragments were part of the transcription of a series of poems that Pope Damasus I had written in honor of the martyrs, and which were employed to decorate their tombs.