ROME, ITALY—ANSA reports that new rooms have been discovered beneath the Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, said to have been built around the fourth-century home, or domus, of Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. “We have shed more light on the main entrance into the domus and better established the division between the various rooms,” said archaeologist Anna De Santis. The newly uncovered rooms are thought to have been living quarters for Helena’s ladies in waiting. According to tradition, Helena, who is revered as a saint, housed Christian relics she obtained in Jerusalem in her chapel. Its floor was said to be covered with soil from the Holy Land. To read more about Imperial residences in Rome, go to "Golden House of an Emperor."
