Santa Maria Maggiore's Fifth-Century Mosaics: Triumphal Christianity and the Jews

1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret R. Miles
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
The West ◽  
Public Announcement ◽  
Eastern Empire ◽  
The City ◽  
Santa Maria ◽  
Strong Claim

The fifth-century mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome represent the oldest surviving program of mosaic decoration in a Christian church. Its political context includes the steady drain of political authority and power to the Eastern empire from the early fourth century forward, the proscription of paganism at the end of the fourth century, and the massively disruptive Sack of Rome by Alaric in 410 CE. In the vacuum of political power in the West, the papacy under Sixtus III made a strong claim for a new basis of Roman power—the religious primacy of the city of Peter and Paul under papal leadership. The building and decoration of Santa Maria Maggiore played an important role in the consolidation and public announcement of papal power.

scholarly journals Roman Senators and Absent Emperors in Late Antiquity

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Humphries
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Set Up ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

It is often assumed that the political fortunes of the city of Rome and of its élite, the Senate, decline in late antiquity. Such decline is attributed to emperors residing in other centers closer to the frontiers and to the inflation of senatorial status in the fourth century. This article argues, however, that the senators of Rome continued to see themselves as important participants in imperial high politics throughout the period. Such ambitions were ably demonstrated by Q. Aurelius Symmachus, whose role as senatorial ambassador to the imperial court was predicated on the basis that the Senate in Rome was still an important political institution. Similar ambitions motivated Roman senators to give active support to rival sides in political usurpations in the fourth century; this activity was advertised, moreover, by an impressive series of dedications set up in the Forum Romanum in close proximity to the Senate House itself. The climax of these aspirations came in the unstable circumstances of the fifth century when, for the first time in over a hundred years, Roman senators seated themselves on the imperial throne. Far from being a moribund political anachronism, then, the Senate in Rome continued to act as a major partner in the running of the Empire throughout the last centuries of Roman rule in the West.

scholarly journals The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii: Interim Report

1983 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Ling
Keyword(s):  
General Trend ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
The West ◽  
Phase 3 ◽  
Living Space ◽  
Economic Basis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The City

SummaryA British team has been working since 1978 upon a programme of documentation and analysis in the Insula of the Menander at Pompeii, one of the irregular city-blocks situated immediately to the west of the old part of the city in an area which was developed from the early fourth century B.C onwards. Study of the structural techniques, of wall-abutments, and of anomalies in plan can be used in conjunction with the evidence of painted wall-plaster to identify five main phases in the building-history: Phase I (fourth-third centuries B.C), Phase 2 (second and early first centuries B.C), Phase 3 (c. 80-c. 15 B.C), Phase 4 (c. 15 B.C.-C. A.D. 50), Phase 5 (c. A.D. 50-79). These illustrate a complex pattern of changing property-boundaries, but underline the general trend towards increasing commercialization and greater pressure upon living-space in this area of the city. There is also interesting evidence of the economic basis of life in the individual houses during the years immediately before 79.

Chinese Communist Treatment of the Origins and the Foundation of the Chinese Empire

1965 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 78-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. P. Hulsewé
Keyword(s):  
Yangtze River ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Warring States ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Chinese Empire

In antiquity, China was far from being the China we know today, neither in extent, nor in political and social organisation. To the south it did not extend beyond the Yangtze River, to the north it stopped short of the Mongolian steppe, to the north-east, only a small part of the south Manchurian plain was included, whereas in the west it merely went up to the easternmost part of what is now Kansu Province; the Szechwan plain was only included at the end of the fourth century B.C. Politically, the King of Chou was theoretically the overlord of most of this area, but in actual practice, independent rulers reigned over a congeries of larger and smaller states. As a result of wars of conquest, seven large states had come to be formed by the middle of the fifth century B.C. and these were engaged in a ceaseless struggle for supremacy. The time between the middle of the fifth century and 221 B.C., when the western state of Ch'in finally conquered all its rivals, is known as the period of the Warring States.

Endings (c. AD 380–400)

2021 ◽  
pp. 377-388
Author(s):  
Dominic Perring
Keyword(s):  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Public Buildings ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town ◽  
Reduced Scale

The evidence for London’s late fourth century decline is put under the microscope. The paucity and problematic interpretation of dating evidence is discussed, but it is concluded that important elements of London’s urban infrastructure were in serious disrepair from as early as the 380s. Some main roads could no longer have carried regular wheeled traffic. Sites of former public buildings on the margins of towns were converted into small cemeteries in the late fourth century, showing that the city was still populated but on a reduced scale and hinting at a closer relationship between communities of the living and communities of the dead. Rich assemblages recovered from within some wells within the town are thought likely to represent termination rituals, as properties were closed and households departed. Abandonment horizons can also be described from the finds left behind over the latest floors of some houses. These acts of closure and departure may also have begun in the 380s, perhaps under Magnus Maximus who had briefly revived London’s mint but also withdrew troops and administrators from Britain. Whilst the city may still have been occupied into the fifth century, this is far from certain, and there is no evidence of repair and refurbishment of urban properties beyond the last years of the fourth century. This evidence of redundancy and retreat seems consistent with the interrupted history of the diocesan administration. London had become marginal city of relatively little importance to Rome.

Sixteenth-Century Reformed Perspectives on the Minority Church

1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-488
Author(s):  
David Wright
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
The West ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Christian Order ◽  
The City

If one may combine hypothesis and anachronism, I reckon that John Calvin would be highly uncomfortable in the pluralist society of the West at the end of the second Christian millennium. Even if we do not find him enunciating in so many words Zwingli's bold axiom that ‘a Christian city is none other than a Christian church’, nevertheless the central thrust of the reform in Geneva is clear – that the whole city be united in the honour and service of God. All children should be baptized, and no open dissent or defiance of the Christian order to which the city was corporately committed should go unchallenged. This, at any rate, is the conventional account of a fundamental platform of the Genevan Reformation, shared in large measure by Zūrich, Strasbourg and other cities, but not by Lutheran territories.

scholarly journals Praktykowanie postu w świetle historiografii kościelnej IV-V wieku

Vox Patrum ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 359-378
Author(s):  
Sławomir Bralewski
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Local Church ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Fasting Period ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church ◽  
Unanimous Agreement

The ecclesiastical histories of the fourth and the fifth centuries confirm the fasting as a practice popularly observed by the Christians of that time. From the account of the historians one can conclude that fasting combined with prayer was a distinctive feature of Christian piety. From the fourth century the principal prac­tice of abstention from food included the concept of a forty-day fasting period before Easter, i.e. Lent, and additionally the fast practiced two days every week throughout the year, namely each Wednesday and Friday, while the scheme is con­sidered to have its roots in the regulations promoted by the Church authorities of the period. Nonetheless, by the middle of the fifth century the individual churches of the West and the East had not arrived at an unanimous agreement on the length of Lent neither on its form. Moreover, the practice of fasting was also introduced as obligatory for the catechumens before baptism and for the local church com­munities they represented. Additionally, fasting was a must for those repenting their sins. First and foremost, however, a very strict practice of food abstention was observed by the monks of the period.

Oinoanda: The Agora

1986 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 61-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Coulton
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
The West ◽  
City Area ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The North ◽  
British Institute ◽  
The City ◽  
Main Streets

This study of the agora at Oinoanda is based on fieldwork done in 1975, 1977, 1981 and 1983 in the course of the survey of Oinoanda conducted by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara under the direction of A. S. Hall, and with the cooperation and assistance of the Directorate of Antiquities at Ankara. The topographical survey of the site, which underlies Figures 1 and 2, was undertaken by students of the Northeast London Polytechnic. Since our survey permit allowed no excavation, what follows is based on the visible remains, and some important points remain uncertain. Nevertheless, the extent of the remains and the absence of later interference with the site allow for a substantial reconstruction of the buildings concerned and their chronology.The agora of Oinoanda occupies an open space c. 87 m. by 27 m. in a depression between three low hills near the middle of the city area. To the north a spur runs out from the Acropolis hill, to the east is a small hill on the summit of which are rock cuttings for a small temple, and to the southwest is a hill which now carries a late antique fort. Between these three hills run the main streets of the city; to the south a road which skirts the hollow containing the Early Christian church Mm 3 to link up with the southern colonnaded street; to the west a much shorter road to the West Gate; and to the northeast another colonnaded street which leads between the two bath-buildings Mk 1 and Ml 1 in the direction of the Esplanade.

Cirencester, 1969–1972: Ninth Interim Report

1973 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D. McWhirr
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Short Report ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
The West ◽  
Boundary Wall ◽  
The Third ◽  
The North ◽  
Iron Working

SummaryThe 1969–72 excavations have concentrated on two main areas to be affected by the proposed relief road around Cirencester. In insula XII two houses, apparently constructed in the second half of the third century A.D., have been uncovered and planned. A total of twelve mosaics were found in varying states of preservation. Building XII, I was rectangular with a bath suite to the west, whilst the latest phase of XII, 2 resembled the plan of a winged corridor villa. From this building came evidence of iron working. Both buildings continued to be used in the fourth century and there is slight structural evidence suggesting fifth century occupation.To the west of Cirencester excavation of a late Roman cemetery has produced 268 burials, not all of which were complete, and a small number of associated finds. All but one were inhumations and two were in stone coffins. The skeletons have been studied by Dr. C. Wells and a short report on his work is included. Work has also been carried out on a road leading towards the amphitheatre. To the north of this road was a boundary(?) wall. Other excavated sites are mentioned in this report. Several interesting pieces of Roman sculpture were found.Two appendices are included which discuss the mosaics and inscriptions found during the period under review.

Hellenistic Thessaloniki

1972 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 156-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
The West ◽  
City Wall ◽  
The North ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
East And West ◽  
City Plan ◽  
The City

SummaryIt would seem that the plan of Thessaloniki (fig. 4) was laid out at the time of the city's foundation by Cassander in c. 316 b.c. and that it has close parallels in the plans of other early Hellenistic cities. There was possibly an agora in the upper city from the beginning, but the principal, commercial agora of the Hellenistic city was probably closer to the sea. A large open space to the west was possibly a ‘sacred area’ in Hellenistic times, but the only religious centre whose site is known with any degree of certainty is the Serapeum. A gymnasium is known to have existed to the north of the city from the late Hellenistic period at least, and a nearby stadium probably goes back to Hellenistic times as well.The Hellenistic fortifications probably followed the lines of those of the mid-fifth century a.d. In common with many other Hellenistic cities there is an acropolis incorporated in the city wall, but the fortifications of Thessaloniki are slightly anomalous in that the lower stretches of the east and west walls run parallel with some of the streets of the city plan.Thus, even though the reconstruction of Hellenistic Thessaloniki may be an elusive and often a speculative business, the statement of an anonymous writer to the effect that ‘il ne reste à Thessaloniki aucun vestige de la ville hellénistique’ is certainly exaggerated.

Fifth-century landscapes

2021 ◽  
pp. 391-398
Author(s):  
Dominic Perring
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
Rural Sites ◽  
Trafalgar Square ◽  
The City

The desertion of Roman London around the end of the fourth century is contrasted with settlement continuity within its rural hinterland. The failure of the Roman administration resulted in the abandonment of most urban properties. Although some suburban villas may have suffered a similar fate, others saw continued occupation into the fifth century. The most compelling evidence for such continuity comes from the site of the likely villa at St Martin-in-the-Fields by Trafalgar Square. Other rural sites, some first occupied in the Iron Age, remained as focal points for later activities represented by sporadic finds of early Saxon material in Southwark and at sites along the Fleet valley. The contrast that these sites present with the evidence from the City suggests that the evacuation of the city had little immediate impact on the management of the surrounding rural landscape. Saxon settlement occurred at some remove from Roman retreat. Other suburban villas may have been abandoned, only to attract later church foundations because of their identity as late antique sites with potential Christian associations. London’s late Saxon revival was the consequence of later political choices.

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