Architecture and élite identity in late antique Rome: appropriating the past at Sant'Andrea Catabarbara

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 279-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Kalas
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Physical Layers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Elite Identity ◽  
Elite Status ◽  
The Church

The conversion of a fourth-century secular basilica into the church of Sant'Andrea Catabarbara in Rome during the 470s invites a discussion of how architectural adaptation contributed to the identity of its restorer, Valila. More than a century after the praetorian prefect of Italy, Junius Bassus, founded the basilica in 331, a Goth named Valila, belonging to the senatorial aristocracy, bequeathed the structure to Pope Simplicius (468–83). References to Valila's last will in the church's dedicatory inscription were inserted directly above Junius Bassus's original donation inscription, inviting reflections upon the transmission of élite status from one individual to another. The particularities of Valila's legacy as a testator, as indicated in the references to his will in the Sant'Andrea Catabarbara inscription and confirmed by a charter he wrote to support a church near Tivoli, suggest that he sought to control his lasting memory through patronage. Valila's concern for a posthumous status provides a context for interpreting the interior of the Roman church. Juxtaposed to the church's fifth-century apse mosaic were opus sectile panels depicting Junius Bassus, together with scenes of an Apollonian tripod and an illustration of the exposed body of Hylas raped by two nymphs originating from the earliest phase of the basilica. The article proposes that Valila nuanced his élite identity by preserving the fourth-century images and thereby hinted that preservation fostered both the accretion of physical layers and the accrual of multiple identities by a Gothic aristocrat in Rome.

The Roman Martyrs

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lapidge
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
The Church

The Roman Martyrs contains translations of forty Latin passiones of saints who were martyred in Rome or its near environs, during the period before the ‘peace of the Church’ (c. 312). Some of these Roman martyrs are universally known — SS. Agnes, Sebastian or Laurence, for example — but others are scarcely known outside the ecclesiastical landscape of Rome itself. Each of the translated passiones, which vary in length from a few paragraphs to over ninety, is accompanied by an individual introduction and commentary; the translations are preceded by an Introduction which describes the principal features of this little-known genre of Christian literature. The Roman passiones martyrum have never previously been collected together, and have never been translated into a modern language. They were mostly composed during the period 425 x 675, by anonymous authors who who were presumably clerics of the Roman churches or cemeteries which housed the martyrs’ remains. It is clear that they were composed in response to the huge explosion of pilgrim traffic to martyrial shrines from the late fourth century onwards, at a time when authentic records (protocols) of their trials and executions had long since vanished, and the authors of the passiones were obliged to imagine the circumstances in which martyrs were tried and executed. The passiones are works of pure fiction; and because they abound in ludicrous errors of chronology, they have been largely ignored by historians of the early Church. But although they cannot be used as evidence for the original martyrdoms, they nevertheless allow a fascinating glimpse of the concerns which animated Christians during the period in question: for example, the preservation of virginity, or the ever-present threat posed by pagan practices. And because certain aspects of Roman life will have changed little between (say) the second century and the fifth, the passiones throw valuable light on many aspects of Roman society, not least the nature of a trial before an urban prefect, and the horrendous tortures which were a central feature of such trials. Above all, perhaps, the passiones are an indispensable resource for understanding the topography of late antique Rome and its environs, since they characteristically contain detailed reference to the places where the martyrs were tried, executed, and buried. The book contains five Appendices containing translations of texts relevant to the study of Roman martyrs: the Depositio martyrum of A.D. 354 (Appendix I); the epigrammata of Pope Damasus d. 384) which pertain to Roman martyrs treated in the passiones (II); entries pertaining to Roman martyrs in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (III); entries in seventh-century pilgrim itineraries pertaining to shrines of Roman martyrs in suburban cemeteries (IV); and entries commemorating these martyrs in early Roman liturgical books (V).

scholarly journals THE EARLY RECEPTION OF PLINY THE YOUNGER IN TERTULLIAN OF CARTHAGE AND EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Corke-Webster
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Pliny The Younger ◽  
The Third ◽  
Stark Contrast ◽  
Eusebius Of Caesarea ◽  
Sidonius Apollinaris

In 1967 Alan Cameron published a landmark article in this journal, ‘The fate of Pliny'sLettersin the late Empire’. Opposing the traditional thesis that the letters of Pliny the Younger were only rediscovered in the mid to late fifth century by Sidonius Apollinaris, Cameron proposed that closer attention be paid to the faint but clear traces of the letters in the third and fourth centuries. On the basis of well-observed intertextual correspondences, Cameron proposed that Pliny's letters were being read by the end of the fourth century at the latest. That article now seems the vanguard of a rise in scholarly interest in Pliny's late-antique reception. But Cameron also noted the explicit attention given to the letters by two earlier commentators—Tertullian of Carthage, in the late second to early third century, and Eusebius of Caesarea, in the early fourth. The use of Pliny in these two earliest commentators, in stark contrast to their later successors, has received almost no subsequent attention.

Melania the Elder: A Biographical Note

Traditio ◽  
1947 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 59-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis X. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Biographical Note ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Thanks to several biographical studies based on Cardinal Rampolla's monumental Santa Melania giuniore, senatrice Romana, the history of the early-fifth-century heiress and ascetic, Melania the Younger, is fairly well known. Her grandmother, Melania the Elder was an even more notable figure in the history of the Church during the second half of the fourth century. She is of particular importance in tracing the history of late-fourth-century asceticism and monasticism. Round her career, in a way, revolve many of the historical and chronological problems in connection with Jerome and Rufinus of Aquileia, Paulinus of Nola and Severus Sulpicius. Details of her travels are our surest approach to datings and to the authenticity of much of the material found in Palladius' Lausiac History. At the same time, she was an extremely interesting, well-travelled, and forceful figure coming at the apex of the western patristic period. Hence her career bears pointed scrutiny.

scholarly journals Church and State: A Conflicting Collaboration

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentine Ugochukwu Iheanacho
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Church

St Jerome, both in his wittiness and in his critique of the romance between the church of his time and the Roman Empire in the fifth century, believed that “The church by its connection with Christian princes gained in power and riches, but lost in virtues.” The church and the state, whether in the past or in the present, have two particular things in common: peace and order. Both institutions detest disorder and rebellion, but ironically, in their efforts to bring about the desired peace and order, they often disturbed the peace through their quarrels and quibbles. With a keen sense of history, this essay studies the reluctance with which the church in the West and in the East embraced secular authorities in the civil administration of society for the sake of “peace” and “order.”

Late Roman Iconography and Style

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-221
Author(s):  
Susanna McFadden
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Church ◽  
Late Roman

Discussions of late Roman style and iconography sometimes tend to emphasize the liminality of visual culture in late antiquity; monuments representative of the period such as the Arch of Constantine are neither fully “classical” nor “medieval” in their form and content; hence, the instinct to compare its style and iconography with that of the past or future monuments is hard to resist. The result of this lure to dichotomize is often a focus on what a late Roman work of art is not, rather than what it is (i.e., how an artwork or monument functions in its contemporary moment). This chapter therefore presents the wall paintings from the late third- to early fourth-century domus underneath the Church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo on the Caelian Hill in Rome as a case study of a particular moment in late Roman visuality so as to better understand how engagements with iconography and style in the context of the late Roman home activate “modern” meanings and experiences.

Prelude

2018 ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Raphael A. Cadenhead
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Church

In order to counter some of the anachronisms in recent scholarship on Gregory (as outlined in the introduction), the prelude attends to Gregory’s historical context by situating his thinking within the late antique milieu. It begins with an overview of the ecclesio-political context in the aftermath of Constantine’s conversion and considers how the incorporation of the church into imperial life may have inflected Gregory’s ascetic theory. The prelude also explores the burgeoning monastic movement in the late fourth century as well as the ascetical prestige of Gregory’s family.

scholarly journals LATE ANTIQUE SEALS FROM ANCIENT SERDICA

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Dr. Dochka Vladimirova-Aladzhova
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Metro Station ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Christian Saints ◽  
Important Indication

The subject of this publication is three seals, each raising interesting questions. During the archaeological explorations of the ancient city of Serdica (now Sofia) conducted in the past ten years, 48 lead seals from the 4th – 7th A.D. period have been discovered. The scientific novelty of the discovered bullae are little-known specimens, or not described until now in the specialized literature. The description of all of the seals is given. The first one relates to John, excavated at the ‘Metro station 8 II’. The print is perfectly preserved with a very strong relief of the images of the Virgin with Child between two cypresses is relatively rare in combination with various reverses unpublished till now. It dates back to the 6th A.D. The second Byzantuim seal excavated at ‘Vesletz’ 13. (the territory of ancient Serdica) and there are there are no analogues.During the early Byzantine Empire, only the first or baptismal name was used on seals. The parents had a large choice of names: Latin names or their Hellenized versions were used in the eastern part of the empire, traditional Greek names with regional traditions were widely used, also names of Christian saints appeared, which gradually became very popular. As a result, every twelfth child was baptized with the name John, and as a result there are a large number of bulls named John , and some have the same name on both sides, which is usually explained by the kinship between the two persons . In order to identify the person, in some cases his position or title is added, but even this information is not enough to identify the owner of the seal, known to us from documentary or epigraphic sources.Another seal from ‘Vesletz’ 13 has an image of the Mother of God that is of the earliest type presented on the seals. There are different variants of the described monogram, there is no identical to the one on the seal from Serdica, also difference being in the position of the letter Р. In Bulgaria, only 3 copies of persons with the title patricius (VI–VII c.) are described, two with a block monogram and one with an inscription. In the seals discussed above, the names and the title of the owner are given in monogram form. Generally there are two types of monograms: block and cruciform. It is accepted that the first type appeared not earlier than the fifth century, when on the coins the name was also written in this way. The letters are located at the ends of the cross or at the intersection of its shoulders. This shape, as well as the angles formed, allows a large number of letters to be used. Conclusions. Usually, seals like the ones presented above dated to the period 6th-7th A.D. An important circumstance for the bullae from Serdica is that they were found during archeological excavations, in stratified sites and in layers with dated numismatic material, in which the coins of Emperor Justinian I (527–565) and Tiberius Constantine (578-582) predominate. This is an important indication, which makes it possible to specify the dating of the bulls no later than 2½ of the 6th A.D.

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.

Mary in Patristics

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Andrew Louth
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Ephrem The Syrian ◽  
Protevangelium Of James ◽  
The Church ◽  
Apocryphal Texts

Mariological reflection in some second-century Fathers is introduced, especially the parallel with Eve; this explicit reflection on Mary is set beside second-century reflection on the Church as Virgin Mother, a tradition only later explicitly related to Mary as Virgin Mother. Attention is paid to the second-century Protevangelium of James with its remarkably developed Mariology; the nature of its esotericism is discussed, and later apocryphal texts introduced. Other tantalizing hints of devotion to Mary are mentioned, not least the use of the title Theotokos in a prayer belonging, possibly, to the third century. Mary’s virginity as an ascetic model in the fourth-century ascetic movement is briefly discussed. The first elaborate celebration of Mary is found in the liturgical poetry of the fourth-century Ephrem the Syrian. Mariology developed dramatically from the fifth century, witnessed in Proklos’ homilies, Romanos’ Kontakia, and the Akathist Hymn.

scholarly journals The repudiation of representation in Plato's Republic and its repercussions

1987 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 53-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Church ◽  
Selection Of

This paper surveys a selection of texts from the fourth century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. and considers the continuing repercussions of Plato's famous attack on art for the present as well as the past. I propose to treat the subject in five sections:1. A brief consideration of the iconoclast controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., to highlight the theory behind the iconoclasts' rejection of pictorial art from the Church (and effectively from society).2. A general discussion of Plato's apparently iconoclastic argument in Republic 10, to suggest that it too, like the later iconoclasm, was rejecting certain implicit claims made about the value of representation as such.3. A closer analysis of the arguments in Republic 10 to clarify precisely what theories of art are vulnerable to them.4. A survey of some subsequent defences of art on the basis that it imitates nature, to show that Plato was right to say that a defence on those lines would not make art sufficiently important to justify the place we accord it in society (or the Church).

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