Salsa of Tipasa holds an original place among the female figures of martyrdom. The narrative of her Passion, structured by stereotypes, is centered on three violent events (the destruction of the idol by the young girl, then comparison to Judith; the lynching of the martyr; the effective intercession of the holy Salsa who defeats the tyrannical violence of Firmus). The aim of this narrative description is to legitimize her martyrdom and her holiness, thus enabling her to be part of a process of construction of memory.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 235-242
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103189
- Authors
The partition magister equitum / magister peditum had an administrative rather than tactical or strategical meaning. Moreover, the titles magister equitum et peditum and magister utriusque militiae did not appear, nor had the same use in both partes. In the eastern half of the Empire, under the reign of Valens, mag. equ. et ped., then mag. utr. mil. were created, first for the regional generals, then for the praesentales. The western part kept the traditional partition mag. equ. / mag. ped. until 395, then the title mag. utr. mil. was introduced in the West by Stilicon, but had a different meaning than in the East: it was a distinction that only one general at a time could obtain (except for retired generals).
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 195-221
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103187
- Authors
This paper re-examines the administrative evolution of the province of Tripolitania from its creation under the tetrarchy to the latest evidence relating to Roman rule. The case of Tripolitania is emblematic, despite its inevitable specificity; its study can be useful in order to explore, more generally, questions such as the way central government dealt with border districts in the later Roman empire, the problems of attribution of civil and military powers, the competition between the holders of such powers, and the possible interferences between the provincial authorities and the authorities operating at an interprovincial level. The author tries to make order in the scattered evidence related to Tripolitania and other north African provinces, which often has not been sufficiently explored or properly inter preted; new data obtained from a re-reading or re-assembling of some inscriptions from Sabratha and Leptis add further elements to the discussion. The evolution of Tripolitania is framed within the political and administrative history of North Africa: in fact, this specific case cannot be properly understood without examining in parallel the interrelated evolutions of the other African provinces and how they were affected by the reorganization by Diocletian, the establishment of the comitiva Africae, the introduction of frontier duces… This paper also explores the network of relations between the various authorities in the province – the governor, the local elites, the individual cities and the provincial assembly – and the powers external to the province, from the vicars to the imperial court.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 177-194
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103186
- Authors
Provincia Lucania is the name used by sources in Late Antiquity to define the part of ancient regio III which the Diocletianic reforms included as one of the most productive regions of suburbicarian Italy. The heterogeneity of the studies carried out in the past and the treatment of archaeological and philological data together with statistical examples, even extended to non investigated parts, underestimate the exact content of textual, epigraphic and mapping sources about this land as well as the connections which existed between distant but culturally very close localities. The topographic analysis of the provincia also take place together with the surveyors’ texts, in such a way that the evolution of the landscape from the 5th to the 11th centuries emerges by comparing and relating the latter to the reality. The different versions of Tabula Peutingeriana, the itineraria and the so-called Liber Coloniarum> or are here decoded and open up new perspectives to analyze a still largely unknown territory.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 223-234
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103188
- Authors
Following the enactment of Gratian’s rescript, Priscillianists were expelled from the episcopal sees they had so eagerly achieved. Given the seriousness of their situation, they decided to march to Rome in the hope that, by presenting themselves in person before the Pope Damaso, they could reverse the position they were in. Although Sulpicius Severus’s account provides little information about the route followed by the Priscillianists, we believe that it is possible to offer a plausible reconstruction of the path that led Priscillian and his companions to the Eternal City. In this task, we will take account of every source traditionally employed for the study of Priscillianism, as well as information provided by the main itineraria known in Roman times.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 157-176
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103185
- Authors
We here confront the contradictory opinions more or less recently expressed about Eusebius’attitudes toward images, as attested in several of his texts. Even if it is necessary to be cautious in such matters – given the impossibility of producing any true proof -, it appears, firstly, that the Letter to Constantia may probably be held as an authentic Eusebian testimony, and that some figurative works of art elsewhere mentioned by the Caesarean bishop (mainly at Constantinople and Paneas) certainly were of genuine Christian character; and, secondly, that if Eusebius clearly manifests an opposition to the concept of the portrayal of the Divine Being, his position about allegorical or narrative representations might have been more tolerant – and even favourable.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 137-142
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103183
- Authors
The religious “Tendenz” of the Historia Augusta has long been a contentious issue among specialists; only by paying close attention to the richly-layered inter-textuality of the work can it be established how acquainted the author was with the niceties of Christian culture, biblical and patristic, and their Jewish core. Samples culled from the biographies of Avidius Cassius, Heliogabalus, Geta, and the two Maximini showcase a cogent literary strategy of juggling parodic allusions to Christianity; the Vita Maximini duo, particularly, would appear to revolve around the inversion of specific chunks of the Gospel of Luke. The epistles of Saint Paul too come in for some tough love. The whole polemical aspect of the Historia Augusta through the cover up of jest and ribaldry must therefore be maintained against the skeptical bowdlerization of the collection some of the most recent scholarship amounts to. It also provides clues that point in the direction of the great Pagan statesman Nichomachus Flavianus senior as our elusive writer.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 143-155
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103184
- Authors
- Jean-Fabrice Nardelli
- Stéphane Ratti
This article is devoted to the church built by Constantine in Antioch. It is mentioned twice by Eusebius and appears in numerous texts, but it has not yet been recognized in the field. The names given to the church in the texts are examined: the original name seems to have been “The Golden Church”. However, already under Julian’s reign the church was commonly called “The Great Church” or even simply “The Church”. This name implies that the building was the main church of the Christian community. Its topographical situation is unknown. Due to the ambiguities of the architectural vocabulary used by Eusebius, any speculation about the architectural appearance of the church must be taken with great caution. Constantine’s decision to build this church must be interpreted as an act of recognition of the importance of Antioch as “Metropolis of the East”. Although the dedication of the church took place in 341, in the presence of Constantius, the church maintained the memory of Constantine until the beginning of the 6th century. In Malalas’ Chronicle, the narrative of its construction is associated with the appointment of the first Comes Orientis, the foundation of his praetorium and, anachronistically, the destruction of a temple and its replacement by Rufinus’ basilica, which played an important role in Antiochean urban space until at least the reign of Justinian.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 125-136
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103182
- Authors
Since the excavations carried out in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem by the British Department of Antiquities in Palestine in 1927 and during the 1930s, it has become clear that the current day building is not the church commissioned by the Emperor’s mother, Helena, which the so-called Pilgrim of Bordeaux saw as early as 333 AD, but rather the more recent structure erected in the late 5th century or even the 6th century. Unfortunately, the archaeological research in the eastern part of the church could only be carried out in its northern half; the church has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012.
The documentation in the reports of the walls and remains of the floor discovered during the excavation is often imprecise, so that many questions with regard to the reconstruction of the Constantine basilica remain unanswered. An atrium lays to the west of the five-aisled basilica. Compared to today’s building, the Constantinian basilica was around one bay shorter. A reconstruction of the part of the building over the Grotto of the Nativity is difficult. The excavated walls and the remains of the mosaic floor lead one to believe that a towering octagonal building was located here, at the centre of which an octagonal raised platform with steps and a round opening was situated, allowing a view of the Grotto of the Nativity below. This reconstruction is widely accepted today and has found its way into the reference books of early Christian architecture. So the Constantine Church of the Nativity is considered to be the earliest example of the combination of basilica and central-plan buildings in early Christian churches.
B. Bagatti had doubts about this reconstruction back in 1952 and suggested a polygonal apse as an alternative to the eastern terminal. When a model of the Church of the Nativity was produced for the Constantine exhibition held in Trier in 2007, the excavation documentation was examined and numerous irregularities were discovered, so as to question the existence of an octagonal tower-like structure. A sanctuary with a three-sided apse solves this problem however. Both of the narrow walls, which run angled along to the nave, are actually choir screens, which strikingly framed the holy domain with the raised platform. The connection of the sanctuary, with its side rooms onto the basilica section of the Church of the Nativity, which had galleries over its side aisles, can be realised without any problems, too. The towering octagon, which from the exterior seemed to stand alone, was not actually a feature of the Constantine Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 105-110
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103180
- Authors
Byzance n’avait guère vocation à devenir la capitale de l’Empire. Elle posait d’importants problèmes logistiques quant à l’approvisionnement et à l’accessibilité et n’avait que peu de valeur militaire, et d’autres villes présentaient une signification historique plus importante. Pourquoi alors Constantin a-t-il choisi Byzance ? À ce moment-là, il s’inquiétait davantage du passé immédiat que de l’avenir. En 324, sa principale priorité était d’effacer la mémoire de son rival Licinius en refondant et en renommant la ville. Constantin amorça également la transformation de Constantinople en une très grande ville. Mais pourquoi les empereurs qui lui ont succédé ont-ils continué de développer ces infrastructures ? Sans doute comme Constantin ont-ils reconnu la nécessité de maintenir une telle ville pour imposer leur autorité dans les provinces orientales et pour assurer la légitimité de leur dynastie. La valeur symbolique de Constantinople devait compenser les difficultés d’ordre fonctionnel en matière de ressources et de protection.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 83-94
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.5.103178
- Authors