This paper aims to analyze and discuss the different spatial contexts in which churches were founded in Galicia (Northwest Spain) between the 5thand the 8thcentury. This is a topic with great potential, but scarcely studied so far by Spanish historians, since texts offer very little evidences about the specific contexts of foundation, and material data have almost only been approached from perspectives of traditional archaeology or history of art. The present work aims to explore these spatial contexts of Galician churches foundation from a catalogue of 50 possible Late Antique ecclesiastical buildings, based both on archaological works and stilistic-typological approaches. Although some of the data are still problematic, interesting ideas relating distribution and archaeological substrates can be observed in the general corpus. Following these premises, in the first part it is discussed the wider geographical frame of church foundation, mainly the distribution of evidences in relation to different Galician environments and Late Antique territorial articulation. So, it is observed an important relationship between evidences of churches and Roman-Late Roman dynamic axis and areas in Galicia. The second part analyzes the relation of the evidences with their archaeological substrates and discusses different evolutions from Roman to Medieval uses, which are not always lineal. This means dealing with the concepts of continuity-break and pragmatical-symbolical reuse, and it will be discussed here whether material techniques are reliable indicators of socioeconomical development. In the third part some proposals regarding different historical and geographical contexts for church foundation in Late Antique and Early Medieval Galicia are presented. Complexity and variety in cases are likely to be bigger than usually thought and approaches such as the study of building techniques can be, in the future, a powerful indicator to solve some problems. In general, in spite of many limits, Late Antique foundation of churches in Galicia, show similar characteristics to other Western European regions.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 255-273
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103107
- Authors
- José Carlos Sánchez-Pardo
Three of the Christian inscriptions presented here are epitaphs discovered in a chaptel inside an important Roman thermal complex disaffected without any precise date. Whereas both of the first texts are not very orignal, the third one is much more interesting. It is inscribed on a marbeled slab at the entrance of an apsidal room isolated from the rest of the space by chancels, and belongs to a preast “Crescentius sanctus”. The latter word is generally reserved to martyrs, confessors or bishops, but we can here understand it in discovering the rest of the inscription: corpus digne in seculo conbersatum (instead of conversatum) in hoc loco in pace constatesse humatu(m). In comparison with other texts such as Agaune in Gaule (ILC 3766), digne in seculo conbersatum could mean that our preast had led his life without excluding ascetism. The use of constat followed by the infinitive proposition, which is a lawful word (inscription of Roman catacombes), is written on this epitaph because of its solemnity, unless we link this word to corpus and sanctus in a context of a priviliged inhumation – which is probably certain.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 307-314
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103109
- Authors
Late Antique and Early Medieval world is marked by a complexity of social, cultural and economic phenomena, which evolve from the classical to the medieval patterns, with changing and developing elements, and periodically returning elements. Artistic productions, and architectural decoration in particular, were not strangers to this process, since they never abandoned classicism definitely that survives through two phenomena: old material recycling and stylistic imitation of classical models. Both phenomena, which respond to ideological, symbolic and economy of means factors, are often interrelated. They are the result of a reappraisal of the classic that has the ability to transport the spectator to a bygone era and the coexistence of spolia and imitations pursues usually the homogenization of the elements that decorate a building.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 275-306
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103108
- Authors
A semantic analysis of two lemmas, antiquitas and uetustas, shows that Macrobius does not look towards Antiquity with blind fervour, but with a kind of qualified respect. In the eyes of the members of the banquet of his Saturnalia, Virgil achieves perfection. By making use of previous authors, he maintained their life and promoted them to a greater destiny: the Mantuan is not a despoiler but a defender of literary inheritance. Regarding Servius, the one presented by Macrobius is rather different from the real Servius: whereas the latter took from the poets of the Silver Age of Latin literature – Lucan, Statius and Juvenal – to explain the work of Virgil, the one pictured by Macrobius does not.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 241-254
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103106
- Authors
Cette contribution analyse la présence et le traitement spécifique de la Grâce dans les Sermones ad populum que saint Augustin a donné à l’occasion de la fête liturgique de Pentecôte. Treize sermons sont liés à cette célébration : ss. 29, 29A, 29B, 266-272, 272A, 272B, 378 ; aucun n’avait jusqu’ici été étudié en détail et tous n’avaient pas été pris en compte. Par ailleurs, aucune attention n’a jamais été accordée, dans les sermons liturgiques en général, au thème de la grâce. Il est apparu intéressant de voir si, et comment, saint Augustin aborde le thème de la grâce dans le cas particulier des sermons liturgiques et jusqu’à quel point il le traite différemment dans ses autres écrits, notamment ceux à l’encontre des idées de Pélage.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 217-240
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103105
- Authors
In the XVth chapter of his monograph Armenia in the Period of Justinian, Nikolaj Adontz traced a short but important outline of the problems of land tenure in the kingdom of Greater Armenia. Adontz eventually praised the documentary value of the History of Armenia (Patmut‘iwn Hayoc‘) by Movsēs Xorenats‘i, a historian who nowadays is considered with suspicion. In his historiographical work, he claims that the Arsacid dynasty founded the basis of the society of the kingdom of Greater Armenia, including the organization of landed property. Accordingly, Xorenats‘i is, to a certain extent, more sensitive to the Realien than the other contemporary Armenian historiographers, who prefer to concentrate on social relations rather than considering the material and administrative aspects of rural economy.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 161-164
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103101
- Authors
Le feuillet en ivoire dit de Consécration ou d’Apothéose, conservé au British Museum à Londres, pose beaucoup de problèmes délicats : quand et où a-t-il été produit ? Qui en est le protagoniste ? Qui en était le commanditaire ? Quel était le sujet du second feuillet du diptyque ? Certains ont voulu identifier le protagoniste à un empereur : Antonin le Pieux, ou Marc Aurèle, ou Julien dit l’Apostat, en plaçant l’ivoire vers 430/486. D’autres l’ont associé à un homme privé : le sénateur Symmaque, décédé en 402, ou Théodose père. J’estime que l’ivoire montre Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmaque, consul en 485, et que le feuillet perdu était consacré à son beau-fils, le philosophe Boèce. En outre, je propose que le diptyque ait été commandé par les deux fils du Boèce – Fl. Symmaque et Fl. Boèce – en mémoire de la mort par exécution, en 525 environ, de leur père et grand-père.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 205-215
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103104
- Authors
La principale innovation concernant la technologie du pressoir à vin et à huile depuis presque 2000 ans intervient entre le Iersiècle avant J. C. et le Iersiècle après J. C., avec l’utilisation de la vis, mais la diffusion la plus large de cette technologie ne s’est faite qu’à l’époque tardive au Levant, en Égypte, à Chypre et en Turquie. Comment la diffusion d’une telle innovation se répercute-t-elle dans le cadre plus général de l’économie rurale ? Des exemples de pressoirs des Ieret IIesiècles après J. C. en Italie, Gaule et Espagne, ainsi que ceux du Proche-Orient tardif témoignent des conditions favorables qu’a pu offrir l’exportation intensive des productions à l’adoption de nouveaux mécanismes de pressoirs. Pour autant, l’absence notable de pressoirs à vis en Tunisie, Tripolitaine et Methana montre que de hauts niveaux de production ne suffisaient pas à stimuler de tels changements techniques. La présence de propriétaires locaux ou de métayers vivant à proximité de leurs terres semble avoir eu plus d’impact sur l’innovation de techniques productives. Les formes d’habitat de la Méditerranée orientale apparaissent en ce sens significatives. Contrairement aux petites fermes dispersées de l’Occident, elles pouvaient manifestement fournir une importante main d’oeuvre saisonnière nécessaire à des opérations de pressoirs à vis laborieux. Plusieurs petits pressoirs à vis correspondaient sans doute à une bonne solution technologique pour de tels producteurs, en leur permettant de traiter plus efficacement les différents lots de raisins ou d’olives.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 137-149
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103099
- Authors
Research on late Antique rural Gaul has sufficiently progressed these last decades, in order to draw a global outline of rural economy, its tools and techniques. After an introduction to the evolution of late rural Gaul, this article examines the main agrarian productions, and analyses the changes that took place from the end of the 3rdcentury onwards. Livestock breeding, cereal, vegetable and fruits, as well as wine and oil production are successively analysed, based on examples chosen for their exemplary character. Apart from these agrarian productions, equal attention is given to non-agrarian resources, that seem to take an important place in state-owned economy. Lastly, cereal processing enables the questioning of innovating techniques.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 151-159
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103100
- Authors
- Paul Van Ossel
- Claude Raynaud
Diocletian divided many provinces and created the system of dioceses made up of several provinces. Many scholars consider his reform as establishing greater centralization: henceforth each provincial governor could control more strictly the cities under his rule. A sentence of Lactantius’ De Mortibus Persecutorum (VII, 4) is frequently cited in order to justify that view, but the fact that he was a Christian writer who harshly criticized the persecutors should not be overlooked. The aim of this article is to reconsider the real effect of the administrative reform on the relationship between the provincial cities and the imperial authority in the case of the African provinces, where many inscriptions give us abundant information.
First, the situation of Proconsularis is discussed. The date of the division of that province is uncertain: there is a strong case for 303, but 294/295 is possible. Therefore we examine successively the situation under Diocletian before 294, then from 295 on, ending with an analysis of the situation under of the reign of Constantine. In the first part of Diocletian’s reign, the activities of proconsul T. Cl. Aurelius Aristobulus are very important, but the province was not yet divided during his term. His activities should not be regarded as evidence for centralization, but as a policy aimed at facilitating the provincial reform. The province of Africa Proconsularis seems to be divided immediately after his departure. In the second part of Diocletian’s reign, no inscription testifies the development of centralization. Many cities continued to restore and construct public works and dedicate inscriptions to the Tetrarchic emperors on their own initiative and at their own expense.
In the reign of Constantine, the influence of senatorial governors seems to get stronger than before. According to some scholars, that situation was created by Diocletian’s administrative reform. But due to the shortness of his term, a provincial governor did not matter to the cities. Rather, they wanted to reinforce long relationship with influential senators, as the ordo recovered influence and power under Constantine.
It seems that the governors of Numidia and Mauretania encroached more on the municipal life than those of Proconsularis and Byzacena. But such a situation was not created by the reform of Diocletian: in Numidia, the third Augustan legion was stationed there and governors could use the soldiers. Besides, the number of cities was limited. In Mauretania, cities were few, and the governors had to make war against the mountain dwellers.
In conclusion, the examination of epigraphic and legal documents does not testify the development of centralization after the administrative reform of Diocletian. The differences between provinces and the effects of political change should be paid more attention to better comprehend the relationship between provincial cities and the imperial authority.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original
- Pages 173-204
- DOI 10.1484/J.AT.1.103103
- Authors