From Constantine to Charlemagne: an archaeology of Italy, AD 300-800

605 Pages·2016·13.864 MB·English

by  Christie, Neil

FROM CONSTANTINE TO CHARLEMAGNE
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From Constantine to
Charlemagne
An Archaeology of Italy, AD 300–800
NEILCHRISTIE
University of Leicester, UK
First published2006 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright ©Neil Christie, 2006
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Neil Christie has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Christie, Neil
From Constantine to Charlemagne:An Archaeology of Italy AD 300–800.
1. Italy – History – 476–774. 2. Italy – History – To 476. 3. Italy – Antiquities. I. Title
945’.01
US Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Christie, Neil
From Constantine to Charlemagne:An Archaeology of Italy AD 300–800 / Neil Christie.
p. cm.
Includes bibliography references and index.
1. Rome – History – Germanic Invasions, 3rd–6th centuries. 2. Rome – History – Empire,
284–476. 3. Italy – History – 476–1268. 4. Italy – Church history – 476–1400. I. Title.
DG311.F76 2006
945’.6301–dc22
2005024020
(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:4)(cid:16)(cid:561)(cid:351)(cid:349)(cid:350)(cid:343)(cid:350)(cid:347)(cid:351)(cid:344)(cid:350)(cid:346)(cid:344)(cid:343)(cid:348)(cid:561)(cid:561)(cid:507)(cid:145)(cid:139)(cid:148)(cid:508)
Contents
List of Figures vii
Preface and Acknowledgements xv
Introduction 1
1 Sources and Contexts 15
Introduction 15
Historical Contexts 21
ANote on Populations, Identities and Provinces 57
2 Church and Society 73
Introduction 74
The Early Church and Late Roman Italian Society 80
Christianization I: The Urban Church 91
Christianization II: Rural Christianity 112
The Early Church: Forms, Siting and Materials 121
Church Roles in Ostrogothic and Lombard Italy 137
Burials 148
Relics and Pilgrims 156
Monasticism 164
Texts and the Church: Inscriptions, Epitaphs and Graffiti 174
3 Urban Evolutions 183
Sources of Evidence 186
The Fortunes of Towns 195
Natural and Human: Fortunes and Losses 198
War and Towns:Urban Shrinkage and Military Needs? 202
Christianized Cities 206
The Old in the New: Spoliaand New Material Language of Towns 208
Public Spaces and Monuments:Patterns of Survival and Loss 214
Living Spaces 227
Water 246
Population Loss? Space and Burials 249
New Towns 263
Conclusions 268
vi FROM CONSTANTINE TO CHARLEMAGNE
4 Defence and Power 281
Introduction 282
Interpreting Town Defences and Frontiers 284
The Later Roman Army and Italy 300
The Redesigning of Defensive Architecture 319
Fourth-Century Italian Frontiers 324
Fifth-Century Retrenchments 331
Defences after Rome 348
5 Rural Settlement and Patterns of Change 401
Introduction 402
Modes of Roman Rural Settlement 406
The Impact of Field Survey 412
Late Roman Villas and Farms 428
Churches, Monasteries and Burials 442
Germans and the Land 451
Rural Insecurities and ‘Private’Defence:Hills, Refuges and Caves 473
Environments, Economies and Bioarchaeologies 484
Rural Decay and Land Degradation:The Role of Climate Change 487
Conclusions 491
6 Conclusions – Living (and Dying) in Late Antique and
Early Medieval Italy 497
People in the Past 497
The Plague:Horror and Historical Hesitation 500
Continuities, Changes, Transformations? 505
Divides and Mergers 507
Bibliography 511
Index 571
List of Figures
1 The Aurelianic walls of Rome: Porta S. Giovanni – a generalized
image of the physical and mental transition from Roman to
late Roman and early medieval in Italy xvii
2 Porphyry marble statue of the Tetrarchs, walled into the side of the
S. Marco basilica, Venice 23
3 The Arch of Constantine at Rome: a mix of old and new symbols of
propaganda 25
4 Asection of the fifth-century city walls of Ravenna – the new
capital of the West from the reign of Honorius 29
5 Ivory consular diptych of the consul and former Praetorian Prefect
Narius Manlius Boethius, distributing largesse (photo courtesy of
the Museo Civico dell’Età Cristiana, Brescia – n.inv. E58–563) 35
6 Map of the divisions of Italy as a result of the wars between
Byzantines and Lombards 43
7 Eighth-century marble ciborium or ambo frieze from S. Salvatore,
Brescia, part of the high quality artistic output of the reign of
Liutprand (photo courtesy of the Museo Civico dell’Età Cristiana,
Brescia – n.inv. H688–6940) 47
8 Front panel of the ‘Altar of Ratchis’at Cividale, depicting, albeit
in crude fashion, Christ surrounded by throngs of angels (photo
courtesy of Museo Nazionale, Cividale) 49
9 One of the early-medieval towers of the walls of Benevento,
presumed to relate to a later eighth- or ninth-century refortification,
and linking to an expansion of building and cultural efforts at the
ducal centre 56
10 The provincial divisions of Italy under Augustus at the end of the
first century BC(after Potter 1987: 15) 66
11 The third- and fourth-century regional divisions of Italy 67
12 The division of Italy between the Annonaria and Suburbicaria
dioceses 68
13 Approximate organization of Italy’s provinces following the
Justinianic reconquest of Italy from the Goths in c. AD545–50,
including the disputed Alpes Apenninaeprovince 70
14 Combined 1998–99 excavation, resistivity plans and air
photographic interpretation for the Constantinian episcopal basilica
viii FROM CONSTANTINE TO CHARLEMAGNE
and baptistery in the southern zone of Ostia. Numbers indicate
the location of trenches; dark lines signify excavated wall features.
(Plan reproduced with permission of Dr M. Heinzelmann, Bayerische
Akademie der Wissenschaften) 77
15 Plans of the late fourth- and early fifth-century church complexes at
Nola (after Trout 1999) 87
16 The church of S. Maria at Assisi, occupying the former temple of
Minerva(?) in the forum square (the present day square preserves the
outline of the forum; the original paved level of the latter can still be
accessed) 94
17 The churches of Rome in c. AD500 103
18 Exterior of the seventh-century church of S. Giorgio between the
Aventine and Palatine Hills 106
19 Plan of Milan in the late Empire, showing combination of imperial
and Christian monuments in the time of bishop Ambrose (after Potter
1987: 205) 109
20 The Christian heart of Milan and the interpretative plan of the
episcopal quarter (after Lusuardi Siena 1997c) 110
21 Map of northern Apulia with key Roman and late-antique sites
(in italics), noting also the location of the late-antique complex at
Borgo S. Giusto (after Volpe 1998) 116
22 Early Christian basilica complex at Concordia; to the left, the later
cathedral 123
23 Colle di Zuca, Invillino – view of the excavated late-antique church
and priests’bench 125
24 Interior of the fifth-century basilica of S. Sabina on the Aventine Hill,
Rome 127
25 The early fifth-century octagonal baptistery at Albenga, Liguria;
note the eighth-century carved window in the lower level 134
26 The Ostrogothic Arian cathedral of S. Spirito (left) – in origin
bearing the dedication of S. Anastasia – and its baptistery at Ravenna 139
27 Lucca – eighth-century churches and monasteries: locations and
dates of reference 145
28 Section of one of the stunning early eighth-century marble pluteior
screens from the Monastero della Pusterla at Pavia – previously
thought to be part of the sarcophagus of the abbess Theodota
(reproduced with permission: Musei Civici del Castello Visconteo,
Pavia) 146
29 Church of S. Eufemia, Grado. Mosaic dedicatory panels, recording
gifts of mosaic floor to the basilica. Here, the second inscription
records a soldier (miles) of the Treviso unit (numerus Tarvisianus)
and his son 175
30 Chiusi cathedral. Dedicatory inscription of bishop Florentinus,
FIGURES ix
c. AD560 (reproduced with kind permission from Onedo Meacci,
Opera Laicale della Cattedrale) 178
31 Chiusi cathedral. Ciborium inscription by the Lombard dukes
Gregory and Austreconda for the basilica of S. Mustiola (reproduced
with kind permission from Onedo Meacci, Opera Laicale della
Cattedrale) 180
32 Atrium of S. Maria in Trastevere in Rome: fifth-century Christian
epitaph panel – with more recent graffiti (though these, sadly, with
little to do with devotion) 181
33 Aquileia – a view across the archaeological site, from the forum
to the basilica 184
34 Not. Dign. Occ., XLIV: Corrector Apuliae et Calabriae– depicting a
strongly fortified regional capital (www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/
Chronologia/Lspost05/Notitia/not_dig0.html) 188
35 Byzantine ducal inscription on the cathedral porch column at
Terracina, referring to renewal of the forum space 191
36 Ravenna – Theoderic’s Palace excavation 1908–14 (most likely this is
of 1913). Note the male workmen and the wall-chasing, plus the female
wheel-barrowers (photo courtesy of Archivio della Soprintendenza
per i Beni Archeologici di Ravenna, catalogo n°2–E–4) 194
37 Inscription of AD508 from the Colosseum, Rome, recording
restoration following earthquake damage, by the Urban Prefect Basilius 199
38 View to the façade of the cathedral church at Terracina across the
paved forum space; the basilica is thought to overlie a capitolium,
reusing materials from this 218
39 One fine example of a fifth-century consular ivory diptych with state
dignitaries observing the races in the Circus Maximus (photograph
courtesy of the Museo Civico dell’Età Cristiana, Brescia – n.inv.
H152–1572) 221
40 Verona, via Dante – exposed section of house-street frontage,
spanning the very late Roman through to medieval periods; the main
blocked doorway (using spoil) probably relates to the sixth century 229
41 Early medieval house plans in Italy: (i) ninth-century stone structures
in the Forum of Nerva in Rome (after Santangeli Valenzani 2000);
(ii) seventh-century house at Classe near Ravenna (after Gelichi
1994b); (iii) seventh-century timber buildings in Brescia (after
Brogiolo 1993) 231
42 Plan of late Roman, Ostrogothic and Byzantine Ravenna (after
Storia di Ravenna II) 234
43 Plan of the palace of Theoderic and palace chapel at Ravenna (after
Augenti 2002) 235
44 Interpretative plans of excavated late-Roman aristocratic houses
or domuson the Caelian Hill, Rome (after Spinola 2000) 239