Antiquité Tardive - Late Antiquity - Spätantike - Tarda Antichità

The inventory of double churches from Jordan is limited : the episcopal group ofMadaba and the church of Amos and Casiseos (Khirbat al-Mukhayyat) must be discarded; the group of St. John the Baptist (Gerasa), the complex of St. Stephen (Umm al-Rasas) and probably the group excavated at Khirbat al-Samra should be added to the twin basilicas of the castrum Umm al-Rasas and to the episcopal group of Gerasa. The architectural organization of these groups and their functions display great diversity. Commemorations of martyrs and baptismal liturgies are important here as elsewhere.

The twin churches of Kastron Mefaa, excavated by the Swiss Foundation Van Berchem, both constructed in the 6th century, were not contemporary, nor did they have distinctive functions. The author concludes, that the two churches were constructed on adjacent plots by two different donors.

The double churches from North Africa are not numerous, but rather well studied. It is not the case with Seriana in Algeria (three parallel churches?), nor with Mechta el Tein (Numidia, omitted by Sodini in his inventory), nor with lunca in Tunisia (the second church, rather far from the first, is not a baptistery). Djemila (certainly cathedral): the author is not convinced by Fevrier's hypothesis of a homogeneous monument for the two churches with mosaics assigned to the 5'h and 6'h centuries. Perhaps the eastern facade has been rebuilt. Sbeitla: the first catholic cathedral has been replaced (in the begining of the 6th century?) by a larger one (and the baptistery moved) but was still used with the same liturgical equipment. Bulla Regia (presumably cathedral): in the Byzantine times, the main church was rebuilt with an inverted axis and a smaller church added. Sabratha: after the big earthquake of the second half of the 4:h century, two churches (contemporaneous?) were built on the ruins of two public monuments; there were two (?) successive baptisteries. The double church was probably the cathedral or one of the different cathedrals (catholic, donatist or arian?). Ksar el Baroud (cathedral of the ancient Thamaguta, east of Sbeitla, recently excavated): a large oriented church was replaced by two opposite churches and a baptistery, with a parallel funerary (?) church. A few cases of perpendicular churches, independant (Setif, end of 4th century) or linked to the main church (Timgad, western group), could be added, even if their use is badly known.

The author summarises and revises some of the details of his 1990 book on the double church in Lombardy and northern Italy. He briefly sketches its medieval evolution with the apparition of the cathedral parish, the privatisation of the liturgy of the hours and the creation of chapters. He draws attention to the multiple sanctuaries of the monasteries, to which further study must be devoted. This its followed by "cards" containing bibliographical and archaeological data, classified by regions, on what, presumably, are double churches: in Lombardy, Milan, Brescia, Pavia, Bergamo, Como, Cremona, Mantua; Aosta in the Val d'Aosta; Albenga in Liguria; in Piedmont, Susa, Turin, Asti, Vercelli, Biella; in Emilia-Romagna, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, San Leone; in Veneto, Verona, Torcello, Trevisa, Feltre; Aquileia, Grado, Trieste in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Plans are not reproduced; they are mostly hypothetical and given in the 1990 book. In the conclusion, the author underscores the continuity from Late Antiquity. No double church seems to date from Carolingian times, but the canonical reform, disturbed by the Ambrosian tradition, creates a division between the bishop and the chapter, and engenders the distinction between maior and minor, and between hiemalis and aestiualis. However, a total separation does not occur. During the Romanesque period, new double cathedrals appeared. At this time the concept of a cathedral parish is attached to one of the churches.

Following the works of Paul-Albert Fevrier on double churches in Provence, M. Fixot and Y. Codou investigate first the alleged exemples of ancient double cathedrals: F re jus, Aix, Apt, Cavaillon, Antibes, and even the more dubious cases of Sisteron, Marseille, Aries, Avignon and Nice. Then they examine sites where new excavations prove that there is no double church, contrary to former hypothesis: Digne, Vaison, Riez. After a survey of local written documents that point out to an idealistic model of trinitarian church, and that might be confirmed by the use of dedicating churches together to the Virgin, John the Baptist and any other saint for the third building, the authors examine some rural groups which have just been excavated or studied, and which are dedicated to several saints, sometimes in one building: Le Brusc, Saint-Hermentaire, Salagon, Menerbes, Ganagobie, Saint-Andre de Rosans, Thouzon, Saint-Symphorien, Saint-Pantaleon, Saint-Jean de Cales. The churches of Castelveyne in Saint-Blaise, Saint-Pierre de VAlmanarre, Saint-Julien-le-Montagne, need further examination. In Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, too, a martyrium is linked to the main church. The authors collect texts that tend to prove the existence of double churches or groups of churches in places where no such building can be found anymore: Cabasse, Roquebrune-sur- Argens, La Motte, Sainte-Marie de Villecroze, Saint-Christol d'Albion, Pignans, Barjols, Le Val, Saint-Martin de Castillon. Notre-Dame-la-Doree, Esparron-de-Pallieres, Callian, Correns, Saint- Pierre de Carluc, all dated about 1000, are the oldest of these churches. But we may never trust only multiple dedication that can also be connected with several altars in a single building, like Mont Cousson. In Saint-Maximin, Aups, Carces and Montfort, Entrecasteaux, La Gayole and the Monastery ofLerins, the groups of churches may have an ancient origin. To conclude, the authors study the different possible uses of double churches (especially in Beaucaire, La Cadiere and so forth): episcopal, canonical or parish church; memorial or funerary function. But a functional explanation is not enough, as different functions can be performed in a single building. Anyway, duplication seems to disappear in 11th and 12lh centuries, when adjacent churches are joined and reorganized. The multiplication of churches is not specific to the cathedral group, it has no apparent link with baptistery, and its ancient origin in Provence has not been proved.

Dans les lies Britanniques, le phénomène d'églises doubles ou multiples était très rare avant le VIIe siècle, sans doute à cause de la fin de Vadministration romaine au début du Ve siècle. Après I'arrivée d'Augustin en 597, on assiste à un développement des monastères pendant deux siècles à trovers touts la Grande Bretagne. Deux églises en file étaient classiques dans ces fondations, mais leurs fonctions respectives ne sont pas claires et, probablement, variaient-elles. Malgré les différences, on pense à line forte influence de la Gaule sur le plan architectural.

Archaeological evidence is of no help for identifying or dating two churches whose existence in the castellum of Utrecht is alluded to in a document from 752-753. In the Dome square's area, which for a long time perpetuated the record of a "church family", walls have been discovered under Saint-Sauveur church, of indeterminate nature. Solutions suggested for the dating of Sainte Croix chapel, partly built upon the Roman castellum's princ'tpia, range from the VII"1 to XIIth centuries. Nothing under the gothic Dome antedates its XI"1 century predecessor. It is still more risky to account for the separation of their functions : anyway it was not a cathedral complex. The explanation for such a grouping is a mainly topographical one, linked to the existence of the Roman castellum which imposed its spatial constriction. In a similar way churches and monasteries founded in the VIIth and VIII"' centuries by anglosaxon missionaries on the Northern and Eastern borderlands of the territory under Frankish domination (frequently inside ancient fortifications) constituted kinds of compound mission groups.

Until the end of the sixties, the ancient cathedral ofEgara, composed by two parallel churches (Saint Peter and Saint Mary) and a presumed baptistery (Saint Michael), was presented as a typical Visigothic episcopal group, rebuilt in Romanesque times, having replaced a Late Antique church, according to a mistaken chronology made by Puig i Cadafalch. Although scholars tried many times to correct this chronology, only a reexamination of the stonework and the records of prior excavations (Terme, 1987) taken together with the results of a conference in 1991 (reviewed in Ant. Tard. 2) allowed us to abandon it definitely. Until now, however, we knew nothing about the pre- Romanesque church. A new campaign of archaeological research, conducted by F. Tusset from the University of Barcelona, began in 1995. Possible links between the churches of Saint Michael and Saint Mary in their original state have been dicovered in trenches between the two churches. The question to be asked is whether the complex group dates as early as the fifth century. North of the actual apse of Saint Mary's, part of a lateral apse has been discovered, proving the existence of a church with three aisles and maybe three apses before the Romanesque church was built. The excavation is still in progress.

L'entrée des Germains dans l'armée romaine tardive a renouvelé le répertoire des récompenses accordées aux soldats les plus valeureux : des colliers d'or (torques) à partir du IIIe siècle et des bracelets (bracchialia). Parfois portés en association, ces objets de prix et prestigieux ornements étaient tout particulièrement accordés à des homines servant dans les scholes palatines ou dans la garde personnelle de l'Empereur (les Candidati), mais aussi dam des unités de foederati. L'auteur met en relation les sources textuelles, épigraphiques et archéologiques. Il étudie les appellations nouvelles qui se sont diffusées à partir de ces ornamenta : torquatus et bracchiatus, qui ont désigné, plus que des grades, des distinctions entraînant des avantages financiers. Les torques sont peut-être devenus aussi le signe distinctif, réglementaire, des porteurs d'enseignes.

1 - Since 0. Seeck, Venustus, father of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus senior, mentioned by Macrobius, has been identified with Volusius Venustus, corrector Calabriae et Apuliae between 324 and 333, and Venustus vicarius Hispaniarum under Julian. Actually, these are most probably three different people having various unprecise links with the Ragonii Venusti. 2 - Nicomachus Flavianus junior, hereditary patron of Capua, may be a relative of Anicius Auchenius Bassus also hereditary patron of this city, because of the use of the names "Nicomachus" and "Flavianus" in the Anician family. The mother of Nicomachus Flavianus senior might have been an Anicia or a descendant of the Anicii. 3 - The name "Venustus" is attested in a fictitious letter quoted by the Historia Augusta; in other such letters one can read the names of Ragonius Celsus and Ragonius Clarus governors of Gaul: all those onomastical connections, as H. Dessau noticed, evoke Ragonius Vincentius Celsus, praefectus annonae under Theodosius, who could be identified with Vincentius, praefectus praetorio Galliarum in 399-400. Those names could also allude to the Nicomachi and support the hypothesis of the attribution of the Historia Augusta to Nicomachus Flavianus junior.

An inscription which we know to have been sold in the area of Santander and which has now disappeared poses an enigma. The abbreviations K and IVG, which strongly evoke the Tetrachic fiscality, are carved on this "bifrons" stone of uncertain origin (however probably from the same area). It would have been a 'scoop' for the Western part of the Empire. However, a more systematic study of the text and a comparison with the known epigraphic tax registers forbid such an interpretation, especially in view of the inadequate numbers which it reports, not to mention the dubious function of such a stone in a fiscal hypothesis. Another explanation would be to relate it to centuriation : could this stone have located a parcel of land by giving two of its angles as orthogonally projected on two reference-axes? J.-P. Vallat ultimately advances a "gromatic" solution of the enigma set by the text and its numbers.

As a complement to his study published in AnTard 3 (1995), the author shows that five Latin fragments excavated at Ephesus belong to a pair of imperial constitutions of the early fourth century. The first is an edict of Constantius and Galerius (305/6), directed against abuses by imperial tax officials. Basing himself on some better preserved examples of the same text, the author reinserts four fragments from Ephesus in their proper positions in the titulature, preamble and epilogue of the edict Subsequently he gives a new critical edition of parallel inscriptions at Athens ("IG II2, 1121) and Tlos ("CIL III 12134), the one in Greek, the other in Latin. This revised edition modifies earlier ones in terms both of syntax and vocabulary. A detailed commentary has bearing on the verbal correspondances between the Latin original and its Greek translation. On the basis of the whole evidence, the edict can be partially reconstructed, translated and analyzed. The last part of the study attributes a fifth Ephesian fragment to the Constantinian edict De Accusationibus, which was already known through five other inscriptions, but whose date remains controversial. Both constitutions were related by their subject and are likely to have been inscribed at the same time, in Ephesus as well as in some other cities.

The letter that Tarra - possibly a monk in the monastery of Cauliana - wrote to King Reccaredus constitutes one of the most surprising texts of the Epistulae Wisigothicae. as much in its form as in its contents. In this article some differences in reading and interpretation with regard to the latest edition of the letter (J. Gil, 1972) are proposed, based in part on the analysis of the rhythmic cursus of the prose, obtained basically by a reiterated accumulation of the sequences. A series of observations is also made regarding the motives of the letter, based on the mentioned analysis and its content, which seem to have a legal justification in the Lex Visig. VI, 1, 6 (antiqua).

The author is publishing a new edition of the fragments known as the Anecdoton Holderi, after the name of the first editor, A. Holder, or as the Ordo generis Cassiodorum, a rather enigmatic title. The text is important for some biographical information about Symmachus, Boethius and Cassiodorus which would otherwise be unknown. It confirms Boethian authorship of three of the Opuscula Sacra, and attests the existence of the Libellus of Cassiodorus, from which it is excerpted. After a critical review of the manuscript tradition and editions of the text, the author offers a new edition, translation and commentary.

The main themes concern Theodosius and his circle, and the civilisation of Theodosian Spain in its literary, religious (Priscillianism) and archaeological aspects.

The new excavations reinforced the hypothesis made by Sautel in the fifties about the existence of two ancient Christian churches. Remains were found of two or three phases of a church with three naves, and of part of the apse of a second church (and not a baptistery as some scholars had hypothesized). The two churches were not contemporaneous : the western one was abandoned rather early (5th or 6th Century) and replaced by the eastern one.

The authors kindly offer a preliminary account of a recent dig by the archaeological department of the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona. The dig has been conducted near the celebrated cemetery of Francolí, where Mgr. Serra-Vilaro believed befound a cemetery church of the martyrs Fructuoso, Augurio and Eulogio. The excavation, nearby the modern road, but crossing the Roman road to the cemetery, brought to light different buildings: part of a villa, called here "villa palacio" or domus suburbana, a basilican church, a cistern and some remains of a farm. All of these ruins were found at the same stratigraphic level and seem to be connected. The author believes that the 4th century domus, that includes a vast room with an apse (thought to be a triclinium) and baths, can hardly heve been a private residence. The basilican church (measuring, with the atrium, 22 x 15 m) is oriented to the east. The rectangular apse was enlarged in a secondary phase and contains two graves later than to the first phase. Two annexes north of the church are called here diaconicon and prothesis. In front of the apse, one notices some traces of a transept, the central part of which was used as a sanctuarium at a level higher than the nave. The quadratum populi had nave and two aisles, filled by graves. There are no columns let, but their location can be determined thanks to the gaps between the graves; the interval between columns is about 3 meters. Since this is the width of the aisles, the plan is perhaps modular one. The atrium (12 x 7 m), with galeries (2 or 2,5 m) on three sides (except west) might have had a central fountain and is uncommon in Spain. It is surrounded by minor buildings: a large room in the center of the north side and square cells on the south. In the front of the quadratum populi, a later rectangular structure (a counter-apse according to the authors), shelters a privileged grave, intersecting the east the gallery. After the central door went out of use, the entrance to the church may have been either through western doors to the aisles or side doors (maybe on the south side).

The author, who himself used to excavate in this site, reviews the second volume of the publication directed by J.-M, Spieser and B. Bavant with the collaboration of lamented V. Kondić on the excavation at Caričin Grad, a she presumed to be lustiniana Prima, the city founded by Emperor Justinian at his own birthplace. They conducted a few campaigns, excavating a complex of buildings located at the southwest corner of the Upper Town's fortification, a complex that is believed to have a military function because of its location. It is a large room with a square apse and a few smaller buildings, maybe used as offices, that were partly added later. The description of each room is exhaustive and scrupulous and the stratigraphy is thoroughly presented, almost for the first time at Caričin Grad. Bavant's interpretation of the building as the. principia, meaning the hypothetical headquarters, is not incontrovertible. But N. Duval disagrees with the authors when they argue that this building is characteristic of the principia's evolution during Late Antique and Byzantine times, and he believes that it might be better compared with two very similar buildings in Caričin Grad. He nevertheless appreciates the many very usefull observations about this type of building. The author reviews the excellent catalogues of coins and other finds, the chapter written by architect Č. Vasić on the planning of the town (a study that will be continued in the next volume) and the interpretation given by V. Popović of the unique inscription (in Greek) found in the site: a dedicatory formula engraved on a silver plate, maybe part of a ceiling lamp that was perhaps imported.

Professor Marc Mayer, who teaches Latin and Latin philology at the Central University of Barcelona, reviews two volumes of the Historia Augusta recently published in the "Budé" Collection des Universites de France: the lives of Hadrian, Aelius and Antonius Pius by J.-P. Callu and the lives of Macrinus, Diadumenus and Elagabalus by R. Turcan. In both cases, O. Desbordes, the best living specialist of the manuscripts, established and edited the text. M. Mayer examines this aspect of the new edition generally and he compares with the standard version by Hohl (Teubner). According to this review, the Budé edition is better, especially the second volume.