In ancient Spello, considered one of the most important cities in Umbria (central Italy) during Roman times, archaeologists last summer unearthed three walls of a monumental structure, a surprising pagan temple that stood at least 1,600 years ago.
The more detailed results of the excavations, presented at the annual meeting of the American Archaeological Institute from January 4 to 7, 2024 in Chicago (USA), are described as “remarkable”: they interject, according to researchers interviewed by Newsweek new light on the transition from the worship of pagan gods to Christianity in the Roman Empire.
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Constantine, first Christian Roman emperor
The archaeological remains testify to the former greatness of Spello, which dates back to the 1st century BC. BC became a Roman colony. BC, then sixteen centuries later a simple village 120 kilometers north of Rome – it still received the award as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy (I Borghi più belli d'Italia) and is on the pilgrimage route to Saint Francis of Assisi.
However, due to an ancient inscription discovered in the city in the early 18th century and now displayed in the town hall, archaeologists decided to investigate the region further. It dates from the 4th century AD and is attributed to Constantine (280–337), the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. According to legend, he had a vision of the Christian cross during the Battle of Milvian Bridge, a turning point in the history of the empire.
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This conversion had a significant impact on the spread of Christianity. As emperor, Constantine actively supported the new faith and its general adoption, thereby leaving Roman polytheistic traditions to the cults that were ubiquitous in public life.
But even if Rome wasn't built in a day, the saying still underscores “the continuities between the classical pagan world and the paleo-Christian Roman world.” […] are often obscured or erased in the great historical narratives,” explains Douglas Boin, researcher at the University of Saint Louis (Belgium) and leader of the excavations of Spello or “Flavia Costante” under Constantine, in a press release.
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The Roman imperial cult that is cultivated in Spello
“Things didn’t change overnight,” he emphasizes. The inscription – and the temple it brought to light – bear witness to this. The emperor addressed the city's residents and explained that they would be allowed to celebrate a religious festival in their hometown instead of traveling long distances. However, in return they were asked to build a religious building to honor and worship their divine ancestors, the Flavian family.
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This practice is part of the Roman imperial cult; Emperors and certain members of their family were then worshiped (before or after their death) as divine entities. This would have been the case at Carlisle, for example, where statues of Septimius Severus and his wife would have been placed in the baths. Douglas Boin explains with our colleagues at Newsweek:
In the Roman world there was no separation between religion and state, and the proud patriotism of the Romans influenced all their public activities, including their religious services. In an empire where people spoke multiple languages, lived on three continents, and held to their own local traditions, the imperial cult brought people together around shared ideals.
The remains of the temple found could therefore have been built in the 330s AD. 500 BC to honor the ancestral line of the emperor – who would therefore have maintained the famous imperial cult, which served as a tool of cohesion between populations and was introduced by his predecessors.
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A bridge between pagan cults and Roman Christianity
Researchers have long suspected the existence of such a building without being able to determine its exact location. Its meter-wide foundations were identified under a parking lot near an ancient religious shrine, which perfectly matches the evidence already collected about the shrine demanded by Constantine. Ultimately, this would have “continued to be used at least as a place of worship and religious activities.” […] two generations […]until Christians ban all pagan religions,” said Douglas Boin.
In fact, social changes in Roman times would have been very slow. After Constantine's conversion, people who worshiped pagan gods gradually converted – through “numerous convincing and progressive changes” – to Christianity, which some 70 years later became the official religion (particularly its orthodox Trinitarian version) of the empire. by the Edict of Thessalonica (Cunctos populos), issued by Theodosius I in 380.
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This newly unveiled discovery represents researchers' greatest evidence ever of a late imperial cult in 4th-century Italy. Previously, they had only weak evidence that Christian leaders still supported the practice.
However, they knew that pagans still practiced their cult at that time. “This temple combines these two landmarks and in this respect differs from all the temples I know of in the Mediterranean world of the Roman Empire in the 4th century,” enthuses the expert and adds:
[Il] shows us that the transition from paganism [religion des païens] Christianity came via all sorts of strange detours and bizarre cultural mixtures, which were not always remembered by the authorities of the later church.
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