Ostrogothic Cities 101
of the provinces (and their respective tax revenues). This last factor became
particularly evident when Africa was lost to the Vandals in the years after 430.8
Archaeological evidence indicates the widespread decay of urban infrastruc-
ture for this period.9 It is also important that much of the surviving resources
available to wealthy benefactors was either diverted to the embellishment of
lavish private houses or invested in a new kind of public patronage: the con-
struction of Christian churches. The church itself became a new and impor-
tant player within the urban environment, investing its money not simply in
the provision of spaces for worship, but also in the creation of residences for
bishops and clergy and of a number of subsidiary buildings such as the hos-
pitals, guest houses and cellars deemed necessary for the display of the chari-
table activities that benefited the urban population.10
All this suggests that two different kinds of problems impacted Italian cities
during Late Antiquity: first, deep changes in the administrative structure of the
empire, and second, the economic conditions of the western provinces, which
became particularly severe in the course of the 5th century. When considering
the conditions of late antique Italian cities, it becomes necessary to consider
both the transformation of the cultural and institutional setting of Italy and
the economic changes to the finances of the state that affected the whole of
Italian society.11 Notwithstanding a general picture of decline, growth in the
number of episcopal sees in Italy during the 5th century demonstrates that
towns were neither dead nor deserted by their populations. In fact the very role
of the bishop was predicated on the needs of the urban community. The prom-
inent social role obtained by the church from the late 4th and during the 5th
century captured many of the private resources still available for investment in
urban settings. In addition, the material decline of towns could still elicit direct
response from the imperial government in the form of a wide number of mea-
sures taken in order to protect derelict public buildings from improper use.12
Imperial authority sought to preserve not only pagan temples, whose function
as places of worship had been banned since the end of the 4th century, but
also public buildings and spaces that were considered potentially exposed to
8 Ward-Perkins, Fall of Rome, pp. 33–62.
9 Brogiolo/Possenti, “L’età gota in Italia settentrionale”, pp. 257–96; Brogiolo, Le origini della
città medievale, pp. 33–76.
10 Baldini Lippolis, L’architettura residenziale, pp. 102–34; Marano, “Domus in qua manebat
episcopus”, pp. 97–130.
11 Liebeschuetz, Decline and Fall, pp. 369–99.
12 Janvier, La legislation du Bas-Empire Romain; Heijmans, “La place des monuments pub-
lics”, pp. 25–41.