248 Deliyannis
Churches
Rita Lizzi Testa discusses the role of the church in towns in this volume. Here
we need only remark that by the late 5th century, regardless of the state of the
rest of their urban infrastructure, most Roman cities had at least one church
(usually more), often associated with a bishop. The churches were one part of
the infrastructure that was not in ruins. As the public role of the bishop was
enlarged in the late antique empire, his residence became a public space in
which he could give audiences, judge legal cases, hold assemblies of clergy,
and entertain guests. Evidence of episcopia from the 4th and 5th centuries is
sparse. In places such as Milan, Rome, Geneva, Naples, Grado, Parenzo, and
Aquileia, we know that one component was a large audience hall, in some
cases richly decorated,92 but there does not seem to be any standard layout or
type for a bishop’s residence.93
As mentioned above, churches had become the favoured objects of dona-
tions by wealthy citizens, and were often covered in inscriptions or images
commemorating the donations. And while we may not be certain whether
other urban facilities were still in use in the early 6th century, we can be sure
that the churches were being maintained as social as well as religious hubs.
Cassiodorus went out of his way to avoid mentioning churches in the Variae,
but we know that in this period even some formerly public buildings were
being converted to churches, presumably with official approval. The most
notable example is the church of SS Cosmas and Damian in Rome. Because
the building in which the church was installed was originally a secular govern-
ment structure in the Roman Forum, it is usually assumed that King Theoderic
or his daughter Amalasuentha must have given it to Pope Felix and authorized
its conversion to a church. However, there is no evidence for this and the dedi-
catory inscription only mentions Pope Felix IV.94 In other cities, there is evi-
dence of church construction taking place very actively during the Ostrogothic
period, most notably in Ravenna, where there is the only surviving evidence of
Arian churches as well as several notable Nicene constructions.95
92 See especially Miller, The Bishop’s Palace, pp. 33–7; Rapp, Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity,
pp. 208–11, states that episcopal complexes strove for functionality rather than ostenta-
tion, but this was clearly not the case in cities such as Ravenna.
93 See Müller-Wiener, “Bischofsresidenzen”.
94 See Kalas, “Conservation, Erasure, and Intervention”, p. 4.
95 See Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity, pp. 139–200 and Sessa in this volume.