Zalai Múzeum 11. Kereszténység Pannóniában az első évezredben (Zalaegerszeg, 2002)

Mulvin, Lynda: Late Roman Villas in the Danuba Balkan Region and the Evidence for the Development of Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture

ZALAI MÚZEUM 11 2002 Mulvin, Lynda Late Roman Villas in the Danube Balkan Region and the Evidence for the Development of Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture Today I wish to consider in the short time available, whether the innovations introduced by the architecture of the late Roman villa found a parallel development in early Christian and Byzantine architecture. I should explain that the subject of my recent Ph.D thesis is Late Roman villas in the Danube-Balkan Region. By Danube-Balkan region (forthcoming BAR International Series, 2002). I refer to the Roman Provinces of Pannónia, Moesia, Dalmatia, Dacia and Thracia and by late I refer to post 250 AD. In my talk today I wish to outline three aspects of the findings of my thesis: 1) villa plans, 2) the relevant evidence for Christianity and 3) Roman antecedents for the Early Christian and Byzantine churches in the region. Typology The many other studies of this nature principally by E. B. Thomas, M. Biró and J. Henning define buildings according to predetermined plan types, often based on the central section of the building, and draw distinctions based on whether the central building was a peristyle type, a portico type, a winged corridor type or a basilica type.

1 For the purpose of this study, these categories were enlarged to the peristyle plan; enclosed courtyard plan; compact plan; apsidal hall plan; winged plan; the fortified plan, with two sub-categories, fortified perimeter and putative fortifications. Of the 64 sites identified in this study, these categories were developed from the ground plan of the residential building, and are defined by the outline of the plan and its form. Not surprisingly, the majority of late Roman villas in the Danube-Balkan region are of the peristyle plan.

2 These develop from simple rooms around the courtyard in the second century to uniform symmetrical forms in the fourth century, and attest to the flexibility and durability of this plan, which is particularly compatible with the climate of south-eastern Europe. The reception room, which changes from a predominantly rectangular space to an apsidal form, associated particularly with the apsidal hall and triconch dining area, is a particular focus of late Roman villa architecture. During the late third and early fourth centuries, therefore, the apsidal hall becomes the main focus for the reception functions and is decorated accordingly. The development of the enclosed courtyard plan reflects security concerns; they are usually symmetrical and tend to be marked by a distinction between the residential and farming/industrial quarters. The reception rooms in these buildings tended to be basic, rectangular structures, which is consistent with the evidence more generally that these villas were not greatly associated, on the evidence of this survey and others, with recreation and luxury. Those surveyed here are predominantly from Moesia and Thracia, and date to the late second and early third centuries and to the military campaigns associated with those periods. On the other hand, the compact plan villas appear in each province, but these too are characterised primarily by small-scale farming and industrial activities, and therefore can be likened to the enclosed courtyard plan villas in their absence of a decorated reception area. Conversely, in the apsidal hall plan the emphasis is precisely on the reception hall areas, with the principal rooms grouped around the corridor adjoining the hall. This plan represents an innovation in late Roman architecture, and is associated usually with villas of the third and fourth century. Being a plan of an enclosed type, it had a distinct security advantage for example over the winged plan, and on the evidence of the present survey it appears that the winged plan villa was rarely found in the Danube-Balkan region. This concern with security is reflected also in the number of villas fortified to varying degrees in the region as a whole. These tend to be concentrated around the Danube, and some villas with fortified perimeters may well have served to protect large stores of grain. In Pannónia the number of fortified villas and particularly those with putative fortifications is also greater in this province than across the region. The reliance on fortification came about in the third and fourth centuries when the upper Danube frontier was under frequent attack. It may be seen from the Chart la, lb and lc that the