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

Migotti, Branka: Early Christianity in Aquac Iasae

Early Christianity in Aquae lasae (Varazdinske Toplice) and lovia (Ludbreg) in Pannónia Savia 53 tentatively be ascribed to the period of Constantine the Great, who otherwise devoted special attention to Aquae lasae. The secondary sun-rays should hardly be understood as a mere decoration; they probably convey a meaning which can hypothetically be interpreted in terms of a "Christianization" of the monument. Since the renovation of Aquae lasae after the destruction in a devastating fire took place on the command and under the patronage of Constantine the Great, it is not unlikely that his religious affiliations significantly coloured the atmosphere of the baths. And his religious attitudes, well known and much discussed among scholars, were above all marked by a blend of devotion to Sol and Christ at the same time.

12 It is therefore likely that the first manifestations of Christian religion in Aquae lasae showed in Constantine's time and were possibly influenced by his very religious attitude. I will seek to substantiate this hypothesis later in the text on the grounds of the Tasean architecture. In the meantime, I would first like to bring to mind the story of Christianity at Aquae lasae as proposed by its long-term and deserving researchers Branka VikicBelanőic and Marcel Gorenc and unanimously accepted among scholars. According to the mentioned authors, the most spacious, N-S oriented rectangular room of the baths, considered to be a basilica thermarum, was in Constantine's restructuring of the whole complex given an interior apse raised for 20 cm above the remaining surface. This, the opinion goes, did not alter the social and representative function the basilica had had from the start.

13 According to Vikic and Gorenc the thermal basilica was accorded the function of a Christian church only in the second half of the 4th century, when a narthex-like ancillary room was attached to its southern facade and the building interior repainted. (Fig. 5) Two frescoes have survived of this redecoration, which are accordingly considered to be contemporary. One of them, featuring a nimbate head of an elderly man with fairly short hair, beard and moustaches, had fallen from the ceiling of the main room and was found on the floor in the fill of the collapsed material. (Fig. 6) Faint traces of another painting displaying a motif of a saltire cross in the form of two obliquely crossed red lines on a background of pale yellow with greenish nuances are still visible on the interior surface of the northern narthexwall. (Fig. 7)

14 However, a closer scrutiny of both the architecture and paintings seem to be calling for a reinterpretation of the "Christianization" of the Iasean thermal basilica. This, as a matter of fact, should not have happened later than the time of Constantine the Great, that is, at the beginning of the 4th с I put forward this hypothesis in the previously mentioned article, but apart from the editor and reviewer, who were supportive, I have no information on its reception by other scholars.

15 On what grounds, then, could the proposal be substantiated for a Constantian remodelling of the thermal basilica of Aquae lasae into a Christian building? The function of the thermal basilica in general is multiple and comprises social gathering, cultural leasure and sports recreation.

16 Such must have been the role of the basilical hall of the thermal baths at Aquae lasae before their remodelling. However, with a raised apse added, the building must have experienced a shift in its basic character and usage from social gathering and recreation into something different and more dignified, such as religious cult. In essence, the raised apse should be envisaged as a tribunal for a dignitary to preside over whatever social occurence is taking place in the building. With the acquirement of such a tribunal the Iasean basilica could not have been turned into a judicial or civil building, as the settlement lacked civic status. It can therefore be presumed that the raised apse provided this building with the capacity to hold Christian service, either exclusively or alternately with some other function. It should be noted that such a reconstruction of the role of the remodelled basilica is not at all incongruous with Emperor Constantine's well known ambigous religious attitudes. Interestingly, the excavators claimed that concurrently with the adaptation to a church in the 2nd half of the 4th с the basilical hole became so to say turned in on itself and more overtly cut away from the rest of the baths.

17 This should imply a separation also from the complex of the three small thermal rooms immediately north of the basilica (1-3), interpreted otherwise as two changing rooms (apodyteria) and a mid-space. Nevertheless, the plan they brought forward shows otherwise. (Fig. 8) It was exactly with Constantine's restructuring of the baths that these three rooms were fairly openly separated from those placed more northerly, with which they communicated only through the opening in the mid-space (2), while at the same time the two more important rooms (1 and 3) became attached to the basilica by means of doors. In other words, the only way out from the northern rooms through a mid-space does not affect the impression of the predominant orientation of this block toward the basilical hall. The concurrent walling up of the door in the northern facade of the basilica did not at all result in its complete closing from the northen block, as communication was maintained with rooms 1 and 3. It is important to notice that nothing in the nature of the building's isolation was effected after Constantine's reconstruction: when the narthex was added to the southern facade in the 2nd half of the 4th century, the northern rooms remained unchanged both architecturally and in terms of communication. No explanation was offered by Vikic and Gorenc for the function of these spaces in the Christian period. Yet, in broad terms they must have served as ancillary rooms to meet various requirements of Christian liturgy taking place in the main hall. Contrary to the northen block, which most probably formed a unified assemblage with the basilical hall from its very remodelling, the claim for the nar-