THE CHRISTIAN BASILICA LOCATED NEAR THE MODERN CHURCH ‘ST. PETKA’

Ivo Topalilov

Abstract: The present study outlines the main problems faced by the researcher of early Christianity in Philippopolis, following the example of a monument that has long been underestimated in the literature due to its insufficient study. The analysis of the results of the archaeological excavations allows to clarify some essential details of its development and interpretation, and to pose new problems that are still waiting for their solution.

Key words: Christianity, Philippopolis, Late Antiquity, Christian Basilica

In this case, we are dealing with the observation of excavation in a area located south of the present-day church of ‘St. Petka.’[1] Thus, in an trench 2.5 m wide, a wall oriented north-south and four pedestals for columns oriented east-west were found. The pedestals disclosed are masonry and designed for square-shaped masonry pillars.[2] The bricks are bounded with red mortar.[3] The pillars divide the interior space of the building. The floor of the building appears to have been made of slab stones, using spolia with the marble slabs.

An identical situation was revealed in the neighboring courtyard, located in a south direction. It is supposed that in this case a partially three-nave building was discovered, with a massive interior and not particularly rich interior decoration – masonry pillars instead of columns, and the floor was made of slabs of stone. For the moment, its dimensions remain unclear, but according to D. Tsonchev, the intercooling space is 3.45 m, i.e. the distance corresponds to the 5th diameter of the column, the so-called araeostyle.[4]

According to the archaeological observations, the building was destroyed by fire, with a coin of Julian I found among the ruins. D. Tsonchev suggests that it was located extra muros, and to the east of it was a square covered with syenite slabs of 26 m wide.[5]

Given the large-scale construction and colonnade, it is assumed that this is a partly discovered late-antique three-nave building, with some of the northern and central nave of the building appearing to be excavated.

However, the paucity of data we have, however, raises a number of questions about its nature, dating, etc.

Firstly, we can set the question of building identification. Given the colonnade uncovered, it has been suggested in this case we are dealing with a late-antique Christian basilica.[6] The lack of massive ceramic material discovered during the observation probably indicates the public character of the building and complements the thesis. If so, of particular interest is the localization of said square, which was located east of it, that is, at the apse area, and which more logically was to be located west of the basilica.

Secondly, no less controversial is the location of the basilica itself. According to D. Tsonchev, it was located about 40 meters south of today's church ‘St. Petka’ with the open square is ‘in the direction of one of the eastern fortress gates,’ which is why it should have been located extra muros.[7] This observation is unclear in some aspects, and need some discussion as the location of the building proposed by D. Tsontchev in fact is rather based on the position of the inner curtain wall which however is of later date; until the time of D. Tsontchev the eastern wall of Roman Philippopolis remained unclear.[8] Moreover, the eastern curtain wall was discovered some at least 500 m eastward[9] and a Christian basilica has been unearthed close to the wall, intra moenia. That basilica, called ‘Small basilica’ in the literature cannot be interpreted as this whose ruins were observed by D. Tsonchev due to major differences in the construction techniques, special layout and the decoration. The extrapolation of route of decumanus maximus eastward the agora where it is only attested so far may suggest that that basilica which was built in third quarter of 5th century was alongside it, and a city-gate was also located in the area. If so, we would deal in this case with the widely-spread practice in Late antiquity of construction of Christian basilica near the city gate which by this become under the protection of the Christian patron.

According to the archaeological excavations the southern curtain wall of Philippopolis was located at distance of about 150 m south-west of ‘St. Petka’ church.[10] This clearly shows that the basilica under question was clearly situated intra moenia, and raises the question whether this case is similar to that of the ‘Small basilica’ and the possible gate of the metropolis?

The close location of the basilica to the curtain wall may imply the same case as it is with the ‘Small basilica’. If so, a certain gate itself located closely should be assumed which by this construction also put under under the protection of the Christian saint who was the patron of the Christian basilica. These are currently speculations that future archaeological studies in this section will confirm or reject.[11]

Another problem that arises when studying of this Christian besalica is date of construction of the building. The only thing that is known so far is that it ceased to exist as a result of the violent destruction, i.e., a fire, indicated by the burnt layer observed during the diggings.[12]

The answer to this question may be found in studying the way how the building was constructed and the specifics of its interior, in this case the masonry pillars were used. Indeed, basilicas with masonry columns have been discovered since the first quarter of the 5th century,[13] but these cases are isolated and generally similar basilicas are found in 6th century.[14]

In fact, there is another example of a probably Christian basilica with a masonry pedestal and pillar discovered, that situated on the Dzambaz tepe with the limits of the ancient Acropolis.[15] I am not going to deal with that basilica in deep here as it will be done in a special paragraph at this project, but I would like to point out that the pedestal and pillar may be a part of a reconstruction of the church as they were built on the existing mosaic pavement that decorated the building. Indeed, the nature of reconstruction is unclear, but the chronological sequences are. The date of the construction of the basilica, obtained from the study of the mosaic pavement, coincides with the desacralization of the Acropolis and constructed with various buildings. In this case, however, of importance is the fact that the practice with the masonry pedestals and pillars is also attested, which means that it could be established a certain period when this was a common practice in Late antique Philippopolis.

The other examples of this practice come from elsewhere. When such is the so-called Basilica No. 6 located near Diocletianopolis, in which the masonry columns are made of segmental bricks.[16] This basilica belongs to one of the latest basilicas dated that are found in and around the city, so it seems that when constructed there was a shortage of antique columns. This, in my opinion, was decisive and led to the use of the bricks although its size does not imply the need of the massive masonry pillars. By using this technique, however, the construction cost was also smaller. The date of the basilica is 5th – mostly 6th century.[17]

We may assume that for practical reasons the construction of masonry pedestals and pillars should be attributed to a later time, when ancient temples did not exist anymore as their interior was reused in the new Christian basilicas. therefore, the construction of the basilica under question in Philippopolis should be attributed to the period after the end of the pagan temples, i.e., at earliest in 5th century. Given the fact that the basilica with masonry columns spread in the 6th century mainly, and the simple decoration of the interior as well as the slab floor, and the fact that the basilica with masonry columns spread in the 6th century mainly, I would not hesitate to date the construction of the basilica located next to church ‘St Petka’ in 6th century. This late date may find another argument, though indirect, in the rich decoration of the Christian basilicas that were built in the metropolis of Thrace in the second half of 5th – first half of 6th century. Thus, the Episcopal basilica with more than 800 m sq. received new mosaic floor in the third quarter of 5th century,[18] the ‘Small basilica’ may be a bit later, the transformation of the Synagogue into Christian basilica was also combined with the placement of a new mosaic pavement,[19] that may be dated to the time of Anastasius I and Justin I,[20] and another such activity was undertaken into the pre-altar space of the Episcopal basilica,[21] most probably as a result of liturgical changes imposed by the Constantinopolitain church in the time of Justinian I.[22] At least but not last is also the mosaic decoration of the conch martyrium near the Eastern gate.[23] Thus, a certain ‘mosaic’ layer can be established in the Christian basilicas in Philippopolis between middle of 5th – middle of 6th century. In fact, the most distinguished feature of these Christian basilicas were the richly decorated mosaic pavements. They may be due to local initiative following the metropolitan examples, i.e. from Constantinople, or metropolitan one.

In our case, as the construction techniques and the decoration clearly differ from that of the aforementioned Christian buildings, I am inclined to date the construction of the basilica under consideration in this study after the ‘mosaic layer’, i. e., in the third quarter of 6th century. Indeed, we should not expect all the basilica being richly decorated as the aforementioned, so some uncertainty about the construction date still exists. For safety, we can assume that the basilica was actually built during the first half/ middle of 6th century when an economic boom of the city is attested which spread over its limits.[24]

A certain terminus ante quem should be the siege of Philippopolis by the Avars in 587 AD when the area had already been extra moenia after constructing the inner curtain walls that consists of many spolia and that reduced the area of the city almost by half and left may emblematic buildings such as Domus Eirene (domus episcopalis), Episcopal basilica, ‘Small’ basilica etc.

If the observations made above are correct that I would not exclude the possibility that the construction of the basilica could actually be part of a construction program carried out at that time in the city related to the construction of basilicas in major places, and especially the fortress gates. As mentioned, the construction of a Christian basilica near the gate placed the gate's protection under the immediate tutelage of a Christian saint, undoubtedly one of the goals of the said construction campaign. And during the time of Justinian I and after, the city still used the Roman fortress walls, which were remodeled in the middle/second half of the 5th century. The need of divine protection of the gate, however, increased with the increase of the barbarian raids in Thrace in the time of Justinian I and onward.

Undoubtedly, the end of the basilica was violent in the second half of the 6th century. This was the time when the appearance of the city changed dramatically with the construction of a new fortress wall. By this the basilica remained outside the fortified area and was left at the mercy of the Slavs and Avars not only during the besieged the city in 587. Indeed, the siege was unsuccessful, but it seems that all that remained of the extra muros was destroyed.[25] After its demolition, it was no longer possible for the local community to maintain such a huge building and its importance gradually declined. It is not possible to say when exactly the ruins were completely abandoned, but it could be after the middle of 7th century.

[1] It should be noted that no regular excavation has ever been carried out.

[2] 0.70/0.70 м.

[3] The dimensions of the brick are 32/32/ 4 and 32/16/4 см

[4] Цончев 1946, 219.

[5] Цончев 1946, 219.

[6] See for instance Ботушарова & Танкова 1982, 56; Чанева-Дечевска 1999, 254; Мартинова & Боспачиева 2002.

[7] Цончев 1946, 219.

[8] See Цончев 1938. On the inner curtain wall – see also Ботушарова 1977; Кесякова 2001; Динчев 2001; Танкова 2010; Topalilov 2014.

[9] Bospačieva 2001, 173-183.

[10] Колев 1971, 99–115; Djambov & Matheev 1978, 245–250; Botoucharova & Kesjakova 1980; Botušarova &  Kesjakova 1983; Топалилов 2012, 158–163 and cited bibliography there.

[11] This practice is common in Rome as early as 5th century, but it is regarded as one of the mostly spread ways to put a specific area under control not only of the Christian saint, but the Christian church as well – see for this Spera 2006.

[12] We can hardly conclude that the building was destroyed and ceased to exist in the time of Julian based on the combination of burnt layer and a coin as suggested in the literature – Любенова 2013. The coin found in the burnt layer gives us just a terminus post quem of the process, but not date it with certainty. Besides, if we accept this plausible hypothesis given the circulation of the Julian coins, we should expect that the basilica should be restored, even if its importance transferred to the newly constructed Episcopal basilica and remained as district church.

[13] See for example the basilica A near the town of Berkovitsa.

[14] Чанева-Дечевска 1999.

[15] Ботушарова 1960.

[16] Маджаров 1993, 135–136.

[17] Маджаров 1993, 135–136.

[18] See most recently Topalilov 2020a and bibliography cited.

[19] See Pillinger et al. 2016 and bibliography cited.

[20] See for inclination of an earlier date – Kolarik 2014.

[21] See Кантарева – Дечева 2018.

[22] See Topalilov 2020b.

[23] See for the date of the mosaic pavement – Pillinger et al. 2016, 257–263.

[24] For the expansion of the city – see Topalilov 2014.

[25] See Topalilov 2014.

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