Between Christians and Pagans: the End of Paganism in Late Antique North Africa

基督徒与异教徒之间：北非古代晚期异教的终结

• 批准号: AH/G002983/1
• 负责人: Anna Leone
• 金额: $ 2.06万
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FG002983%2F1
• 关键词: Between; Christians; Pagans; End; Paganism

The research project aims to investigate the change of state religion that occurred all over the Roman Empire and the switch from paganism to Christianity. (Christianity became the official religion of the Empire in AD312). In particular the focus will be on North Africa between the 3rd/4th century (the final centuries of the Roman empire) and the early 6th century (the creation of the new Christian Byzantine Empire). In the past, approaches to these themes have considered such a transformation a revolutionary change, that brought about the destruction of temples and statues and the rise of a strong Christian community. In North Africa in particular this phenomenon has been emphasised because of important Christian figures, such as Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine. However, archaeological evidence seems to suggest a completely different panorama, where the pagan community survived for a long period and the Christian community maintained some pagan traditions; they both lived together and shared common places and cities. Temple were not destroyed, but sometimes restored and were in use during at least the 4th century. Statues were often removed, but preserved intact, and hidden in cisterns to protect their sacred value. In other cases they were moved, grouped together and displayed as if in a museum. The meaning of these actions needs to be investigated. Also early Byzantine churches, decorated with a variety of marbles, columns and capitals, were seen as highly original and beautiful. Again archaeology seems to suggest that there was an organised and planned dismantling of the decoration of former public buildings and probably there was an organised commerce in these decorative elements. All of these aspects therefore demand reconsideration. The proposed research finds a specific comparison in modern societies where the issue of different religious traditions co-existing in the same contexts remains problematic. Also issues of the transformation, reuse and reconceptualisation of existing derelict buildings apply to many modern cities. The project aims at the completion of a book that will collect together the data and will reanalyse the archaeological evidence in conjunction with historical sources, in order to shed new light on the events and re-direct future research, in other geographical areas, on this difficult moment of transition from one Empire to another and from one religious tradition to another.

该研究项目旨在调查整个罗马帝国发生的国教变化以及从异教到基督教的转变。（基督教在公元312年成为罗马帝国的官方宗教）。特别关注的是3 /4世纪（罗马帝国的最后几个世纪）和6世纪初（新的基督教拜占庭帝国的建立）之间的北非。过去，研究这些主题的方法认为这种转变是一种革命性的变化，它带来了寺庙和雕像的破坏，以及一个强大的基督教社区的兴起。特别是在北非，由于重要的基督教人物，如圣塞普里安和圣奥古斯丁，这种现象得到强调。然而，考古证据似乎表明了一个完全不同的全景，异教社区存活了很长一段时间，基督教社区保持了一些异教传统；他们住在一起，共享同一个地方和城市。寺庙没有被摧毁，但有时被修复，并至少在4世纪使用。雕像经常被移走，但保存完好，并隐藏在水池中，以保护其神圣的价值。在其他情况下，它们被移动，组合在一起，就像在博物馆里一样展示。这些行动的意义需要调查。此外，早期的拜占庭教堂，用各种大理石、圆柱和柱头装饰，被认为是高度原创和美丽的。考古学似乎再次表明，有组织和有计划地拆除了以前公共建筑的装饰，这些装饰元素可能存在有组织的商业活动。因此，所有这些方面都需要重新考虑。提出的研究发现，在现代社会中，不同宗教传统在相同背景下共存的问题仍然存在问题。此外，现有废弃建筑的改造、再利用和重新概念化问题也适用于许多现代城市。该项目的目标是完成一本书，将收集数据，并将重新分析考古证据与历史资料相结合，以阐明事件和重新指导未来的研究，在其他地理区域，从一个帝国过渡到另一个帝国，从一个宗教传统过渡到另一个宗教传统的困难时刻。