Constantine (272-337) was the first emperor of Ancient Rome who embraced the Christian religion and guaranteed freedom of worship throughout the Empire. He instituted Sunday rest, had numerous churches built and especially protected Christians, putting an end to the persecutions that had existed for decades.
Theirs, however, was a period in which pagans continued to be the vast majority within Roman borders. Hence he prohibited confrontations and disputes for religious reasons, establishing tolerance after his victory at the Milvian Bridge against the troops of Maxentius (312 AD).
For years, however, many historians have argued that the Edict of Milan promulgated in the year 313 meant a change of course in the Roman Empire, giving preeminence to Christians over pagans. But the discovery of an ancient temple in the town of Spello, a famous hilltop town about 2.5 hours north of Rome, shows that this was not the case.
According to history professor Douglas Boin of Saint Louis University, the lost sanctuary from the 4th century AD shows “the continuities between the classical pagan world and the early Christian Roman world that are often blurred or erased from the broad historical narratives," he points out.
Boin, an expert on the religious transitions of Ancient Rome, selected Spello based on a rescript (a response text from a ruler) discovered in the 18th century and which had been sent by Constantine to the townspeople to inform about a religious festival. .
This rescript allowed the inhabitants of the metropolis to hold a celebration in their hometown instead of having to travel a great distance to attend another festival. However, in order to do so, they were required to erect a temple to Constantine's divine ancestors, the Flavian family, and worship them.
"Things didn't change overnight. Before our discovery, we never thought there were actual religious sites associated with this late imperial cult practice (deifying an emperor or members of his family). But because of the inscription and the reference to a temple, Spello offered a very tantalizing potential for the discovery of a pagan ceremony under a Christian ruler," says the expert.
The team of archaeologists traveled to the municipality in the province of Perugia and spent weeks searching for the lost temple. When they had practically given up, Boin received a package of images that made him regain hope. Underneath a parking lot there seemed to be promising remains.
"We found three walls of a monumental structure that evidence suggests belonged to a Roman temple dating back to the Constantine period," the expert says in a statement. The remains of what appears to be the interior area of the sanctuary were also discovered.
This temple quickly became what Douglas Boin calls “the greatest evidence of imperial worship in both fourth-century Italy and the late Roman Empire.” "We knew that pagans still came to worship in their temples in the 4th century, but all those finds had been small and inconsequential. We even knew that Christians supported the imperial cult, but until now no one had the slightest idea where there was This happened,” he admitted.
This temple unites these two extremes, making it unique in the entire Mediterranean world. From this "incredible discovery", historians will now be able to show how the social changes of the time occurred very slowly.
Although Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, it took almost 70 years for this religion to become the official religion of the Roman Empire, under the rule of Emperor Theodosius (379-395). During that time many changes were still necessary for those who worshiped pagan gods to embrace Christian practices.
"This building shows us the staying power of pagan traditions that had been in place for centuries, and shows us how the Roman emperors continued to negotiate their own values, their own hopes and dreams for the future of the Empire without burying the past," he says. Boin.
This coming summer the team is scheduled to return to Spello to fully excavate the area and examine the entire temple. "We're about to give people very visible evidence that will really change the clear and tidy way we view big moments of cultural change," he says.
"Cultural changes are never as big as we think they are and there are many gray areas between people's customs and society and culture in general. And many of them can be left out of history. That this temple is dedicated to the divine ancestors of Constantine, as a way of worshiping the emperor, in an increasingly Christian world it is very strange and I love that we can bring it to light," he concludes.
