Christian adaptations in Athens in late antiquity [end of 5th-beginning of 7th century]

Christian adaptations in Athens in late antiquity [end of 5th-beginning of 7th century]



The article discuss situation in Athens at the time of the dusk of pagan religion. The city actually have never recovered from the great destruction in 267 AD, when the most of the temples of Athens were heavily destroyed. Only during the brief revival during the reign of Iulian the Apostate, an revival of the paganity was attempted. However, Athenian temples soon were abandoned and only eventually were transformed into the Christian basilicas. The general intention of the Athenian population was to keep the sacred tradition of the Holy sites with their transformation from the ancient temples into the Christian basilicas. Key words: Christianity, Athens, basilica, Parthenon, Erechteion, Hephasteion, Asclepion, tetraconchos,




The splendor and the fame that Athens was known for, were already at their dusk in the moment when the pagan religion was finally completely banned around 526 AD by the imperial edict by Byzantine emperor Justinian. Once the centre of the ancient Greek culture and art, Athens was now a mere province. However, Athens was conspicuously slow to adopt Christianity, because the spirit of the Athenian philosophy school, as well as the cultural tradition was very strong. Although there is archaeological and literary evidence for no less than fourteen Christian basilicas and churches that were built or adapted in Athens between 5-7 century, there is only one monument that can be counted as newly built Christian monument, the basilica near Illyssos river[1], although little remains of it. This is definively the earliest Christian monuments that have come to lights and the remains of this Christian basilica near the bead of Illyssos river can be dated back to the mid 5th century, and its decoration, especially the mosaics, were on several occasions restored.
The end of the antiquity found the Acropolis at Athens in a very bad state of preservation. City has never recovered from the vicissitudes in the Heruli invasion in 267 AD. The monuments of the Acropolis as well as those in downtown Athens, have suffered heavily during the barbaric invasions and most of them were burned together with the city. After that, the city was surrounded with the smaller circuit of walls built chiefly with the reused spolia of the damaged buildings[2]. This fortification encircled only l/12 of the original area of the city. The only moment of hope came when the roman emperor Julian the Apostate briefly revived pagan religion in the period 360-364. when some of the monuments were repaired after a long time of neglection. In that period the Parthenon was reconstructed too[3]. By that moment the original temples from the classical era were either badly dilapidated or even abandoned. The decline of the roman empire, as well as the rising of the Christianity resulted with the gradual adaptation of various pagan temples for the churches in order to continue the tradition of a sacred place. The main pagan temples were suitable for the adaptation for the needs of Christian religion. Practically the all main temples, one after another, were transformed into the Christian churches.
The main temple of the city, the Parthenon, was originally adapted as the church of the Holy Wisdom[ Hagia Sofia], but its dedication was later changed and the church was re-dedicated as the cathedral of the Our Lady-Hodigitria. The nearby temple, the Erechteion was adapted for another basilica, again in the 6th century[4]. On the southern slopes, the complex of the Asclepion was rebuild as a three nave basilica, while the single nave church was interpolated in the eastern parodos of the theater of Dionysus, as well as the small chapell of Panagia Spiliotissa interpolated into the ancient shrine over the cavea of the theater.. The temple of Olympic Zeus ( the Olympeion) was already half destroyed in the 5th century, and sometime in early Christianity, an heremitage was built over one of the architraves. The continuity of this heremitage lasted until 19th century and is well documented in the historical graphic representations and even vintage photographs. Close to the temple of Olympian Zeus, another basilica, richly decorated with the mosaics was built over the remains of the roman houses. A small chapel was interpolated into the now lost temple near the Illyssos stream. The area of the ancient agora, north of the Acropolis was badly damaged in Heruli invasion in 267 AD, and only several buildings were more or less preserved. The most important evidence for the shift towards the Christianity was found in the house of the last Athenian school of philosophy so called “Omega house” which was transformed in 6th century[5]. The temple of Hephaistos was adapted for the church of St George at the beginning of the 7th century. Somewhat lower down the slope of the hill Kolonos Agoras, the remaining hall of the heavily damaged complex of former Metroon was adapted for the three nave basilica too.
The former Hadrian’s library near the Roman agora was actually built as the replica of the Templum Pacis in Rome. In its center, an early monument Christian monument, the quatrefoil structure, actually a true tetraconhos was interpolated in the middle of the complex at the end of the 4th century. The architecture of this quatrefoil is architecturally close with the other tetraconchoses in the region: Lychnid[6], Konjuh[7]. In 6th century, this edifice was reconstructed into a three nave basilica which was formed with the contraction of the original tetraconhos. The central area of the tetraconchos was divided into a three nave aisle with the reuse of the original columns of the colonnades of the earlier structure, while the position of the inner colonnades of the side apses now was replaced with the walls, and took the function of the outer screens of the later basilica. This structure was earlier interpreted as the pool or a lecture hall but the latest research has shown that the structure was a Christian edifice from its very beginning. A Christian baptistery was adapted in the Andronico’s octagon whose architectural concept was suitable for the baptismal function.
When the pagan religion was finally banned, the Parthenon was probably abandoned for a time. It was easy to transform the great temple into a Christian basilica,.. The last remains of the basilica were removed during the clearing of the ruins of the temple around l850. Today it is possible to reconstruct the picture of the Christian basilica only through the careful interpretation of the written sources, scattered membra disiecta, as well as the few extant graphical representations as well as some vintage photographs which have come down to us. The Parthenon was built in remarkably short period, between 447-438 BC, over the site which was previously occupied by several earlier temples and with the extensive reuse of the material which remained unused from the previous unbuilt temple
The Periclean Parthenon was built with the use of the many architectural members which were already prepared for its predecessor. The architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates, and their project was the peak in the development of the Doric order. The temple has heavily suffered in 3rd century AD, and repairs were commenced during the reign of the emperor Julian the Apostate and were done with the technical skill and the possibilities of the time. Only the inner building was roofed again, while the peripter was left unroofed. In the dusk of the paganism the new statue of the Athena Parthenos was transported to Constantinople in 430 AD, and it is most probable that the temple was finally abandoned for the next few decades. The way for the transformation of the ancient temple was left open. The series of imperial edicts, first the Edict of Theodosius I, which forbade the pagan religion, issued 397; Decrees of Theodosius II- Codex Theodosianus XVI, l0, 25; concerning pagan temples and their conversion into the churches were followed with the final blow- the closure of the Athenian school of philosophy in 529. The transformation took place most probably under the reign of Justinian. The transformation was very easy because the original plan of the temple comprised all the elements necessary for the basic architectural plan of a basilica. The western chamber became a narthex, while the opistonaos was screened off and transformed into a pronartex. A section of the western chamber was screened off with the delicately carved panels and transenes and used as a baptistery. Three doors were pierced in the dividing wall and the necessary connection between the narthex and naos was provided. East chamber became the naos and the east door were blocked off with the semicircular apse. Other important changes, the piercing of the three other door in the west chamber were result of the needs for the better communication between the nartex and the surrounding structures. A small door were pierced to the south of the main west door, and another were pierced in the north and south wall providing direct access to the staircases which led to the galleries over the aisles of the east chamber-naos. Galleries were interpolated over the marble crossbeams which connected the new internal colonnades with the walls. The baptistery was rectangular and was separated with the elaborately carved screens. The baptismal font was created with the extraction of one floor plate, and the hole obtained by this extraction was surrounded with the uprightly set marble blocks. For the practical reasons, the central column of the lower tear of the western internal colonnade of the east chamber, which obstructed the view to the altar was removed and substituted with an interpolated arch. The original wax impregnation of the preserved marble surfaces, which was originally used as the coating for the ancient colouring, today gives us the precious evidence, because hundreds of the graffiti were inscribed onto the surfaces through a long period of time before the staircase was interpolated into the opisthonaos[8]. These graffiti give the clear evidence about the historical changes of the rank of the Church Altogether, 23o graffiti are preserved on the surfaces of the columns and the walls of the Parthenon, and they are especially concentrated beside the small lateral door in the west wall what is clear indication that these door were used as a main entrance for a long period[9]. The earliest preserved grafitto dates form 604 AD, but there is evidence for the already long use of the church. The graphic representations show the tower with the minaret built over it. This staircase gave the access to the structure built over the beams of opistonaos whose function remains unclear, and to the attic of the narthex. The great enigma is the way how the ceiling of the narthex was supported. Today, only some small fragments were positively identified as the remains of the original ionic columns of the west chamber. However, it is quite possible that the marble ceiling partly protected the chamber from the burning roof and that these columns remained in function even after the fire. There is also a later description where is clearly indicated that the roof was supported with the four great columns, one of which is cracked and reinforced with the wall. This might be the case with the northwest column which was encased within the partition of the baptistery. The grooves still preserved in the floor indicate that the new west door were installed wrongly and that it was very difficult to move them and the grooves were chiselled off in the floor as an attempt to ease their movement, but with each new cutting it was more and more difficult to move the door[10]. Finally, the great door were left permanently open and on the outer side of the west wall, a new smaller door were installed, leaving the upper part open what gave much more light to the interior. The semicircular apse was built in front of the great east door and it had the raised floor up to the level of the first course of the wall above the orthostates and the syntronon along the wall. On many places, the slabs of the floor were extracted and the burials took place. The earliest damage to the reliefs of the Parthenon was done in the early medieval period. However, only the metopes were damaged, all on the east and west side, and all but one on the north, the westernmost was spared because it was interpreted as the representation of the meeting of Mary and Elisabeth. Southern metopes were left undamaged almost invisible because the whole plateau between the temple and the wall was clustered with the houses. There were altars in the sanctuary and the side reccesses of the apse. The central altar had a ciborium, bases of whose columns were recently discovered. The easternmost part of the nave was separated with the low marble screen with the panels and columns, many fragments were recognised recently among the marble piles on the Acropolis plateau and the depots of the Acropolis Museum and National archaeological museum. After the seizure of Athens in the fourth crusade, the church became an archiepiscopal cathedral, with the change of the dedication, and finally a moshea which was destroyed in the bombing in 1687[11].
The second important temple on the plateau of the Acropolis was the Erechteion. It was a masterpiece of Ionic architecture, a work of the architect Mnesicles, built over the several traditional sites related to the mythical past of Athens. The temple has suffered heavily in the fire, but was successfully restored during the reign of Octavian August. Erechteion was excavated and reconstructed on several occasions, last time from 1977-1985, but the results of these work remain unpublished due to the death of the chief architect, A. Papanikolau. However, the main points from the later history of Erechteion can be presented. Sometime before the imperial edicts, temple was transformed into a simple assembly building with the old internal division of the nave, while the east door were blocked with the wall with the niche. The additional supports for the roof were built beside the side walls. The hall was probably roofed with a barrel vault, like Hephaestion. This structure was altered into a small three nave basilica with the narthex. The lateral supports and the barrel vault were removed an the interior was divided into the nave and aisles, separated with the colonnades built over the low wall. Colonnades were with two tears, with the gallery encircling the central space. Fragments of these columns, made of the green marble, as well as one complete shaft were discovered in 19th C, and have since been lost and re-discovered during the restoration work between 1977-1985. Fragments of ancient Greek inscriptions were used for the bases of these columns, three of which are preserved in the Epigraphic Museum in Athens. At the eastern parts of the aisles, the pastoforias were arranged while in the eastern part of the nave, an apse was interpolated[12]. This was a big building task, which required the almost total demolition of the eastern wall, fragments of its decoration, door and windows, were identified recently as well as the remains of the eastern cella[13]. The original floor was excavated down to the level of the western rooms, all the interior walls have disappeared, as well as the roof and the vault. This inner structure was damaged or demolished later in the middle age, the lower colonnades were retained and the lower roof was installed over the lateral naves. Parts of the trabeations belonging to the lateral walls, notably blocks of the frieze and the architraves, were pulled down and reused as the foundation of the new structures. The altar screen was interpolated, one of its panels still preserved in the Temple. The northern door were used, but their height was reduced with the insertion of the internal marble lining. The door in the western wall were enlarged, and the roman vault of the so-called sea of Erichtonius was demolished, and the cavity filled in. The original lacune in the floor of the north porch was filled in, and substituted with the baptismal font. The side entrance to the caryatides porch was blocked, and the entrance to that part was possible only through the church. The exact dates of these changes are not exactly known, but most probably, they were contemporary with the earliest adaptation of Parthenon. The temple remained more or less in this condition until the Venetian siege of the Acropolis and condition deteriorated heavily in subsequent period.
On the Athenian agora there is evidence for the existence of the several Christian edifices that were interpolated in the older buildings. The best preserved ancient Greek temple is Hephasteion on the hill Kolonos Agorai which overlooks the Agora. It is a hexastyle peripteral temple with the usual pronaos-naos-opistonaos scheme[14]. It was adapted for the church of St George [Hagios Georgios] at the beginning of the 7th century. The orientation of the temple was reversed and a new entrance was pierced in the west wall, while the opisthonaos took the function of the narthex. The naos of the temple was extended into the space of the pronaos. The inner colonnades of the naos were removed, and the naos was vaulted with the barrel vault with the small openings for the light. This vault is still very well preserved. The dividing wall with the entrance, as well as the columns of the pronaos were removed and the overlying trabeation was supported with an interpolated arch, while the overlying section of wall was built with the use of broken stones. The apse was interpolated into the originally extended eastern peristasis. It was semicircular inside and polygonal outside. Two pairs of the door were also pierced in the side walls of the Temple. Western pair served as the side entrances into the church, while the eastern pair connected the naos with the side chapels–proskomidia and giaconicon which were interpolated in the north and south peristasis. A ciborium stood in the altar section which was separated from the naos with the low partition trellis. This Christian arrangement of the church was demolished in the mid 19th century when the temple was deconsecrated and partially restored.[15] Only some old photographs give the evidence for the outside appearance of the church of St Georgios. Today, the only surviving section of the early Christian adaptation is the vault of the nave.
Just little down the hill, in front of the terrace of Hephasteion, stood the complex of the oldest administrative and cult edifices of the Athenian Agora. The complex multifunction building included the hall of the city council-Bouleterion and the temple of Rhea, the Metroon. This section included a peristile court, connected with the colonnade with the rest of the complex. This complex was rebuilt on several occasions, the last rebuilding was the adaptation of the peristile court into the three nave basilica with the reuse of the columns of the peristile. The central section of the front and back collonades of this court were dismantled and reerected in order to fill in the gap in the lateral collonades. Today, this change can be clearly discerned among the preserved foundations, as well as the part of the apse.
The excavations of the Agora in early seventies brought to light the most important proof how heavy Justinian’s edict afflicted the Athenian philosophy and every day life. The so-called Omega house was built early in the fourth century as the luxurious residence richly adorned with the statues, frescoes, and mosaics[16]. The contemporary description allow the possibility that this was the seat of one of the last Athenian schools of philosophy which were the last remains of the earlier fame of the Classical philosophy teaching tradition. This was the place where the life blood of ancient Athens and its spirit was still alive. The shift towards the Christianity was brutal and painful as never before. The luxurious sculpture was removed and carefully hidden in earlier prepared pits. The central decorative panel of the floor mosaic in the baths which probably represented a pagan divinity was excised and replaced with the simple ornamental stone paving. There were other alternations during the final phase of the life of the house, even some of the sculptures were eventually reused as the architectural elements. The house was finally destroyed in 582/583 AD during the barbarian siege.
Thus, it can be stated that the general intention of Athenian people was the continuation of the use of the traditional religious objects for the new religion-the christianity. This prolonged continuity of the holy place fortunately have prolonged the life of the most important Athenian monuments of the classical era. The gods of the Greek Pantheon were succeded by Jesus Christ which in turn in some monuments was followed by Muhamed. The traces of this multi religious continuity are still present on the many of the Athenian monuments, and that is the reason for our admiration for the early Christian Athenian community which attempted every possible way to preserve their great monuments.

Raskoš i slava po kojoj je Atena bila poznata, uveliko su bili na svome zalasku u vrijeme kada je paganska religija konačno bila zabranjena oko 526. godine NE ediktom cara Justinijana. U tom trenutku antički hramovi su bili u svakom slučaju najvećim dijelom oštećeni ili čak napušteni. Pad Rimskog imperija kao i uspon kršćanstva rezultirali su sa postupnom adaptacijom raznih paganskih hramova u kršćanske bogomolje kako bi se održao kontinuitet svetog mjesta. Praktično svi hramovi u Ateni, jedan za drugim su relativno brzo bili adaptirani u crkve. Glavni gradski hram Partenon bio je adaptran u crkvu Sv Sofije(presvijetle mudrosti). Susjedni hram Erehteion takođe je bio adaptiran u baziliku u šestom stoljeću. Na južnim padinama Akropole, veliki dio kompleksa Asklepiona bio je adaptiran u trobrodnu baziliku, dok je jednobrodna crkva bila interpolirana u parodos Dionizijevog teatra. Nedaleko od hrama Zeusa Olimpijskog, nad ruševinama rimskih kuća, sagrađena je bazilika sa raskošnim podnim mozaicima. Mala kapela interpolirana je uz danas nestali amfiprostilos kraj potoka Ilisa. Područje antikne Agore, sjeverno od Akropole, velikim dijelom je stradalo tokom barbarske invazije Herula 267 NE. To razaranje je izbjeglo samo nekoliko građevina. Najraniji dokazi o prelasku na kršćanstvo nađeni su u zgradi negdašnje filozofske škole koja je adaptirana u šestom stoljeću. Hram Hefestion je preoblikovan u crkvu Sv Đorđa u sedmom stoljeću. Nešto niže, na obronku brda Kolonos Agoraos, sačuvani dio negdašnjeg Metroona adaptiran je u trobrodnu baziliku. U negdašnjem kompleksu Hadrijanove biblioteke, koji je zapravo replika Templum Pacis-a u Rimu, već je koncem četvrtog stoljeća bio interpoliran tetrakonhos. Ovaj tetrakonhos je u šestom stoljeću bio preoblikovan u trobrodnu baziliku kontrakcijom tlocrta. Baptisterij je uređen u Andronikosovom oktogonu. Očigledno insistiranje na produžetku tradicije svetog mesta, u Ateni je produžilo vijek najvažnijim spomenicima klasičnog doba.
[1] The basilica on the Illysos river was excavated on several occasions and most of it is now again covered, For the history of the monument see: John Travlos: Pictorial dictionary of ancient Athens, Athens, 1971.
[2] The well preserved section of this wall still can be seen to the south of the ancient Agora, connecting it with the north wall of the Acropolis. From this wall many architectural fragments belonging to the main monuments of the Agora were extracted
[3] For the details about the transformation of Parthenon into the Christian basilica see: Stanislav Zivkov: Early Christian basilica of Our Lady on the Acropolis in Athens, Hortus Artium Medievalium 6(2000), Zagreb-Motovun, 2000, and Manolis Korres, Charalmbos Bouras: Meleti apokatasteous tou Parthenonos vol 1(1983), Athens , 1983,as well as the monograph: Parthenon and its impact on modern times, Mellissa, Athens, 1994.
[4] A. Papanikolau: Meleti apokatasteous tou Erehteion, Athens, 1977; G.P.Stevens: Erechteion, New York, 1922, are the chief sources for the later history of Erechteion.
[5] John Camp: The Athenian Agora, Thames&Hudson, London, 1986, gives the best historical survey of the topography and history of the monuments of Athenian agora. For the details about the research and the results of the america excavations, see the publication: Homer Thompson: Athenian agora, Athens, 1976.
[6] For the architecture of Ohrid tetraconchos see: Vera Bitrakova Grozdanova: Ranohristijanski spomenicite na Ohridsko, Ohrid, 1975.
[7] For the architecture of the church in Konjuh see: Svetozar Radojčić: Crkva u Konjuhu, Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta 1, Beograd, 1952.
[8] For the erection of this staircase most of the blocks were brought from the nearby hill from the demolished mausoleum of Phillopapus.
[9] As presented by Manolis Korres in the study: Meleti apokatasteous tou Parthenon, vol 4, Athens 1994, which is entirely dedicated to the problems of the west wall of the Parthenon and its transformations.
[10] As reconstructed by Manolis Korres in Meleti apokatasteos tou Parthenonos, vol 4, Athens, 1994.
[11] For the details about the great explosion and ts consequences see the catalogue of the exhibition: Manolis Korres: Der explosion in Parthenon, Berlin, 1990
[12] This apse is still visible among the foundations in the east part of the interior of the naos.
[13] That is the reason why the architectural elements from the east wall are almost completely missing.
[14] This is actually a first in a series of the works of so-called Attic architect who have built a series of doric temples in Attica during the last decades of 5th century BC. The other temples are Poseidon’s temle in Sounion, Temple of Ares which was later rebuilt in Athenian agora and temple of Nemesis in Ramnount. The common feature for these temples are the series of nicecities which were used on these temples for the first time and since have found their place on Parthenon .About these temples see: Rhys Carpenter: the Architects of the Parthenon, Pelican, Harmondsworth, 1971.
[15] The later apse, and the pastopforias were pulled down, while the lost columns of the pronaos were clumsily restored. Even some of the drums of the temple of Ares were used here.
[16] Many of those statues were founded hidden in secret pits, and have come to us in a perfect state of preservation. For the finds and excavations of the Omega house see: Athenian Agora-excavations in the heart of Classical Athens, Thames & Hudson, London, 1986, as well as: Homer Thompson: Athenian agora, Athens, 1976