Late Antique Knossos. Understanding the city: evidence of mosaics and religious architecture

Abstract

Interpretation of the historical and epigraphical data can only provide a bare outline of the political and social environment of Knossos between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. Consequently, our understanding of late Antique Knossos comes primarily from the excavated remains of two of the Christian basilicas in the Valley; the Sanatorium Basilica and the KMF Basilica. Although excavations of the former have been published in full, concerning the KMF Basilica, only a brief summary of its architecture has been published. As a result, a detailed analysis of the excavations of the basilica itself will be made available here, including particulars of its architecture, mosaics, and summaries of the associated elements of the entire basilica complex (a detailed discussion of the whole Late Antique KMF excavations is forthcoming). As such, not only is a new and full interpretation of the KMF Basilica provided, but also for the first time the material culture of Late Antique Knossos is collated and subsequently analysed to provide a clear understanding of the nature of the city during this period. Despite a dearth of domestic evidence, a contextual study of the surviving architecture (principally religious) in conjunction with the mortuary remains, allows a broad perception of society and a clear comprehension of the development of the city. Thus the aim here is to examine the compelling evidence that, contrary to common belief, during the Late Antique period Knossos continued to be a vibrant and influential city as it had been in the Roman period.

The Christianisation of the Peloponnese: The Case for Strategic Change

“…6]). Outside the Peloponnese the same phenomenon is seen in Athens (Saradi 2006; Frantz 1965), Knossos and Gortyn (Sweetman 2004b, 325–8). In urban areas, therefore, the application of the sociological evidence is not necessarily exclusive to particular areas.…”

“…In the past, the fact that the Late Antique period was caught between the highs of the Roman and the glories of the Byzantine empires meant that scholars also viewed this period through a lens of depressing decline rather than seeing it as a period of vibrant change 7 . Rather than decline, in many cases it is more likely that the topography or even location of the city may have changed, often in positive ways (Sweetman 2004b, using Knossos as an example). Moreover, in the context of a fresh understanding of the Late Antique period, 8 it is possible to read the archaeological evidence in terms of strategic change and, more specifically, emergent change through experimentation and progress, while not denying elements of tension.…”

Networks and Church Building in the Aegean: Crete, Cyprus, Lycia and the Peloponnese

“…The KMF Basilica (Fig. 3) marks the construction of one of the first churches on the island in the early fifth century (Sweetman 2004, 315–54). However, evidence for Christian communities is known much earlier in the Roman period from Eleutherna and Knossos from epigraphic and literary data (Sweetman 2013, 294).…”

“…27) is one of the few churches which has an associated martyr cult; this is supported by the evidence from the sixth century anonymous Vita of Nicholas of Sion, which describes visiting the church at Myra (Efthymiadis with Déroche 2011, 69–70; Harrison 1963, 120). It has been suggested that the KMF Basilica in Crete with its triconch apse functioned as a martyrium church, but it is not clear if the same can be applied to all the triconch churches in Lycia (Sweetman 2004, 340). Of those churches with a triconch as the main form for the central apse (Dikem, Alacahisar, Devekuyusu and Karabel), only the south annexe attached to Karabel contained a sarcophagus, but not enough excavation has been undertaken at Alacahisar, Devekuyusuor or Dikem to indicate comparable arrangements in those locations (Harrison 1963, fig.…”

“…Crete (and to a slightly lesser degree Lycia) is notable for the variety of architectural forms in the Late Antique churches found there. The churches of Crete demonstrate links with the east and west Mediterranean, and arguably the island was a conduit for new trends in architecture (Sweetman 2004, 353). This kind of variety, regardless of who made the choice for the building type, owes a great deal to network connections through trade.…”