Spolia y jerarquía eclesiástica: El desmontaje de la arquitectura altoimperial para la construcción de la iglesia extramuros de Segobriga en el siglo V

Abstract

The Christianisation process in late antique Segobriga manifests itself in the construction of a martyr’s church situated in the northern suburban necrópolis and today known mainly as the ›basílica visigoda‹. Large quantities of building materials were needed for its construction, taken from the public centre of the Roman city. The identification of origin of a series of architectural elements, discovered during the excavations in the the late antique church, and archaeological evidence on their extraction, above all in the Forum area, attest to the timing of spolia dismantling in the 5th century AD. Nothing is known about the sponsors of the new major architectural project, however, it is obvious that the building reflects the incipient power of the Christian Church in Segobriga, a prelude to the later definitive shaping of a prevalent late antique urban image.