Atene: la città cristiana

A review of the monumental development of the Athenian Christian community in the early centuries clearly shows the absence of a strong role of the episcopate, perhaps for reasons related to the ecclesiastical organization of the diocese and to its economic resources. There is no evidence for any local Christian personality contrasting the long and representative pagan tradition. The article also takes into account the problem of the development of the Christian cemeteries in relation to the extension of the city considering the problem of the two late antique circuit walls. A useful contribution to the knowledge of Athens in late Antiquity comes also from the classical and late antique funerary inscriptions discovered in the Agora, transported there from the external necropolis. The contexts of provenance of these documents contributes to date their reuse and reveals a new phase of the Athenian public square.