The monument is located in the southern-western area of the city, and is still in use as a cemetery church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The first, although partial, investigations in the area, were due to the local Office of the Italian Superintendence and lead to the discovery of a portion of the narthex and of mosaic pavements, to the west and to the north respectively. These remains may attest the existence of an ancient religious complex of great dimensions and major importance on the island, built around a huge basilica, of which Epta Vimata was likely the baptistery. The original layout of the latter (mid 5th-beginning of the 6th c.) consisted of three adjacent bodies: two symmetrical wings and a central squared room, with four entrances, a circular internal section and four semi-circular apses in the corners, and an inner ambulatio defined by a semicircular peristyle and a fence. This three-room structure might have corresponded to the three-step baptismal liturgy, composed by exorcism, bathing and anointing with the chrismon. The existence of the baptismal font hasn’t been confirmed yet, however significant evidence has been inferred from the photographs of a sample, dug at the center of the church in 1997. The great basilica must have been seriously damaged, although not destroyed, by the 554 earthquake. As the basilica was abandoned, the surviving central room of the baptistery, of considerable dimensions, may have determined its transformation into a church. Through the centuries, the building underwent many restructuring (interventions): amongst the more relevant, the addition of an eastern circular apse and a later polygonal one, and the placing of a new floor covering (ca. 9th c.), which has hidden the remains of the font. We can witness analogous cases of this functional evolution: for example, the baptistery of the episcopal complex in Xanthos (Lycia) became a church in the 11th c. The continuity in cultual use of Epta Vimata may be due to its position, detached from the city center, and to the cemeterial function, which can date back to a quite far antiquity. The comparison of the original phase of the monument with other coeval baptisteries within the Mediterranean area has highlighted a significant similarity of our case to some of the major examples in Asia Minor and in southern Mediterranean: both the baptisteries of St. John the Baptist martyrion in Ephesus (4th-5th/5thc.) and of the Eastern Basilica in Abu Mina’s Sanctuary (beginning of the 5th c.) are characterized by the imposing size and the three-room layout. The reason of this can be traced in the historical and cultural proximity within the latter areas and Kos, thanks to the commercial links between the sides of Mediterranean, assured by the Koan navy between the 4th and the 7th c.

Il complesso di Epta Vimata

ORLANDI, LUCIA MARIA
2015

Abstract

The monument is located in the southern-western area of the city, and is still in use as a cemetery church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The first, although partial, investigations in the area, were due to the local Office of the Italian Superintendence and lead to the discovery of a portion of the narthex and of mosaic pavements, to the west and to the north respectively. These remains may attest the existence of an ancient religious complex of great dimensions and major importance on the island, built around a huge basilica, of which Epta Vimata was likely the baptistery. The original layout of the latter (mid 5th-beginning of the 6th c.) consisted of three adjacent bodies: two symmetrical wings and a central squared room, with four entrances, a circular internal section and four semi-circular apses in the corners, and an inner ambulatio defined by a semicircular peristyle and a fence. This three-room structure might have corresponded to the three-step baptismal liturgy, composed by exorcism, bathing and anointing with the chrismon. The existence of the baptismal font hasn’t been confirmed yet, however significant evidence has been inferred from the photographs of a sample, dug at the center of the church in 1997. The great basilica must have been seriously damaged, although not destroyed, by the 554 earthquake. As the basilica was abandoned, the surviving central room of the baptistery, of considerable dimensions, may have determined its transformation into a church. Through the centuries, the building underwent many restructuring (interventions): amongst the more relevant, the addition of an eastern circular apse and a later polygonal one, and the placing of a new floor covering (ca. 9th c.), which has hidden the remains of the font. We can witness analogous cases of this functional evolution: for example, the baptistery of the episcopal complex in Xanthos (Lycia) became a church in the 11th c. The continuity in cultual use of Epta Vimata may be due to its position, detached from the city center, and to the cemeterial function, which can date back to a quite far antiquity. The comparison of the original phase of the monument with other coeval baptisteries within the Mediterranean area has highlighted a significant similarity of our case to some of the major examples in Asia Minor and in southern Mediterranean: both the baptisteries of St. John the Baptist martyrion in Ephesus (4th-5th/5thc.) and of the Eastern Basilica in Abu Mina’s Sanctuary (beginning of the 5th c.) are characterized by the imposing size and the three-room layout. The reason of this can be traced in the historical and cultural proximity within the latter areas and Kos, thanks to the commercial links between the sides of Mediterranean, assured by the Koan navy between the 4th and the 7th c.
2015
Archeologia protobizantina a Kos: la città cristiana e il complesso episcopale
57
78
Orlandi, Lucia
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/599902
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