ABSTRACT

Santa Maria Antiqua is best known for its once extensive mural decoration spanning the sixth through ninth centuries.1 Its art-historical significance is founded upon the dearth of comparable material in Rome, the many Christian iconographic themes that make their first appearance in the church, and the remarkable state of preservation that includes multiple layers of superimposed frescoes.2 The structure that would become Santa Maria Antiqua was built during the reign of the emperor domitian (81-96 CE) at a site on the south side of the Roman Forum beneath the western escarpment of the Palatine Hill. despite its prime location, there is neither an historical record of, nor scholarly consensus about, the building’s original function in the imperial period.3 The limited extent of the earliest Christian fresco decoration at the site suggests that the rear central chamber of the structure became a small chapel sometime in the first half of the sixth century; a depiction of the virgin and Child in this phase indicates an early association with Mary. By the end of the sixth century, the site had undergone extensive structural and decorative modifications; the addition of a colonnade, apse and new frescoes mark its transformation into a church proper, though the name Sancta Maria

1 The core premise of this paper was first presented at an ICMA-sponsored session on medieval Rome at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2003. The author wishes to thank the following scholars who have supported the development of this work: Carol neuman de vegvar, Kirstin noreen, Éamonn Ó Carragáin, John Osborne and Archer St Clair.