ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the so-called conflict of the basilicas between Valentinian II and Ambrose of Milan from 385 to 386 from the point of view of the topography of power. The conflict has traditionally been seen as a part of the longer Arian-Nicene controversy of the fourth century, but fundamentally, it was about Ambrose’s attempts to consolidate episcopal authority over the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the era, when the line between imperial and episcopal authority was blurred. Both the general topography of ancient Milan and the literary sources on the conflict have been eagerly studied by archaeologists, historians and theologians. However, very few scholars have focused on the spatial aspects of this power struggle that emerge from Ambrose’s writings. Indeed, the city of Milan functioned as the symbolic battleground between the emperor and the bishop. R. Krautheimer touches on this subject in his study of the Christian topography of Milan in the political context of the late fourth century, and H. O. Maier goes even further in his essay on the uses of private spaces for Arian services during and before the conflict. This subject could benefit from an examination of both the topography and literary narrative of the conflict in light of new theoretical and methodological approaches to the concept of space. The author suggests some ways in which these new approaches could be applied in this context.
