The Bir Messaouda Basilica: Pilgrimage and the Transformation of an Urban Landscape in Sixth Century AD Carthage

This volume charts the radical transformation of an inner city neighbourhood in late antique Carthage which was excavated over a five-year period by a team from the University of Cambridge. Bordering the main thoroughfare leading from the Brysa Hill to the ports, the neighbourhood remained primarily a residential one from the second century until 530s AD when a substantial basilica was constructed over the eastern half of the insula. Further extensive modifications were made to the basilica half-a-century later when the structures on the western half of the insula were demolished and the basilica greatly enlarged with the addition of a new east-west aisles, a large monumental baptistery and a crypt. By carefully reconstructing the complex architectural plan of this innovative building, this study shows how the re-modelled Bir Messaouda basilica was transformed into a major pilgrimage centre overturning established tradition that located such complexes outside the city walls. The Bir Messaouda basilica provides important insights into the transition between Vandal and Byzantine control of the city, the development of a new Christian inter-mural urban landscape in the sixth century AD, and the significance of the pilgrimage in reinforcing ecclesiastical authority in post-Justinianic North Africa.

Table of Contents:
Background and acknowledgments Richard Miles 1. Late Antique Carthage: archaeological and historical contexts Richard Miles 2. The early history of Bir Messaouda: Punic and Roman Simon Greenslade and Richard Miles 3. The transition of Bir Messaouda in the early to mid-6th century AD Simon Greenslade and Richard Miles 4. The transition of Bir Messaouda in the later 6th century AD Simon Greenslade and Richard Miles 5. The baptistery and crypt Simon Greenslade and Richard Miles 6. The later history of the basilica Simon Greenslade and Richard Miles 7. The 6th-century mosaics at Bir Messaouda Jane Chick 8. Plaster Claudia Goodbrand 9. The glass from the excavation at Bir Messaouda Sylvia Fünfschilling 10. The Bir Messaouda pottery Claudia Goodbrand Appendix 1 11. The coins Stefan Krmnicek 12. Metal building materials, personal and utilitarian objects and other small metal finds Ralf Bockmann 13. Ceramic building material from the Bir Messaouda Excavations 2000–2002 Philip Mills 14. The stone finds Ben Croxford Appendix 1: The marble typology Appendix 2: Catalogue of illustrated finds 15. Conclusions Richard Miles Appendix: The search for the Maritime Forum of Carthage John Whitehouse and Sami Harize Bibliography

About the Author :
Richard Miles is Professor of Roman History and Archaeology at the University of Sydney. He has written extensively on the archaeology and history of Punic, Roman and Late Antique North Africa. Simon Greenslade is a freelance archaeologist with over twenty-five years of experience working on a wide variety of sites in the United Kingdom, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Review :
…provides very thoughtful assessment of current approaches to the archaeology of 6th-century Christianity within North Africa.