Proposed Paleo-Cristian basilics from Roman Dacia
Autor: Casian Popa
This article demonstrates that some of the buildings from Roman Dacia (2nd-3rdcentury) which are caracterizated by a longitudinal plan finished into an apse, are not paleochristian basilicas as some collegues recently assumed. The first case is a building from Porolissum which is in fact a Syrian temple, the second one, also from Porolissum, is the temple of Nemesis identified such by an inscription found in it. The third building, from Tibiscum, could be some temple or a schola.
In the first three centuries after Christ the Christians didn’t have a canonic shape for their buildings. They used as gatehring places simple houses adapted for ritual needs. The east-west orientation of the longitudinal buildings with apse from Dacia cannot be used as a valid argument for beeing Christian „basilicas”. This orientation was a common thing for pagan temples and was adopted by Christians considerably later.