Santa Prisca

Santa Prisca is a church in Rome. It is one of Rome's oldest churches title and oratory of the Augustinian Hermits and station church. She is known less for the church building as such, but because of the underlying remains of ancient Roman buildings, especially Mithraeum.

Location

The church is located on the Aventine in the XII. Roman rione, the Ripa, about 250 meters southwest of the Circus Maximus.

History and Architectural History

According to legend, the church stands on the site where originally supposed to have found the home of the first Christian married couple, Prisca and Aquila. It is said that the Apostles Peter and Paul had been a guest there. Allegedly was in the immediate vicinity of a temple dedicated to Diana. After the edict by Emperor Theodosius I. 391 of the Christian religion ( " pagan " ) at banning all other cults as the state religion, a century later came to 499, at this point a church, where Mithraeum and Diana Temple were destroyed. This was restored in 722, the Carolingian period. As a result of three days of savage destruction of the ( 5 ) Sack of Rome of 1084 by Pope Gregory VII against Emperor Henry IV to help Normans under Robert Guiscard called it suffered damage. The present form was given by subsequent alterations in the 11th century as well as further in 1456, 1600 and last performed in 1660, with the baroque appearance emerged.

Appearance

The simple facade dates from Carlo Lambardi from 1600. The portal is flanked by two columns with composite capitals hochgesockelten full and crowned a simple triangular pediment. The other walls are divided by two over the entire wall surface attracting wide pilasters with Ionic capitals. Above the architrave stands a simple triangular pediment. He, the architrave, the capitals, the portal, its gables and flanking pillars, a typical oval rosette and their framing are above marble facade elements in an otherwise composed only of brick masonry front.

Affairs

As simple as the facade and the interior is kept. This is an arcade basilica, whose pillars 1660 antique columns were integrated with the conversion to a Baroque style church 14. The apse was painted around 1600. The baptistery of the church contains a font that was originally Marmorkapitell a Doric column. As such, he is the legend have served after Peter, comes the real capital of the mid-second century.

Mithraeum

Under the church there are different types of excavated since 1934 the remains of ancient Roman buildings. The accessible on the right side of the church next to the ship Mithraeum applies Mithraeum under San Clemente as one of the best preserved of Rome.

History

The courtyard of an originally created approximately 95 AD house was rebuilt about 110 to an apartment, at the same time a Nymphaeum was built with an apse in the south adjoining house. South of it was a zweischiffiges building, on which the present church stands at the end of the 2nd century. At that time, was probably built in the Mithraeum an eastern hall of the 110 converted house. One inscription in a large niche of the main room was, according to November 21, 202 AD "born", ie introduced into the mysteries here a follower of Mithraism. Accordingly, the place of worship must have been in use by that date.

A present-day visitor enters first the Nymphaeum, then the crypt of the church, which was inserted in the form of three arms of a cross with a barrel vault in the existing Roman buildings and their wall paintings are from the early Baroque. The crypt closes originally from pre-and main space at existing Mithraeum, which was later extended by widening the passageway to a width of 4.20 meters and a general extension of 17.50 meters. On the long sides of the space covered by a barrel vault benches were carved out.

The left of the main room located ligand rooms may have been used for initiation rites or the like.

Paintings

The most remarkable feature in the main room are the preserved wall paintings above the benches. Two coats of paint are thematically very similar paintings were applied. There are various male figures, some of which are only fragments are preserved. The sitter belong to the seven different degrees of consecration of Mithraism. On the right side a procession of Mithrasanhängern be seen, the inscriptions read from left to right:

The seven degrees of consecration of Mithraism were Corax ( Raven ), Nymphus, Miles ( soldier ), Leo (lion), Perses ( Persian ), Heliodromus and Father (father), each of the grade is assigned to a planet.

Using the example " nama l [ e] on [i ] b [us ] / tutela Iovis " can the inscription after Coarelli with "honor the lion, which are protected by Jupiter" translate, the veneration or honor important word Nama probably comes from the Persian.

On the right side there are another six figures. They belong to the ordained degree of the lion, and all bearing different animals or a mixing jug. These representations are continued on the left side. At the end of the procession, a grotto with four figures can be seen, the two Mithras and Sol are.

Other finds

At the beginning of the main room there is left and right, a niche in which figures of Mithrasbegleiter Cautes and Cautopates were. In the final round niche a relief of Mithras killing the bull is depicted in front of the lying figure of Oceanus / Saturnus.

Other finds from the excavations ( sculptures, utensils, inscriptions ) are located in a small, integrated into the underground space museum.