Archaeological area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia

Aquileia was founded by the Romans in 181 BC on a settlement of Venetic origin, i.e. proto-Venetian. At that time, it was conceived as a defensive outpost, a Latin colony in the Venetian territory, a bulwark on the north-eastern borders of the Empire. Thus was born what became one of the main urban centres over the years, flourishing in every aspects of the city life, then promoted to the rank of municipium in 90 BC:  its inhabitants were granted full rights as Roman citizens. Aquileia reached its peak in the 4^th century with the realization of imposing public buildings (circus, baths, etc.) and, at the wishes of Bishop Theodore, of the early Christian church that later became the Patriarchal complex.

Not very simple to date due to the building and rebuilding works carried out over the centuries, the Basilica stands where there was once a Roman house. The church complex was built over the pre-existing structures. The original early Christian nucleus of the Theodorian church, so called because it was built at the time of Bishop Theodore, was built between 314 and 320, extended over an area of approximately 750 m² and had a U-shaped plan: the two parallel halls (Northern Hall and Southern Hall) were connected by a third transversal one with a cocciopesto floor. The mosaic flooring of the first two halls represents one of the most remarkable examples of early Christian mosaic works and the rectangular structure with no apse is unique and typical of Aquileia. The complex was significantly enlarged in the 4^th century and in the early 5^th century acquired the aspect of two basilicas side by side, with a four-sided portico in front of the northern one and an external baptistery on axis with the southern one (corresponding to the current one). However, the history of Aquileia was broken up by the devastating passage of the Huns and their chief Attila in the deadly year 452. That dramatic event marked a before the ancient imperial splendour and an after characterized, following the fall of that prestige, by a slow rebirth and reconstruction around the 9^th century. The southern basilica survived and was restored at the wishes of Patriarch Maxentius, with the necessary financial support of Charles the Great. New significant restorations were carried out thanks to Patriarch Poppone (dead in 1045), who reconsecrated the basilica in 1031, endowing the apse with a wonderful cycle of frescoes, and built the bell tower, which is today 73 m high.

Aquileia’s wealth and power in the Roman age are documented by excavations: houses, hydraulic infrastructures, places for worship, trading and civil life. The river port dates back to the 1^st century AD and was an impressive system that proves the key role played by Aquileia as a trade crosswords between the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. Also the Roman Forum, excavated in the ‘30s and whose columns were reassembled in 1935, is one of the archaeological treasures of the site and dates back to the 1^st century. Moreover, there is a little part of necropolis that was used between the 1^st and the 4^th centuries. Some discovered materials were moved from their original place to the halls of the Archaeological Museum, one of the most important and interesting in Italy.

The southern Hall hosts the representation of Jonah’s story, told in scenes where he is swallowed by the sea monster, lands on the beach and rests. The exceptional mosaic is populated by animals with a symbolic meaning, including fish, a sheep, a deer and an antelope.   Among them, the very famous panel of the fight between the cock and the turtle: the cock, which represents Christian orthodoxy, the morning and salvation Gospel, defeats the turtle, which is the symbol of heresies, since the ancients believed it was a creature from the darkness of the earth.

The first mosaics of the stage of the Basilica attributed to Theodore were discovered in 1893 and, since then, studies aimed at solving the mysterious charm of the representations of the northern Hall have never ended. It is possible to admire wonderful mosaics representing different animals (especially birds, but also the hippogriff) in strange positions (a lobster on a tree) or with particular objects (the he-goat with the horn and the crosier) rich in symbolic meanings related to the truths of faith, Christian virtues, eternal life and Heaven. Other mosaics can be seen around the bell tower foundations (the Ram, the fight between the Cock and the Turtle, the rabbit), while a mosaic with a six-pointed star pattern belonged to a room adjacent to the hall. According to some recent studies, the aforementioned representations may be related to an ancient religious gnostic text in Coptic, Pistis Sophia (The Faith of Wisdom, 2^nd century AD). Indeed, the planetary series represented can be found only in that gnostic Gospel.

According to some studies, the name Aquileia could be of Venetic origin and related to the river Akylis-Aquilis (“river of dark water”), probably corresponding to the Natisone, on the banks of which the Romans founded the town.

Collections of wonderful glassware, golden pieces of jewellery and amber items were brought to light in the archeologic area of Aquileia. The manufacturing refinement and the preciousness of the artefacts are a testimony of the importance of the Aquileia emporium and the magnitude of the radius of influence and attraction of its trading and commercial networks.

His name means “little father” in the Gothic language and he was the last and most famous and powerful sovereign of the Huns.  Attila invaded and sacked Aquileia on 18 July 452, taking advantage of the accidental collapse of a wall of the fortification. Two legends connect Aquileia with the figure of Attila. The first one relates to the accidental episode that allowed the Hunnish troops to enter the town: it is said that Attila had a premonitory dream that showed him the access. The second legend tells about a puteum aureo (golden well) where the richest and most precious treasures of Aquileia were hidden to save as much as possible from the sack when, in a state of extreme emergency, the town was under siege. This is a legend that, in different versions, belongs to several towns in Northern Italy that shared Aquileia’s lot during the barbarian invasions. The detail related to Aquileia’s version is of particular interest: Aquileia’s treasure was supposed to include the mythical Holy Grail (the goblet from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper and in which his blood was collected after his crucifixion).

Theodore of Aquileia, Bishop of Aquileia from 308 to 319. After the Edict of Milan (313), Theodore was the Bishop of Aquileia and took part in the Council of Arles in 314. The circumstances in which he operated were those of the first, powerful and official expansion of Christianity: after the famous Edict (which permitted the Christian worship in public and, thus, removed the veto on a practice already spread all over the Empire), the church of Aquileia became particularly important and played a key role in the open spreading of Christianity in North-Eastern Italy and Balkan-Danubian Europe.

Patriarch of Aquileia (who resided in Cividale del Friuli) from 787 to 802. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and commemorated on 11 January. He made significant changes in his diocese with liturgical reforms, as shown by the minutes of the Council of Cividale of 796.

►«Aquileia […] può essere raggiunta dai navigli commerciali attraverso il fiume Natisone che si risale per più di sessanta stadi. La città serve da emporio a quei popoli illirici che abitano lungo il Danubio: costoro vengono a prendere i prodotti provenienti dal mare, il vino che mettono in botti di legno caricandole su carri e, inoltre, l’olio, mentre la gente della zona viene ad acquistare in cambio schiavi, bestiame e pelli».

Strabone

Ravenna is inscribed in the World Heritage for its mosaics of inestimable value dating back to the early Christian age (4^th-6^th centuries), just like the Aquileia ones. Moreover, both Aquileia and Ravenna were important urban centres of the Roman world.

Among the most representative places of Lombard power in Italy is Cividale del Friuli (with the Tempietto and the Gastaldaga), which was the first and most important Lombard dukedom. Before that, Cividale had been the seat of the Patriarchate as well as the capital of the Regio X Venetia er Histria, when Attila razed Aquileia to the ground in the 5^th century.

Aquileia, Patrimonio dell’Umanità, a c. di L. Fozzati, Magnus, Udine, 2010.

B. Forlati Tamaro et alii (a cura di), Da Aquileia a Venezia: una mediazione tra l’Europa e l’Oriente dal II secolo a.C. al VI secolo d.C., Scheiwiller, Milano, 1980.

F. Ghedini, M. Bueno, M. Novello (a cura di), Moenibus et portu celeberrima. Aquileia: storia di una città, Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Roma, 2009.

R. Iacumin, Le porte della salvezza. Guida alla lettura dei mosaici della basilica di Aquileia, Gaspari Editore, Udine, 2000.

A.M. Breccia Cipolat, Bambini di Aquileia. Avventure di un gruppo di ragazzi di una città romana ai tempi di Augusto, illustrazioni di Raffaela Salvi, Trediaci, Oderzo, 1995.

whc.unesco.org/en/list/825

www.comune.aquileia.ud.it/

www.fondazioneaquileia.it

www.museoarcheologicoaquileia.beniculturali.it/

Aquileia was founded by the Romans in 181 BC on a settlement of Venetian origin, as a defensive outpost on the north-eastern borders of the Empire, a Latin colony in the Venetian territory. Thus was born what became one of the main urban centres over the years, flourishing in every aspects of the city life, then promoted to the rank of municipium in 90 BC:  its inhabitants were granted full rights as Roman citizens. Aquileia reached its peak in the 4^th century with the realization of imposing public buildings (circus, baths, etc.) and, at the wishes of Bishop Theodore, of the early Christian church that later became the Patriarchal complex.

Not very simple to date due to the building and rebuilding works carried out over the centuries, the Basilica stands where there was once a Roman house. The church complex was built over the pre-existing structures. The original early Christian nucleus of the Theodorian church, so called because it was built at the time of Bishop Theodore, was built between 314 and 320.  It extended over an area of approximately 750 m² and had a U-shaped plan: two parallel halls (Northern Hall and Southern Hall) were connected by a third transversal one with cocciopesto floor. The mosaic flooring of the first two halls represents one of the most remarkable examples of early Christian mosaic works and the rectangular structure with no apse is unique and typical of Aquileia. The complex was significantly enlarged in the 4^th century and in the early 5^th century acquired the aspect of two basilicas side by side, with a four-sided portico in front of the northern one and an external baptistery on axis with the southern one (corresponding to the current one). However, the history of Aquileia was broken up by the devastating passage of the Huns and their chief Attila in the deadly year 452. This event separates the age of the ancient imperial splendour from a period of slow rebirth and rebuilding around the 9^th century. The southern basilica survived and was restored at the wishes of Patriarch Maxentius, with the necessary financial support of Charles the Great. New significant restorations were carried out thanks to Patriarch Poppone (dead in 1045), who reconsecrated the basilica in 1031, endowing the apse with a wonderful cycle of frescoes, and built the bell tower, which is today 73 m high.

Aquileia’s wealth and power in the Roman age are documented by excavations: houses, hydraulic infrastructures, places for worship, trading and civil life. The river port dates back to the 1^st century AD and was an impressive system that proves the key role played by Aquileia as a trade crosswords between the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. Also the Roman Forum, rebuilt in 1955, is one of the archaeological treasures of the site and dates back to the 1^st century. Moreover, there is a little part of necropolis that was used between the 1^st and the 4^th centuries. Some discovered materials were moved from their original place to the halls of the Archaeological Museum, one of the most important and interesting in Italy.

The southern Hall hosts the representation of Jonah’s story, told in scenes where he is swallowed by the sea monster, lands on the beach and rests. The exceptional mosaic is populated by animals with a symbolic meaning, including fish, a sheep, a deer and an antelope.   Among them, the very famous panel of the fight between the cock and the turtle: the cock, which represents Christian orthodoxy, the morning and salvation Gospel, defeats the turtle, which is the symbol of heresies, since the ancients believed it was a creature from the darkness of the earth and the depth of the underworld.

The first mosaics of the stage of the Basilica attributed to Theodore were discovered in 1893 and, since then, studies aimed at solving the mysterious charm of the representations of the northern Hall have never ended. It is possible to admire wonderful mosaics representing different animals (especially birds, but also the hippogriff) in strange positions (a lobster on a tree) or with particular objects (the he-goat with the horn and the crosier) rich in symbolic meanings related to the truths of faith, Christian virtues, eternal life and Heaven. Other mosaics can be seen around the bell tower foundations (the Ram, the fight between the Cock and the Turtle, the rabbit), while a mosaic with a six-pointed star pattern belonged to a room adjacent to the hall. According to some recent studies, the aforementioned representations may be related to an ancient religious gnostic text in Coptic, Pistis Sophia (The Faith of Wisdom, 2nd century AD). , Indeed, the planetary series represented can be found only in that gnostic Gospel.

According to some studies, the name Aquileia could be of Venetic origin and related to the river Akylis-Aquilis (“river of dark water”), probably corresponding to the Natisone, on the banks of which the Romans founded the town.

Collections of wonderful glassware, golden pieces of jewellery and amber items were brought to light in the archeologic area of Aquileia. The manufacturing refinement and the preciousness of the artefacts are a testimony of the importance of the Aquileia emporium and the magnitude of the radius of influence and attraction of its trading and commercial networks.

Attila (406 – 453) 

His name means “little father” in the Gothic language and he was the last and most famous and powerful sovereign of the Huns.  Attila invaded and sacked Aquileia on 18 July 452, taking advantage of the accidental collapse of a wall of the fortification. Two legends connect Aquileia with the figure of Attila. The first one relates to the accidental episode that allowed the Hunnish troops to enter the town: it is said that Attila had a premonitory dream that showed him the access. The second legend tells about a puteum aureo (golden well) where the richest and most precious treasures of Aquileia were hidden to save as much as possible from the sack when, in a state of extreme emergency, the town was under siege. This is a legend that, in different versions, belongs to several towns in Northern Italy that shared Aquileia’s lot during the barbarian invasions. The detail related to Aquileia’s version is of particular interest: Aquileia’s treasure was supposed to include the mythical Holy Grail (the goblet from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper and in which his blood was collected after his crucifixion).

Theodore of Aquileia, Bishop of Aquileia from 308 to 319. After the Edict of Milan (313), Theodore was the Bishop of Aquileia and took part in the Council of Arles in 314. The circumstances in which he operated were those of the first, powerful and official expansion of Christianity: after the famous Edict (which permitted the Christian worship in public and, thus, removed the veto on a practice already spread all over the Empire), the church of Aquileia became particularly important and played a key role in the open spreading of Christianity in North-Eastern Italy and Balkan-Danubian Europe.

Paolino of Aquileia (Premariacco, 750 circa – Cividale, 11 january 802)

Patriarch of Aquileia (who resided in Cividale del Friuli) from 787 to 802. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and commemorated on 11 January. He made significant changes in his diocese with liturgical reforms, as shown by the minutes of the Council of Cividale of 796.

Poppone, Patriarch of Aquileia from 1019 to his death (1045). He consecrated the restored Basilica in 1031 and built the still existing bell tower in the successive years.

Ravenna is inscribed in the World Heritage for its mosaics of inestimable value dating back to the early Christian age (4^th-6^th centuries), just like the Aquileia ones. Moreover, both Aquileia and Ravenna were important urban centres of the Roman world.

Among the most representative places of Lombard power in Italy is Cividale del Friuli (with the Tempietto and the Gastaldaga), which was the first and most important Lombard dukedom. Before that, Cividale had been the seat of the Patriarchate as well as the capital of the Regio X Venetia er Histria, when Attila razed Aquileia to the ground in the 5^th century.

Patriarchal, “of the Patriarchate”, referred to a diocese founded by an evangelist or an exponent of the apostolic group. Tradition has it that the church of Aquileia was established by the apostle Mark; in the Middle Ages, the diocese of Aquileia was the largest in Europe.

In a general sense, a “patriarch” is the founder of a family, the authoritative “father” of a community.

Municipium, Latin term, ‘municipality’ in English, states the recognition of a town as a Roman centre, with the consequent inclusion of its citizens into the ius romanum (Roman law). A town converted into a Roman municipality used to adopt by-laws and be given an administrative territory.

Cocciopesto, waterproof covering consisting of fragments of broken bricks and tiles and fine mortar.

Domus ecclesiae, from Latin, “church house” or also “assembly house”. This term was used for private buildings adjusted to the needs of the Christian cult, where the first believers used to meet, before the Edict of Constantine of 313 granted religion freedom to Christianity.

Orthodoxy, in general, it means “the right belief”, i.e., the right profession of faith. It is opposed to “heresy”, i.e. a doctrine that goes against the officially established creed and is a deformation or corruption of the latter.

Coptic, the last evolutionary step of the Egyptian language.

Gnostic, related to the Gnostic theology, according to which the universe is dominated by an ineffable, infinite and inaccessible god, from which everything emanates.