1. Preliminary remarks

1.1. Content of the article

This article will examine the last manifestations of traditional cults in Boeotia (polytheism, paganism) and the implantation of Christianity. We will not discuss Judaism, as even though it is very likely that there Jewish communities present in Boeotia in the period which interests us, there is no archaeological evidence to attest their presence before the Middle Ages (see the works of S. Bowman in the bibliography section).

1. 2. Bibliography - Historiography - Sources

The bibliography is outdated. The work of Keramopoulos is still valuable even though archaeological excavations and surveys since 1917 have led to the discovery of many new elements for the entire ancient period. Late Antiquity and the beginning of the Byzantine period however are still poorly represented from a documentary point of view. Our sources are primarily archaeological, and epigraphical. Unfortunately, literary sources on religious life in the late antique period in Boeotia are quite rare.

2. Last attestations of pagan cults

The last testimonia about pagan cult practices are very scarce and sometimes difficult to identify. And we must keep in mind that the closing or the destruction of a temple does not necessarily mean the end of a cult. Pagans living during the Early Byzantine period often took the habit to celebrate their religion at home, in a domestic context, to avoid the interdictions proclaimed by the imperial laws.

In Thebes, the temple of Isthmian Apollo must have been abandoned after the reigns of Valens and Valentinian. The sacred enclosure was located on a hill outside the wall surrounding the Kadmeia and it was perhaps used as a Christian necropolis in the 4th century. This later usage as a Christian necropolis is not without parallels in other regions of the Empire. The wall of the temple is literally perforated with later Christian tombs which contain pottery characteristic of the age, as well as Early Christian lamps. Such a phenomenon was sometimes employed by Christian authorities and communities to "desacralize" a pagan cult place, tombs being a mean to desecrate a religious building.

We know of a large mosaic fragment bearing the inscription "Mousa": it's today exposed at the entrance of the small Museum at Distomo, near Haghios Loukas. But this is not necessarily evidence of the worship of the Muse(s). It's rather the trace of the continuity and the persistence of the Greek paideia during Late Antiquity.

The latest datable attestation of pagan cults is perhaps given by an inscription on the "Mosaic of the Months", excavated at the site of an Early Christian basilica in Thebes. Dating from the beginning of the 6th century, the inscription reads: "In the past I have taken part in many indecent spectacles, but Constantine, the venerable and wise master of the Orthodox faith, has shown that I was so brilliantly led astray" (see in the Quotations section). The sense of this inscription remains obscure but we can suggest that Constantine was perhaps a bishop of Thebes and it is perhaps the mosaic or the building that is speaking: we could thus think that it was maybe in the past dedicated to a profane or pagan use and was then converted into a Christian place of worship.

3. Christianisation of Boeotia (3rd-7th c.)

3.1. The Process of Christianisation

We hardly know any details about the process of Christianisation. The authoritative work, which remains the only synthesis, is that of A. D. Keramopoulos: «Ἀνασκαφαἰ ἐν Θήβαις», Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον 3 (1917), pp. 1-503. Keramopoulos explained that Christians had been in Thebes since the time of Paul and had established catacombs where they may have celebrated their cult. While excavating them, Keramopoulos notably found a fresco representing Christ with the nomina sacra written in abbreviations: IC-XP.

It is above all the change in the placement of cemeteries that reveals the gradual penetration of Christianisation. In Thebes, we can identify three phases. During Phase 1 (303-311), the Christians installed their tombs in the tombs of the Helladic era, which had remained unused since that time. At the same time, pagan tombs continued to be erected along the principal routes leading to the cite. Phase 2, immediately after the reign of Constantine, corresponds to the birth of a new custom: the family of the dead collected their bones from older sepulchers and regrouped them elsewhere in ossuaries. We do not know if they were Christians or pagans. In a third phase, which began at the end of the 4th century, they placed tombs within the city, often in a basilica or its atrium (doubtlessly an influence from the tradition of placing the relics of martyrs in churches).

3.2. The bishoprics of Boeotia (3rd-7th c.)

We know that starting in the mid-4th century, most important cities of Boeotia had a bishop. Securely attested episcopal sees are Thebes, Thespiae, Tanagra, Plataea, and Coronaea; but other cities may have also had bishops. An Early Byzantine inscription give us the name of a bishop, Dionysios of Plataea (IG VII, 1683) but unfortunately we are unable to precisely date it.

3.3. Early Christian churches in Boeotia (3rd-7th c.)

The so-called "Mosaic of the Months," already mentioned above, featured allegories of the months, non-figurative motives and hunting scenes [Fig. 4]. It also contains three epigrammatic inscriptions which suggest that the building in which it was found was most certainly a basilica church. These inscriptions record the names of those responsible for constructing the building where the mosaic was found, and of the creator of the mosaic: thus we learn that the decoration was designed and executed by a certain Δημήτριος (Demetrius) assisted by Ἐπιφανής (Epiphanes), under the guidance of a member of the clergy named Παῦλος (Paul). The building was erected by a certain Κωνσταντῖνος (Constantine), also a member of the clergy, perhaps a bishop (for the text of these inscriptions, see the Quotations section). From the text of these inscriptions we can deduce that the church, surely of great importance, was built over a profane site or even a site sacred to the pagan cult. Judging by the style of the letters of the inscription, the structure might date from the first half of the 6th century.

On the site of the ancient city of Thespiae, near the village of Xeronomi, two podiums have been unearthed [Figs.1-3], which D. Pallas describes as follows : "belonging to a colonnade, [they were] decorated, one with a chrism in a circle imitating an iris (?) [Fig.2], the other with a cross with two birds facing each other on either side (above), and the apocalyptic letters Α-Ω under the transverse bar and two diamonds (below) [Fig.3]". D. Pallas thinks that they must come from a church of the 7th century. Today they are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes.

The remains of many other Early Christian churches have been found in Boeotia, but very few have been truly excavated. Their identification as Christian cult places is still not certain and dating them often poses problems. Thus, in Platanaki, near Lake Yliki, the ruins of a basilica and many of its marble sculptures have been discovered. In the Gulf of Domvrena, on the little island of Kouveli, a small church has been found which could date from the Early Byzantine period (3rd-7th c.). In Diporto (island of Makronisos), in the territory of Thisbe (Byzantine Kastorion), a complex of buildings has been identified which includes the structure of an apse in a nave which must be a church (8,3 x 4,1 m) and a large cistern. The semi-circular apse is placed in the east, as was demanded by the traditional orientation of Christian cult places. To the north and south of the building, the walls of other constructions are attached to the church: therefore this must be considered a rather important ecclesiastical complex which was composed of at least ten distinct parts. Also on Makronisos, to the north of the site of Diporto, another Early Christian church has been identified; a small (6,17 x 2,48 m), single-nave church. These two churches, the more important one located below and the other on a cliff to the north, have led T.E. Gregory to suggest the presence of a possible monastic complex at the site. However, since the architectural ensemble was built in a position from which it faces direclty the sea, Gregory ultimately considered that the settlement must have had a commercial function, rather than serve as retreat for monastic life. At any rate, the orientation towards the sea does not necessarily exclude the spiritual retreat demanded in monastic life and evidence are hardly conclusive towards the one or the other explanation.

Such churches were surely sometimes comissioned by the great landowners who sought to avoid the taxes and heavy financial obligations that burdened the curiales class. It is this phenomenon which illustrates, for example, the construction and the decoration of basilicas such as Daphnusia in Locris.

3.4. A saint and a martyr

There has been evidence for the existence of a saint and of a martyr in Early Christian Boeotia. A certain saint Tychikos is mentioned in an inscription [Ὁ δεῖνα ἐκ τ]ῶν εἰδίων τῷ ἁγίῳ Τυχικ[ῷ] ("This one from his own income, to Saint Tychikos"), which certainly alludes to the dedication of an unspecified property to the chuch or the martyrion of Saint Tychikos (IG VII, 1682). It has been estimated to date to the 5th or 6th century. and the martyr Soterichos appears in an unedited inscription from Tanagra which Laurence Foschia will publish in her forthcoming corpus: "Σωτήριχος χρειστιανός | < μάρτυς Θεοῦ Ὑψίστου" ("Soterichos, Christian martyr of the Almighty God [...]"). Palaeographic evidence suggests that the inscription dates to the 4th or 5th century.