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The Constantinian Episcopal Basilica By Franz Bauer and Michael Heinzelmann |
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A preliminary report on the excavation in Ostia
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The biography of Pope Sylvester in the Book of Pontiffs contains the following passage (Liber Pontificalis I, 183): “Eodem tempore fecit Constantinus Augustus basilicam in civitate Hostia, iuxta portum Romae, beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli et Iohannis Baptistae, ubi et dona obtulit: haec: [...]” It can be translated as: “Then the emperor Constantine built in the city of Ostia close to the Portus Romanus the basilica of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul and of John the Baptist, where he presented the following gifts:...”
Until now, all efforts to localize or identify this important imperial foundation among the excavated monuments of Ostia have failed. Most recently, however, a geophysical prospection of the unexcavated areas in Ostia has revealed the remains of a large basilica in the southeastern part of the city...
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