Abstract
This article focusses on the relationship of the church with productive landscapes and coastal topographies within numerous Cypriot contexts of the 4th–8th centuries. Through synthesising the archaeological research and architectural remains of these aspects and categories, the coastal settlements of the island are recontextualised in terms of their mercantile, religious, and cultural networks, on inter- and intraregional scales. The advantages of researching late antique insular societies on local, individual scales and within economic contexts are therefore highlighted. These integrative approaches can illuminate the constructions of religious identity across many coastal contexts, particularly in larger islands with micro-regions and trans-Mediterranean connectivity, like Cyprus. By considering the importance of the administrative and economic roles of the late antique church within these maritime topographies, future archaeological research can integrate both the monumentality and pragmatic aspects of sacred landscapes.
Highlights
The transformation of agrarian landscapes to incorporate ecclesiastical aspects introduced conceptual boundaries within which settlements operated, communicated, and associated
The multiple roles and contexts of churches in the Byzantine Mediterranean are present in Cyprus: necropolis churches, monasteries, martyr shrines and pilgrimage churches, episcopal basilicas, churches established over or next to pagan temples, and those placed at harbours or near production sites
In Bowden’s study of late antique activity, a phenomenon which has so far been traced in workshops of liturgical furnishEpirus, he proposes that the construction of churches resulted from a combination of ings and mosaics (Nicolaou 2013, p. 170; Michaelides 2020)
Summary
The transformation of agrarian landscapes to incorporate ecclesiastical aspects introduced conceptual boundaries within which settlements operated, communicated, and associated. This article aims to emphasise the advantages of integrating economic and administrative aspects of the church in studying Late Antique archaeology, with a focus on the non-ecclesiastical roles of coastal churches of Cyprus in the 4th–8th centuries. By compiling examples of the ecclesiastical relationships with local economies and productive landscapes, including aspects such as the pilgrimage industry and copper mining, this article considers the pertinence and importance of the economy in Christianised landscapes and coastal topographies. The following endeavours to supplement the study of late antique Cyprus in regard to coastal archaeology and the church’s maintenance of regional supplies, both in maritime networks and hinterland systems
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