FANA, TEMPLA, DELUBRA DESTRUI PRAECIPIMUS: THE END OF THE TEMPLES IN ROMAN SPAIN

Abstract

The Theodosian Code (16.1) preserves a series of imperial laws which aimed to suppress pagan sacrifices and remove cult idols during the 4th c. At the same time other imperial legislation recommended that the temple buildings themselves needed to be maintained in the cities, as both emblematic and useful buildings. This article seeks to analyse, using all the available sources (literary, archaeological, legislative), the problem of the end of pagan temples in Hispania. We can conclude that these structures were not transformed into churches—if at all—until the 6th and 7th centuries. Some were abandoned in the 4th c., others became houses or were reused in other ways, and it is only from the 5th c. that there is good archaeological evidence for the use of Spanish temple spolia in other buildings.