La basilica sub divo nel complesso cimiteriale di s. gennaro a Napoli: spazio liturgico, culto martiriale e utilizzo funerario

Abstract

The analysis of unpublished documentation of the excavations carried out between 1927 and 1932 in the basilica, located in the above ground of the catacomb of St. Januarius at Naples, and the examination of existing structures, paintings and written sources are providing new evidences for the knowledge of the church. The basilica was built several decades after the transfer of the relics of St. Januarius performed by Bishop John I († 432), since the construction of the church resulted in the closure of the access of cubiculum G3 that was already occupied, until the vault, by a complex layering of masonry graves. The architecture of the basilica and the frescoes of the eastern arch of the apse suggest a date between fifth and sixth centuries A.D., while the masonry of the apse refers to the sixth century A.D. Contrary to what has been so far assumed, the frescoed arches found under the central nave of the basilica, seem to belong to an existing church, whose remains were covered at the time of its construc...