Témoignages épigraphiques sur le maintien des temples et des statues des divinités dans le patrimoine et l’espace public des cités sous l’empire chrétien

Abstract

This article is a follow-up to the one published by the author in 1994 under the title “Le musée des statues divines”. A few documents that had not been used then, along with literary texts, laws and inscriptions, make it now possible to clarify some points, for example the ambiguity of the legislation that states the conservation of the pagan artistic heritage and at times supports destructions and re-uses. Conversely, several epigraphical evidences, from Rome, Italy or Africa, show above all the scale of operations of transfer or restoration of statues, as sometimes the result of intentional or accidental destruction. Whereas these statues had lost their religious character, their artistic value appeared as an inescapable element of adornment and urban heritage, in Rome as well as in the cities of the Empire. The importance of the epigraphic dossier shows both that legislation prohibiting destruction of buildings and works of art was actually implemented, and that the civic ideal inherited from early Roman Empire lasted all the same for several centuries.