Il cristianesimo negli agglomerati fortificati secondari di frontiera. Limes danubiano

The purpose of this study is to investigate evidence for Christianity through a detailed survey of the Danube frontier, including Pannonia I, Valeria, Panno-nia II, Moesia I, Moesia II, Dacia Ripensis, (Dacia Traiana) and Scythia, recording fortifications and densely populated fortified sites, with the exception of such centres distinguished by their status as cities. The presence of Christian communities has been documented by a topographical survey of Danubian cor-don. Each site has been catalogued in the light of research, publication, and recent archaeological discoveries. The descriptive sections are supported by archa-eological and topographical analysis (fourth to seventh centuries) and a com-prehensive classification of Christian finds, recording active members of Chri-stian communities, their political and cultural engagement. The study will provide a general account of the process of Christianization observed through specific features. The cordon along the Danube was occupied by a significant number of military stations and, where it can be observed, those sites reveal, within and around their walled enclosures, a wide range of settlement patterns and distinctive characteristics such as the adoption of peculiar architectural set-tings observed as evidence for religious engagement in association with a broader process of Christianization. In some cases they appear to record a special rela-tionship of dependency on the nearby bishoprics. The Byzantine reorganization of the limes involved a monumentalization of Christian presence which was linked directly with a renewed planned fortified system. This paper was intended to incorporate a general and comparative analysis with the entire frontier of the Empire covered by regular historical and archaeological surveys, based again on the identification of Christian evidence, compiled by the other members of the équipe.