It was not really a church

In Jaén they have been convinced for decades that the stones of a site of the old Ibero -Roman city of Cástulo (What is now the town of Linares) formed a Paleochristian church of the fourth century DC, they concluded it in the early 1990s its discoverers and thus continued to believe to this day applying good logic. After all, it is known that at that time there were Christians (and even bishops) in a cástulo, so it is not surprising that they wanted to have their own centers of worship, right?

Now a group of archaeologists raises A different theory: And if what we have always seen as a primitive Christian temple really was something else?

In a place in Jaén … Cástulo It was an ancient Iberian city that once acted as Capital of Oretania And today shows its ruins a few five kilometers from Linares. There, in the urban heart, in which archaeologists know as “area 1” rest the remains of a basilica -shaped building probably raised in The fourth century DC. We have known him for a long time thanks to the excavations made between 1985 and 1991 by a team that came to a clear conclusion: what they had before them were the remains of an old paleocristian temple of late antiquity.

Why did they believe that? They had reasons. Although during their excavations they did not rescue any rest clearly associated with Christianity, archaeologists did know that at that time (towards the fourth century DC) Cástulo hosted a community of faithful. Even the presence of bishops is documented since at least the beginning of that century, something that makes it clear about the minutes of the Elvira council. Its characteristics, context and even the location of the temple inside the cástulo network seemed to support the theory that (effectively) was a church consecrated to Christ.

“Taking all that into account, it seemed reasonable to think that the construction of the building was an example of the first Christian cult whose construction was motivated by the beginning of the rise of the Church in the second half of the fourth century DC,” Bautista Ceprián del Castillo, David Expósito and José Carlos Ortega, archaeologists who have published A study About the old temple in VeguetaThe Yearbook of the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Las Palmas.

Sobple matter? At all. That we have been believing that the old building of Jaén is a church of the second half of the fourth century DC does not mean that it is true, no matter how much this assumption seems to fit into history.

This has been believed at least Ceprián, Expósito and Ortega, who relying on the excavations made in the place between 2011 and 2021 and especially the debris there have launched An interesting question: And if instead of a Roman church, the old temple, known as “building S”, was actually a synagogue maintained by a Jewish community established in the area around the fourth and v dc centuries

New clues, New History. In their article the three archaeologists remember that 40 years ago they were not found in the area “Clear indications” They revealed that the temple was dedicated to Christian cult. What the new excavations have located are clues that point in another direction: “A small, interesting set of elements that refer to the culture and iconography of a Jewish nature.” These pieces, remains of ceramics and decorations, added to other characteristics, such as the location of the temple, is what leads Ceprián and his companions to suggest his theory.

“There are certain singularities that alone would not dismant The study concludes After recognizing that “in a first analysis” the theory can be reached that the basilical absidal building was a Christian.

What exactly did they find? During the excavations the researchers located three fragments of lucers decorated with the Menorá (Seven arms candelabro), a piece of Tégula in which the same symbol of Judaism is represented (although with five arms) and a revealing piece: remains of a bowl with an inscription in Hebrew that can only be read when placing it face down, which has taken archaeologists to think that it is a lid.

What exactly does the text say? It is not easy to decipher it, although experts They slide which could be translated as ‘of forgiveness’, ‘Light of forgiveness’ or even ‘song to David’.

Ceramics … and something else. All these pieces helped archaeologists to assemble their theory, but they are not the only arguments on which they support themselves. Another, fundamental, is the location of the building. The ancient temple rose in a separated place, little busy and close to the ruins of Roman hot springs, that the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the time perceived as “the last redoubt of pagan religion.”

The reason? In public bathrooms, sculptures of ancient gods used to rise. “Many ecclesiastics would soon begin to consider the hot springs as a new idolatry center and a dangerous place for Christians for their more than probable demonic pollution,” Archaeologists reportwho remember that the rigid sexual moral of the Church already related nudity to “lust and sin.”

“Tumulatio Ad Sanctos”. There are two data that further reinforce the theory embodied in the magazine Vegueta. The first is the configuration of the building itself, which as the experts recognize presents a structure that agrees with “the type of basilical absidal plants that will be developed from the fourth century DC in Jewish synagogues.”

The second is that the most recent excavations have not revealed burials in the area, in the building or in its surroundings, something that clashes in principle with the Christian conception of the Tumulatio ad sancturesthe desire of the faithful of being buried near the remains of prominent martyrs and religious figures. In fact, where tombs are observed, it is in a nearby Christian baptistery.

With what the absence of burials coincides, it is with the rabbinic pattern that states that the graves must be at least 50 elbows (23 meters) of the city. Thus, the question remains … what if the church was actually a synagogue, a temple that tells us about a community well established in the area between the fourth and v dc centuries?

Images | Angel M. Felico (Flickr) and Sergio Geijo (Flickr)

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