The Excavations being carried out in the Courtyard of the Orange trees from Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba have confirmed, in their second phase, the existence of the largest episcopal complex in Hispaniafrom the late antiquity, according to the archaeologist in charge of this action, Alberto León.
“We were working on 2D information and now we have information in four dimensions, width, length, heights and time dimension. The excavation is allowing sort occupation sequence of all this space, to be able to date it in a more or less precise chronological framework and interpret it historically”, Alberto León explained.
“The results we had in the first phase allowed us to speak of a monumental building from the 5th century, which had paint coating on the walls and remains of mosaics. A building that was monumentalized in the 6th century with an apse and now we have been able to document older and more modern phases, a large room from the 4th century that is integrated into the construction of the episcopal complex, which conditions the orientation of buildings and also a later phasedated between the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th and that consists of the construction of a large halla daffodil, which would give access to that building from the western area”, said this expert. “What we have been proposing is confirmed, the transformation of this entire urban environment in late antiquity as a consequence of the construction of this great architectural complex “, he highlighted.
The conclusion is that it is the largest of the episcopal complexes from the late antiquity found in Hispania, which gives an idea of the importance of the city at this time. Only Barcelona can be compared with the case of Córdoba. “The entire city of Barcelona would fit in a quarter of the city of Córdoba at that timeand that corresponded to what was occupied by the episcopal complex,” the archaeologist stressed. To find something bigger, you have to go to Miletus and Ephesus, which are already much higher.
Close ties with the Eastern Empire
“We have been able to georeference all the data and integrate it into the urban transformations of the area. We have detected the orientation of the street in the 7th century and also incorporated recent excavations in the Episcopal Palace and we already know that the orientation of the Mosque does not even respond to the Roman street map, which is what had traditionally been proposed, nor to the late-antique street map. The construction of the Islamic building represents a significant turn with respect to all these structures,” said this archaeologist.
“In the current excavations we are seeing an area that is intact is the process of destruction of these structures and the filling of the pavement level until reaching the level where the current palace is built. We are completing all the phases, it is allowing us to better interpret this building and as an interesting detail from the historical point of view, this information is allowing us to better contextualize and understand the evolution of Córdoba in late antiquity. It is a city that had some very close ties to the eastern empire world, paleobyzantinebecause of the way of building, because of the architectural solutions and characteristics of these buildings, for which we have found very similar examples in some sites in Turkey, in the so-called Episcope of Miletus or in the episcope of Ephesus, where they have access to the spaces linked to the civil activities of the bishop but with larger dimensions”, he added.
“We continue to work on the information from the Félix Hernández archives, which is allowing us to complete and relate the structures we have in the courtyard with those documented inside the oratory. Little by little we complete the puzzle of the Episcopal Palace. We continue with the The increasingly reinforced hypothesis that we are facing an urban space linked to the figure of the bishop, and compiling arguments about this space, would represent the bishop as one of the integral parts of the Episcopal Palace. conservation level of elevation of the structures, the dimensions of the walls and spaces show the spectacular nature of this space and the large dimensions of this sector, which shows the relevance of the bishop as the main official of the city, with political, legal, religious and economic functions during that time”, explained Alberto León.
“What gives an idea of this space are the architectural solutions, the type of narthex found in oriental buildings, the decorative elements of the pieces inside, the wall-making technique. The phases that correspond to the moments of greatest monumentalization, such as the construction of the apse in the 6th century, the compartmentalization of the spaces of that building or the construction of the vestibule are made with a traditional Roman technique known as opus vittatum mixtum (alternating ashlars and bricks It is the one that was used in the construction of Cercadillas and that it is no longer repeated in any Hispanic or Cordovan construction, until it is resumed in the 6th century. This creates a very direct link with the East”, this specialist has highlighted.
“There are historical circumstances that speak of those ideological and political connections that may exist between Córdoba and the Byzantine Empire. Córdoba is a city that intends to be conquered by Visigoths who have an Arian confession, while Córdoba has a very strong romanity consciousness that remains in Islamic times and that uses its Catholicism against Arianism as an element of social cohesion, The reference of the Byzantine Empire would be the Emperor Justinian. which tries to reconquer a large part of the Mediterranean with this argument, to be the legitimate heir to the Roman world and to reunify the territory under the Catholic confession”, he pointed out.