Odessos in the Early Christian Period /4th 6th century AD/

Odessos in the Early Christian Period /4th – 6th century AD/

hall 18

With the spreading of Christianity and its turning into an official religion substantial changes took place in the life and the art of Odessos. The early Christian basilicas were established as new religious centers in the architecture of the town and its surroundings. At the inner part of Hall 18 is exhibited a reconstruction example of an altar from an early Christian temple with marble details found during excavation works on various basilicas from Odessos. These are columns, capitals, relief altar plates, mosaics and fragments of wall paintings and a clay baptismal font.
In a separate show case are exhibited church plate and relics of marble, lime stone and lead from various early Christian basilicas – a marble candle holder, a vessel for consecrated water, crosses. Special attention is given to the bronze objects of the Christian religion – incense burners, crossed lamps, a consecrated bread pan and others.
The Christian decorative ornaments take more and more place even in the everyday life utensils as pottery, lamps, fibulae, buckles, seals, etc. All these together with the discovered tombstones of priests prove that during the 5th – 6th century AD Odessos was one of the significant Christian centers of the Western Black Sea coast. The written records of that period also point that Odessos was a seat of an episcopate from the 5th till the early 7th century AD when the town was most probably ruined and burned down by the invading Avars and Slavs. During the reign of emperor Irakles /year 610-641 AD/ the ancient town was left by its citizens and terminated its 1200 year existence.

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