Tra culto e decorazione: aspetti di religione domestica in età tardoantica

The role of religion in domestic contexts is very important for understanding the attitudes and beliefs of the owners of residential buildings in different periods. In Late Antiquity, when the gradual acceptance of Christianity and the convergence and co-existence of different religious traditions are well attested, this aspect of cultural and religious life becomes particularly relevant. Nevertheless, this field of research is often neglected, especially in regard to the studies of villas: often it is limited to short lists of discoveries of a 'religious' character, such as statues or votive objects. Alternatively, when significant evidence for cult appears (such as temples or churches), it monopolizes the attention of scholars, and the site comes to be considered only as a 'religious complex'. This is due to many objective difficulties - in part to gaps in the archaeological record, in part to problems of interpretation of the documentation itself, especially in regard to wall and floor decorations and sculptural adornment. In this paper we propose to examine some significant archaeological case studies through which to discuss the main problems raised by current debate.