This project, which is the first stage of a long-term international and interdisciplinary research programme, is focusing on the last reaches of the Danube to have been lost by Constantinople, which is also the part of the river which is best documented from literary sources, viz. the territory covered by the Late Roman provinces of Dacia Ripensis, Moesia Secunda and Scythia, together with Cherronesus Taurica, as a bordering comparative element outside the Empire.
To reach the targets, a geographic information system (GIS) model of the episcopal sees and other Christian sites is in production. It is structured around three work packages:
– the first one foresees the compilation of a database of the written and material evidence of Christianisation;
DANUBIUS Portal: http://danubiusapp.huma-num.fr/login
– the second one is planned around the archaeological explorations of a little-known Late Roman site, viz. Zaldapa (Krushari, Bulgaria), which is unique for the study of Christianity in the region, as it is a very large fortified city with several churches, abandoned at the beginning of the 7th century and never really reoccupied since;
WebGIS model of the site : https://www.chronocarto.eu/projet/zaldapa-bulgarie-2/
– the third one, proceeding from a part of the documentation collected in the other two, intends to offer a prosopography as the first step towards the publication of the volumes of the Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire series for Central and Eastern Europe.
Globally, this collection of data and case studies is the laboratory for innovative conceptual tools and a new synthesis.
The GIS model is placed at the apex of all three work packages, because it brings them all together in a single tool. The overall idea is to produce a tool that will allow an accurate geolocation for the provenance of Late Antique Christian artefacts, buildings and inscriptions, with immediate access to references from literary sources of ancient Christianity. Also, the tool refers to the available Christian prosopographical information for each site. By combining all this information, it is then be possible for the user to gather very quickly all the necessary material for the study of Christianity in a given place (city, group of cities, region, etc.). Moreover, the inclusion of the prosopographical information also enables researchers to trace the movements of individuals and to establish their networks of relations.
Visually, the GIS model will be an interactive map, and users will be able to run it according to different criteria. Results will appear as an atlas of sites matching these criteria. The user will thus be able to select each site and look associated data.
From the GIS model, it will be possible to enter the databases – which will have to remain independent, even if interconnected – and vice versa, to enter the GIS model from the databases.
Appendix – The implementation of the GIS model of the DANUBIUS Project has led to the
production of an original tool which qui complete it and prepare the expansion of the studied area to the whole of Central and Eastern Europe: an historical atlas of episcopal sees up to 787 (AHSEECO – HAESCEE) : the Historical Atlas of Episcopal Sees in Central and Eastern Europe up to 787 (AHSEECO – HAESCEE).
Atlas of episcopal sees : https://www.chronocarto.eu/projet/historical-atlas-of-the-episcopal-sees-of-central-and-eastern-europe-up-to-787/
Sketch of interaction between the GIS model and both databases of the DANUBIUS project (© D. Moreau).
