The place of roman villa in the process of Christianization of the Latin West in the 4th—6th centuries is analyzed in the article. Particular attention is drawn to the fact that a special Christian piety could be cultivated in the villa, the formation of which was influenced by the views of the owner of the villa and the degree of his understanding of Christian teaching. It is argued that Christian practices in the villas were carried out beyond the church control, which often caused tension between the two centers of Christianization: the episcopal see and the aristocratic villa. The article shows that the villa, due to its special topographical position, often became a place of ascetic practices, which combined the ideals of hermit’s life and the traditions of aristocratic leisure, the most important component of which was intellectual activity. Using the example of Vivarium, it is shown that even in the conditions of the decline of villas, which is recorded by archaeologists, the estates themselves remained an important mental category, without which it is difficult to understand the phenomenon of the monastic community created by Cassiodorus. Like the aristocratic villa of the previous century, the Vivarium, as depicted by Cassiodorus, reflected the dichotomy of the private and the public, combined the intellectual work of the monks with their economic concerns, directed, among other things, to the outside world.
For citation:
Tyulenev V.M. Roman villa in the context of the Christianization of the Latin West, Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2022, iss. 2, pp. 123—133.