Una propuesta de interpretación de la llamada basílica exterior de Cabeza de Griego

Abstract

Since its discovery in the last years of the 18th century, the so-called ›Basilica exterior‹
of Cabeza de Griego has been one of the emblematic buildings of the transition between
the Palaeochristian and Visigothic architecture’s artistic formulas. Considered a rare example
of a church of Basilica plant, the construction drew the attention of numerous specialists
due to its extraordinary dimensions, its marked apse and its abnormally elongated transept.
Despite these unique features in the peninsular architecture of the time, there is practically
unanimity among scholars in considering this set as a building destined to Eucharistic practice.
However, this article offers an alternative interpretation of the set, discarding that it can
deal with a real Basilica and suggesting a funerary purpose as episcopal Pantheon with an
open atrium. This monument arises from a primitive martyrium or martyrdom memory of
octagonal scheme, probably erected as privileged burial of two important personalities of the
community, to which later would have been added various rooms that would have served as
burial chambers for Segobriga’s episcopal hierarchy, as is evident from the extensive epigraphic
collection found in the excavations of the set.
Indeed, the primitive octagonal mausoleum appears to have been linked to the cult of two
important personalities of the community, perhaps two martyrs or founders; cult that would
be monopolized by the Segobricensis episcopate, which would make it a symbolic reference
of the community. As such, the set would serve as a centre of attraction for the burials of
the Christian faithful of the place, thus giving origin to the necropolis annexed and excavated
by Almagro Basch in the seventies.