The Santa Prisca Project

In close collaboration with the Archaeological Service of Rome, the KNIR Santa Prisca Project intends to unlock and re-examine the legacy data of the first Dutch excavations in Italy, beneath the church of Santa Prisca on the Aventine hill.

These excavations, directed by Maarten Vermaseren (UU) and Carel van Essen (NIR) lasted for more than a decade (1952-1968) and yielded parts of a Roman imperial insula and one of the most important Mithraea in the world. While the results of the first phase of these excavations have been thoroughly published in 1965 (The excavations in the mithraeum of the church of Santa Prisca in Rome, Leiden-Brill), the results of the second phase of research which concentrated on the courtyard of the Santa Prisca complex (1964-1968) have thus far remained mostly unpublished.

In the context of a recent project of the archaeological service of Rome to map and study all known archaeological remains on the Aventine Hill (Aventino tra Visibile e Invisibile), the KNIR has decided to change this state of affairs by unlocking its Vermaseren Archive. This recently obtained archive, consisting of around forty notebooks with field reports, architectural and stratigraphical descriptions, sketches and more than thousand photos offers a wealth of unpublished data concerning the archaeological fieldwork project at the Santa Prisca. Moreover, a complementary archive, consisting of institutional correspondence concerning the Dutch excavations, has been made accessible by the Archaeological Service of Rome.

Through the use of these archives, the Santa Prisca project aims to retrace the steps of these pioneers of Dutch archaeology in Italy. These legacy data not only offer insight into the architectonic and stratigraphical specifics of one of the few archaeological interferences on the Aventine Hill, they also hold a key to understanding the political and social dynamics within which Dutch archaeology took wing in Italy.

To tackle these issues, the first aim of the project is to unlock the archaeological data by digitizing the many field reports, photos and maps available in the archives. By subsequently linking these to a GIS and 3D model it becomes possible to update and expand the already published archaeological maps. This process will provide useful information on the chronology and character of the complex, culminating in a comprehensive archaeological analysis of the site.

The second aim is the reconstruction of the political and intellectual context of the Dutch-Italian collaboration. What motivated both parties to join forces? How was the archaeological practice shaped by personal relations and the intellectual agendas of the affiliated actors and institutes? In order to answer these questions, the project contextualises the Santa Prisca excavation by relating it to contemporary political developments, most significantly the process of European unification in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The overall objective of the Santa Prisca Project therefore is to unlock its legacy data from an innovative holistic perspective, connecting the significance of Rome’s tangible classical heritage to the vibrant beginnings of Dutch archaeological fieldwork in Italy.

Research Team

Dott.ssa Luigia Attilia

Advisor archives
Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma

Dott.ssa Miriam Taviani

Advisor archaeology
oprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma

Laurien de Gelder MA

KNIR Traineeship
Archeologie, UvA
Santa Prisca Project
13 September – 24 December

Jord Hilbrants BA

KNIR Traineeship
RMA Archeologie, RuG
Santa Prisca Project
12 September – 24 December

Lennart Kruijer MA

KNIR Traineeship
RMA Archeologie, UL
Santa Prisca Project
12 September – 24 December

Dr. Jeremia Pelgrom

Voormalig Hoofd Oudheid

Dr. Arthur Weststeijn

Hoofd Geschiedenis
2011-2017

Janet Mente, BA

Bibliothecaresse
j.mente@oudeknir.nl
+39 06.326962.32

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SANTA PRISCA EXCAVATIONS

Capodiferro A. & P. Quaranta (eds.), 2009. Il mitreo di Santa Prisca all’Aventino: guida. Milano: Electa.

Cools, H. and H. de Valk, 2004. Institutum Neerlandicum MCMIV-MMIV. Honderd jaar Nederlands Instituut te Rome. Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren

Ferrua, A., 1940. ‘Il mitreo sotta la chiesa di Santa Prisca’, in: Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 68, 59-96.

Ferrua, A., 1940. ‘Recenti ritrovamenti a S. Prisca’, in: Rivista di archeologia cristiana 17, 271-275.

Paparatti, E., 1979. ‘I dipinti del Mitreo di Santa Prisca. Stato attuale. Relazione tecnica suI restauro delle pitture del Mitreo di S. Prisca’, in: Mysteria Mithrae, Atti del Seminario Internazionale Roma e Ostia 1978, 911-913.

Sangiorgi, S., 1968. Prisca e il suo mitreo, Roma.

Van Essen, C. C., 1957. ‘L’eglise de Sainte Prisque à Rome’, in: Actes du V Congrès international d’archéologie chrédtienne, Aix-en-Provence 13-19 Septembre 1954, 279-282.

Van Essen, C. C., 1959. ‘Considerazioni sulle strutture romane di Santa Prisca’, in: Palladium 9, 1-2, 54-59.

Essen, van C.C., 1950. ‘De tegenwoordige mogelijkheden voor archeologische studie in Rome en omgeving (1947)’, in: Mededelingen van het Nederlands historisch Instituut te Rome 26 , XLII-L.

Vermaseren , M.J., 1950. ‘Bezichtigung van het Mithras-heiligdom onder Santa Prisca’, in: Mededelingen der Kon. Nederlandsee Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, N. R. 6, n. 3, 71-72.

Vermaseren, M.J., 1957. ‘The suovetaurilia in Roman art’, in: Bulletin Antieke Beschaving 32, 1-12.

Vermaseren, M.J., 1957. ‘Sole o medusa? Un intarsio romano’, in: Hommage à Waldemar Deonna, 514-516.

Vermaseren, M.J., 1966. ‘Opgravingen in Rome’, in: Stadium Generale 12, 14-18.

Vermaseren, M. J., 1957. ‘Nuove indagini nell’area della Basilica di Santa Prisca a Roma’, in: Mededelingen van het Nederlands historisch Instituut te Rome 37, 87-96.

Vermaseren, M.J., 1979. ‘Il domatore magico’, in: Homenaje Garcìa y Bellido 4, Madrid, 9-20.

Vermaseren, M. J. & C. C. Van Essen, 1955-1956. ‘The Aventine Mithraeum Adjoining the Church of St. Prisca. A Brief Survey of the Dutch Excavations on the Aventine’, Antiquity and Survival 1, 3-36.

Vermaseren, M. J. & C. C. Van Essen, 1965. The excavations in the Mithraeum of the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome, Leiden: Brill.

Vollgraff, W., 1955. ‘Une inscription gravée sur un vase cultuel mithraique’, in: Mededelingen der Kon. Nederlandsee Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, N. R. 18, n. 8, 205-218.

Quaranta, P. & P. Armellin, 2007. ‘Pavimenti inediti dall’area archeologica della chiesa di S. Prisca sull’Aventino a Roma’, in: Atti del XII Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico, Padova 14-15 e 17 febbraio, Brescia 16 febbraio 2006, Tivoli, 253-266.

Zanotti, M. G., 1999. ‘S. Prisca, titulus’, in: E. M. Steinby (eds.) Lexicon topographicum urbis Romae IV. Roma, 162-163.