JbAC 66 (2023) Seiten: 76-113

Inscriptions on late antique ecclesiastical buildings offer information on the progress and background of the construction and on those involved in the building and on the circumstances of the time, presented as different formal elements forming the overall structure of the text. Therefore, they hold important source value. The building inscriptions of the Gallic bishop Rusticus, who held office in Narbonne in the 5th century, are particularly rich in detail. However, analysis of the texts in connection with the materiality of the inscription reveals a deeper level of meaning. This serves to stylise and exaggerate the building project, as understood in mental-historical terms as a building programme, at the centre of which is an association with the Jerusalem temple as the sanctuary of God par excellence. This association is linked to the political circumstances of the city of Narbonne in its peripheral location, close to the Visigothic sphere of power.