SAN SALVATORE DI CABRAS
Sardinia, Italy.
On the Sinis peninsula on the W coast of Sardinia,
between the pool of Cabras and that of Mistras. The
church of the same name is built in part on a hypogeum
(10 m sq.) adapted as a pagan sanctuary in the age of
Constantine. Oriented NE-SW, it is a cella trichora of
two lateral rooms of elliptical plan flanking a semicircular
room, all opening onto a circular atrium with a well at
its center. The entire lower part is constructed of masonry
with alternating courses of bricks and small sandstone
blocks. The entrance corridor and the cellae and their
apses are all vaulted, and the circular atrium is covered
by a low dome with a central opening over the well;
there are other small openings centered in the vaults
of the other rooms.
Pictures and graffiti cover the interior walls. The incised inscriptions are in Roman cursive and some include
Greek letters. Among the most common graffiti, aside
from the inscriptions, are representations of ships, easily
identifiable as Roman. The quality of the figural representations, traced in black, presumably in fresco, is
uneven and difficult to place in time. The principal subjects, Aphrodite, Nymphs, Eros, and Hercules, are
associated with the cult of water. Hercules Soter, the
most important deity in the Classical pantheon and the
one most closely associated with this vital element, has
in effect been perpetuated in the later, Christian cult of
San Salvatore. The style of the pictures and graffiti, as
well as the plan of the building, suggests that the monument dates to about the middle of the 4th c. A.D. The
building seems to have been in use for about a century
and then, falling into oblivion during the mediaeval
period, it was later reused in the construction above of
a building adapted to the new cult.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. Levi,
GBA 34 (1948) 17ff; id.,
L'ipogeo di S. Salvatore di Cabras in Sardegna (1949)
MPI;
id.,
EAA 6 (1965) 114ff.
D. MANCONI
