Masters Thesis

The political implications of the Chi-Rho in Romano-British mosaics

This thesis addresses issues of representation and interpretation regarding the Chi-Rho monogram in the fourth century Romano-British villas from Hinton St. Mary, Frampton, and Lullingstone. The presence of the monogram and "pagan" imagery together in these villas has facilitated many discussions about the spread of Christianity in the province and the transference of Christian ideologies onto ancient myths. However, past interpretations of the Chi-Rho have been limited on account of the assumption that there was a strict divide between paganism and Christianity at this time, and thus the Chi-Rho has often been treated as an indisputably Christian symbol. In the following pages I examine the form of the Chi-Rho and the historical conditions under which it spread to Britain in the fourth century. I argue that the formal and historical contexts of the symbol reveal that the Chi-Rho alone cannot tell us whether or not Christians were present in these villas, nor can we assume that the Chi-Rho itself was intended to be viewed under a single, Christian lens, especially in representations where non-Christian elements were present, as is the case in the villas.

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