This book by Michael Mulryan sets out to prove a theory: as the author states from the very first page, his goal is to demonstrate that ‘several Christian building donors, whether private donors or the Church authorities themselves, sought to advertise their basilica building investments within the city walls of Rome by siting them in prominent places in the city. Several also sought practically useful sites to take advantage of pre-existing water facilities.’ Though aware that this proposal cannot be definitively proven, M. nonetheless believes that an in-depth analysis of a large number of churches offers sufficient evidence to consider it plausible.

The volume is divided into five chapters, with an introduction and conclusion. In ch. 1 (‘Building a Titulus-Basilica in Late Antique Rome’), M. analyses the different ways in which the Church hierarchy and private donors contributed to the establishment and construction of religious buildings in the city. Ch. 2 (‘Christian Basilicas and Baths’) analyses the relationship between churches and bath complexes. M. considers it likely that before the fifth century baptism took place in balnea; and that the siting of churches next to large imperial baths was a deliberate tactic to take advantage of buildings that already attracted large numbers of people.

In ch. 3 (‘Striving for Attention’), M.'s argument is that the location of churches was conditioned by a desire for visibility: some churches were constructed on or near main roads leading into or crossing the city, the apse of others encroached onto part of a road or completely blocked it, yet others reused prestigious public buildings or were built in prominent positions, visible from a distance. Ch. 4 (‘The Tituli of Equitius and Sylvester in the Subura’) offers an in-depth analysis of the Christianization of one district of the city. Comparing archaeologically attested remains with the Severan Marble Plan, M. attempts to identify earlier structures later turned into Christian buildings. Ch. 5 (‘Some other 4th–7th Century Intramural Christian Basilicas in their Urban Context’) examines instances in which the construction of Christian basilicas is arguably linked to a specific interest in the topographical context (for example, pagan cult sites or temples). In a short concluding chapter, M. notes that the examples discussed demonstrate that many churches built in Rome between the fourth and seventh centuries were located in prominent and frequently visited areas. This rendered them visible within the urban landscape, easily recognizable and accessible — in part to showcase the activities of the benefactors and bishops who had promoted and funded their construction.

It is not easy to provide an overall assessment of M.'s argument. His central hypothesis — that the Church hierarchy generally tried to locate churches in places that were easily accessible and visible in order to facilitate access for worshippers, to allow for the easy identification of the new buildings and to exploit the social prestige of benefaction — is clearly correct, but hardly new. Furthermore, it seems to me that M. underestimates the rôle of the aristocratic élite: he claims, for example, that the only known case of a private individual founding a church is that of the titulus Pammachii, since an inscription explicitly names Pammachius as the founder. But what of the Goth Valila, who not only donated the so-called Basilica of Junius Bassus but also provided funds to pay for its transformation into the church of S. Andrea Catabarbara? Obviously in this case the fundamental decision on where to found a church, on its size and, at least in part, on its decorative programme must have been taken by the lay benefactor rather than the Church hierarchies.

More broadly, the chief difficulty with M.'s work is the representative nature of the case studies presented. For example, the relationship between churches and balnea: it is well known that the Church took an interest in balnea for reasons connected to its charitable activities or simply to exploit them as a source of income (see F. R. Stasolla, Pro labandis curis: il balneum tra tarda antichità e medioevo (2002)). It is another thing entirely to claim that there was a deliberate policy of building churches in the vicinity of balnea. To demonstrate this, M. would need to demonstrate that a statistically significant number of tituli was built in the close vicinity of functioning bath complexes. However, M. himself stresses that, since 856 balnea are listed in the Regionary catalogues, the mere topographical vicinity of a church to one of these cannot be considered meaningful. M. therefore considers only those cases in which there is a documented superimposition of a religious building on an earlier bath complex to be significant, but there are only three such instances: is this a sufficient number to build upon it the theory of a ‘pragmatic and utilitarian building program’ (25)?

The two instances of coincidence between churches and pagan cult places are also of no statistical significance in a city with hundreds of temples and sacred places of traditional Roman religion. The conclusion that there was a ‘non-segregated and integrated religious topography between pagans and Christians' (93) requires greater nuance: the Christian ‘taboo’ against the Capitoline Hill shows that the situation was complex and that there were indeed areas of deliberate self-segregation (see A. Fraschetti, La conversione: da Roma pagana a Roma cristiana (1999)). In many cases, it should be said, the examples provided by M. to demonstrate his theories are unconvincing or non-pertinent, but it would be pointless to list them all here.

In conclusion, M.'s book is undoubtedly an interesting attempt at an overall analysis of the phenomenon of Christianization of urban space in Rome. However, the way in which this attempt is made leaves it open to too many doubts. It is therefore to be hoped that M. will reconsider his main arguments, seeking to ground them in quantitatively and qualitatively more reliable data.