International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Perspectives
The first part of my research will concern the Byzantine tradition, for most of the texts about 
Saint Thecla in the Slavic tradition are considered to be translations from Greek originals. I will 
start my research with the narrative material of Saint Thecla in Byzantine Greek hagiographic and 
panegyric collections. Further on, my research will try to elucidate the origin and spreading of the 
hagiographical narratives of Saint Thecla in the South Slavic literary tradition. As such, the project 
will concern three specific areas: (1) the composition of this particular Life and its literary context, 
(2) the specific content and style of the concrete works, and (3) the linguistic characteristics of these 
texts. In this project all the traditions within the Slavic Middle Ages (Bulgarian, Serbian, Russian) 
will be mentioned and studied.
One of the perspectives of this project shall be the preparation of a critical edition of the diverse 
narratives of Saint Thecla in the South Slavic manuscript tradition, accompanied by linguistic and 
paleographic commentary. These 
editiones principes
will represent the three Lives and two Wonders, 
which have been preserved in ten different manuscripts.

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Albert Ribera i Lacomba
Servei d’Investigació Arqueològica Municipal, Valencia, Spain;
[e-mail]
The Palace of Byzantine tradition of Pla de Nadal (Ribaroja, Valencia, Spain). 
The residence of the last Visigoth Governor
The Pla de Nadal was an exceptional palatine building, situated in Ribaroja de Turia, near 
Valencia. It was built between the end of the 7th century or with more probability in the beginning 
of the 8th century. It was excavated between 1981 and 1989 by the Museo de Prehistoria of Valencia 
with the direction of Empar Juan. This palace was accidentally discovered by works in the fields of 
this area. This agricultural activity destroyed more than the half of the building. The main facade 
and the whole southern part is the only area that has been preserved. 
The palace was a monumental building with two towers on the façade, a central courtyard, and 
a luxurious top floor of aristocratic and representative character. The ground floor was of utilitarian 
function. We can highlight its extraordinarily rich architectural decoration from the collapsed 
upper floor.
The walls are nearly a meter thick and they have been kept in a height of 2.35 meters, with the 
windows. The walls have not foundations, and they supported on the solid natural soil, which was 
also the paving of the lower floor. The most of the walls are of masonry with the surface plastered. 
The architectural decoration highlights, because it constitute the most important collection, both 
by the number and the quality of its size, of the Visigoth Kingdom and one of the most significant 
of the entire Western world. They present a great functional and typological diversity, and a very 
specific iconography. We could speak too about the very interesting signs of the work of sculptural 
workshops techniques. Moreover, by the circumstances of its discovery, these sculptural pieces were 
found in situ in the levels of destruction of the building.
There are almost 800 pieces, which we could divide into two groups. On the one hand, the reused 
Roman stones of good quality and large size, which are the least. They had mainly architectural and 
structural function. On the other hand, the numerous sculptures who were worked directly on-the 
site for several hands or workshops, that developed the iconographic program of the building. About 
400 of them, more than half, are ornamental and decorative, and they would be in the main room 
on the upper floor. The sustentation elements are also very numerous: capitals, columns and bases, 
some of them without authentic architectural feature, because of in the most of them prevailed the 
decorative function. We can see a constant repetition of the themes of scallops and the 
trifolias
in 
the inner parts of the arches. There are some unique pieces, such as openwork crosses, the rosettes 
and the merlons. 
The architecture of this building has a very clear Eastern influence of the Byzantine world.
Pla de Nadal is an exceptional ensemble of Palatine character in the territory of 
Valentia
, which 
was the B.l.nt.la of the Arabic texts of the Theodemir Pact. Their architecture responds to the model 

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of the Late Antiquity 
villae
with Gallery and corner towers on the flanks, and a central peristyle. The 
compact ensemble with angular towers has the aspect of a Palace-fortress.
By archaeological and Epigraphic documents, we can link this building to Theodomir, the dux 
of this territory in the dawn of the Visigoth Kingdom and the beginnings of the Arab domination. 
Theodomir would represent the rise of the nobility in the front of the Royal power, at the same time 
that the historical sources reflect the failure of centralization and a State strong Visigoth. These 
duces
provincial focused civil and military power in his hands. This early proto-feudal aristocracy would use a 
model house with porches, open areas of representation and copious use of the architectural decoration.
The building was used little time, less than a century. A great fire provoked the collapse and the 
destruction, which was been preceded by the total looting of furniture elements. 
By a lot of studies about his historical, archaeological and architectural modulation, we can 
propose a new interpretation of the ensemble. There was another nearby building, Plan de Nadal II, 
which had been destroyed by the construction of a motorway.