The main Chapel of the Durres Amphitheater. Decoration and chronology

This article presents the results of a 2002-3 program of excavation and survey in the Roman amphitheater of Dyrrachium (Durres, Albania), focused on the amphitheater’s main Christian chapel. Most famous for its wall mosaics, including an enigmatic depiction of the Maria Regina, the chapel has rarely been studied as a whole, within its amphitheater context. The article presents new evidence on this chapel’s architecture, painted and mosaic program, chronology and function. Typically assigned a late antique date, the chapel and its decoration, both frescoes and mosaics, may date in its entirety to the Middle Byzantine period, with significant moments of rebuilding and reoccupation through the 16th century. It is further suggested that the chapel may be a private funerary chapel, rather than a martyr’s memoria.