Baptysteria rzymskie w „Liber Pontificalis”. Część I: Baptysterium laterańskie

Abstract

Undoubtedly, Liber Pontificalis is a biased and propaganda source, showing not really what happened but what the Lateran officials wanted to be recorded for future generations as the credits of one or another pope. Despite this, it is worth paying attention to the details described therein because they show us the hierarchy of the priority of given buildings and their significance from the perspective of the pope’s court. There, we find the data about baptisteries in 15 churches of Rome, which is obviously not a finite number. The objective of this paper is to show the contribution of particular popes to establishing and maintaining the Lateran baptistery founded by Constantine the Great and erected on the foundations of certain thermal buildings.