CUMA. — Evidence of an ancient Christian community at Cumae is found in two pagan temples discovered during the Greek period, rebuilt in the Roman-Augustan age, and converted into churches in the 5th century or at the latest at the beginning of the 6th.
The first is the so-called Temple of Apollo (34 x 23 meters) on the lower terrace of the acropolis, brought to light in 1912. Its basilican plan, perhaps divided into three naves, was occupied by more than 90 Christian pit graves. The other is the Temple of Jupiter on the upper terrace of the area, excavated between 1926 and 1930. Its transformation into a Christian basilica (39.60 x 24.60 meters), divided into five naves with the addition of brick pillars, resulted in the presbytery—replacing the cella of the Augustan temple—being situated almost at the center of the structure. Also noteworthy is the position of the baptistery in the central nave behind the presbytery: the circular basin, lined inside and out with marble, was covered by a *tugurium* supported by at least six small columns, of which remains have been found. An inscription discovered in the temple attests to the cult of the relics of St. Maximus, whose legend states he died in Apamea and was later transferred to Cumae by a certain Juliana. An hagiographic document known to Bede (q.v.) and thus dating before the 8th century speaks of a martyr Juliana of Nicomedia whose body, like that of St. Maximus, is said to have been transferred to Cumae: perhaps this is the same Juliana to whom St. Gregory (Registrum, IX, 180–81) requested a sanctuary from Bishop Fortunatus of Naples for the consecration of an oratory.
According to some Acts of the Martyrs, Cumae would have been an episcopal see in the 4th century; the names of some 5th-century bishops are known, for example, a bishop named Adeodatus who attended a synod held in Rome in 465 (cf. P. F. Kehr, *Regesta pontificum Romanorum*, *Italia Pontificia*, VIII, Berlin 1935, pp. 469–71).