Jan Mainzer, Ph. D.
Department of Art and Art History, Marist
College, Poughkeepsie NY 12601
(845) 575-3000 x 2028 (Library) x 2280 (Donnelley); Jan.Mainzer@marist.edu
Text and images copyright
Jan Mainzer 1995, 2000, 2002
Meeting 7: Rome
and the Emergence of Christianity
Required Reading assignment
to support meeting 7: Stokstad,
pp. 233-236 "Roman History;" pp. 246-249; pp 263-264
"Domestic Architecture;" pp. 279 "The Tetrarchs"
thru 284; pp. 289- top of p. 302.
Additional recommended reading
posted on MERIT (Marist's electronic reserve room)
Required Reading assignment
to support meeting 8: (Introduction
to the Middle Ages: Development of the Gothic Cathedral from the
Basilica, part 1): Stokstad,
pp. 486-87 "The Middle Ages;" pp. 496- 502 "Carolingian
Europe;" 515 thru top of column 2, p. 520; p. 525 "Elements
of Architecture: The Romanesque Church Portal."
"Flashcards" tutorial Review materials covered in class: Choose
either the web-based interactive version of the tutorials, or
click on "Microsoft Word version" for tutorials that
you can print out and study away from the computer.
Outline of today's class:
Key sentence:
The great Gothic cathedrals had their origin in the early Christian
basilica, which in turn had its origins in the secular archictecture of pagan Rome.
Outline:
Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire
Christian architecture:
the catacombs
Constantine's efforts at church building
Old St. Peter's a typical example of basilica church
origins in
Pagan Roman basilica
Imperial audience hall
domestic Roman architecture
A survey of the parts of a Christian basilica
Today we're going to start our discussion of the evolution of the
Gothic Cathedral + this will occupy us right up to our first test
The origins of the great gothic cathedrals lie in the secular architecture of Rome
--in the forms of buildings that were utilitarian rather than sacred
And inevitably, the forms of the early churches are related to the context from which they rose
As you know, Christianity arose w/ in the context of the Roman Empire, +
in the first centuries of Christianity the Christians were not very popular w/ the pagan Romans
Why not? ...they wouldn't worship the pagan gods
But there was more to it than that
As the Empire began to decline the Christians were convenient + logical scapegoats:
Speaking generally,
the pagan culture of the Roman empire had gods for every aspect of living-
For example:
rain, wind, every kind of weather, volcanoes, rivers, birth, marriage, death
The Christians didn't honor any of this + so to the pagans they were atheists
According to this way of thinking, these "atheistic" Christians were
bringing down the anger of the gods on themselves and on the whole community
THEREFORE: they were enemies of the human race
From this perspective, this way of thinking persecution was logical, +
even a "practical" response to the obvious fact that the Empire was in trouble
This changed when the Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity in 325 AD
--altho there's some question as to whether he actually converted to Christianity
+ if so, how complete his conversion was
In any event, Constantine believed that
Christ had been aided him in a crucial military victory
over Maxientus, his rival for the Imperial throne
And so expressed his appreciation in very concrete ways:
He recognized Christianity as a legitimate religion
which meant that the Church had the same legal rights as pagan cults
Tho he didn't push Christianity as a state religion
that happened under Theodosius I, early 5th cent A. D.
he decreed that Sunday should be a holiday tactfully calling it "the sun's day"
so as not to offend the pagans
--Which, incidentally, we still do in English
But of greatest interest to us here is that he
financed an ambitious program of building churches
Logically enough, in this building program
his architects borrowed from familiar forms of Roman architecture especially:
1. mausoleum for what is called the "central plan" style of church
This is a church that goes around a central point--
it's round or octagonal instead of having a rectangular plan
Central Plan churches are more common to the Eastern or Byzantine tradition,
than to the tradition of Western Europe
Example of a mausoleum that has become a central style church:
Sta. Costanza, in Rome. 4th c. A. D.
Byzantine Empire: Essentially the eastern half of the Roman Empire
Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire
East to Byzantium, which he called "new Rome"
but which later became Constantinople
Very simply, essentially what caused the split between
the Byzantine empire in the East +
the remains of the Roman Empire in the West
was that the West got the brunt of the Barbarian invasions, + so
was both lost territory to the Empire, + transformed culturally
whereas the
Byzantine Empire preserved the civilization it had inherited from Greece + Rome
2. domestic architecture (atrium house)
3. imperial audience hall
4. Roman basilica
Question: We're talking about the year 325 AD
Why did Constantine's architects have to borrow their forms?
If Christianity had been around for close to 300 years
why would they have to search around for new architectural forms?
...Because the early church was persecuted
(Here we looked at some slides of catacombs)
Some early Christian building (+ art)
were the catacombs: networks of tunnels + rooms (called cubicula)
that ran underground
These were primarily funerary in purpose
+ were not secret, nor were catacombs exclusively a Christian invention;
pagans + Jews used catacombs too
In any event, there were large halls built above ground
for funeral services + funeral banquets
It's thought that in times of persecution they were used as hiding places, +
probably also the Eucharist was celebrated in them as well,
but they were primarily cemeteries
So part of the reason there was no church architecture was the problem of persecution
The Christians also had a prejudice against anything that smelled of pagan practices
--so that would mean
images (especially statues) and monumental architecture
Instead congregations tended to meet in the homes of
some of their more wealthy members --often in an upstairs room
We said a few minutes ago that in Constantine's building program
architects of churches borrowed from familiar forms of Roman architecture
Aside from the mausoleum,
which was more influential to the Byzantine rather than the Western church
When combined, the three kinds of architecture Constantine's architects drew from
domestic architecture (atrium house)
imperial audience hall
Roman basilica
resulted in a kind of church that is the ancestor of the Gothic cathedrals
This kind of church is called a BASILICA +
one of the most influential of these was one that was
part of Constantine's building program: Old St Peter's in Rome
[Above left is a simplified drawing of the ground plan of
Old St Peter's in Rome, ca 333]
[Above right, a simplified drawing of a cross-section
of a basilica, based on an old drawing of Old St Peter's]
So we'll take Old St Peter's (begun in 333 AD) as a typical example of an Early Christian basilica
Old St Peter's is no longer standing --it was torn down in the Renaissance to
make way for the present St Peter's which is of course the church at the Vatican
but it's still an important building because it
influenced the design of many later church buildings
As you can see a basilica has a long, rectangular plan
+ the dots on the ground plan show that there were
columns marching straight down either side of the main part of the building
Now, before the word "basilica" was applied to church architecture it was used to refer to a
kind of Roman public hall that was designed for large numbers of business people
In pagan Rome, a basilica was a center for civil services
-- Similar in function to a modern Municipal bldg
(Drawing of Old St Peter's ground plan is on the left)
(On the right is a simplified drawing of the ground plan for a
basilica in the Roman Forum, or city center
Basilica Ulpia, 113-117 AD)
The Basilica Ulpia was built by the Emperor Trajan in the second century AD
It was a pretty big building: Main hall: 607 x 196 feet
Old St Peter's was pretty big too:
Total length, approx 653 feet
interior of basilica: 355' x 208'
height: over 105 feet
As you see, the Roman basilica is a rectangular bldg
w/ an APSE, or curved projection on the short ends
See how the Christian basilica has an apse only on one end?
...+ how the columns don't go all the way around
the main hall as they do in the Basilica Ulpia?
(We then looked at a slide of a reconstruction drawing
of what the Basilica Ulpia may have looked like inside)
See: Here are the columns going all the way around +
it's thought that there was a second storey, a balcony
We then compared this w/ the cross-section of
Old St Peter's (see above)
NB:
There are the columns
only the columns along the short side are gone
They both have timber--or wooden--ceilings
There are the beams going across the width of the hall
The difference in the apses
It's larger in the Basilica Ulpia
Smaller in Old St Peter's
They both had windows up high to let light into the main hall
Those high windows were a typical feature
of Roman basilicas
Some scholars think that there was an
altar in each of the apses of the Basilica Ulpia
one for the freeing of slaves +
the other for the worship of the Emperor as a god
Others think that they held law courts
But anyway, in Old St Peter the altar was in the apse
Going back to the ground plans you can see that the
ENTRANCES to the Roman Basilica are on the
SIDES of the building
whereas
in the Christian basilica the entrance is on the short end
(Above are simplified drawings of the exterior + interior
of Constantine's Basilica also called the Aula Palatina in Trier, Germany ca 310 AD.)
Apropos of this change in the location of the entrances
another influence on the Christian basilica was the Imperial audience hall
This is one from the 4th century AD is still standing +
has been converted to a church
In the drawing I've left out the church furnishings
As you can see, except that it has no columns
in the main part of the building it's very similar to the
layout of Old St Peter' s because
it has an apse only on one end
In the Christian church the altar is in the apse
In the imperial audience hall the emperor would have had his chair in the apse
So in both buildings the focus is on the apse
The inside of the imperial audience hall looks
very drab now but originally it was richly decorated
w/ mosaics + marble veneer
So let's look at the parts of an Early Christian basilica,
using Old St Peter's as an example
Many of these terms are still used for churches today
+ we'll be using them in our next couple of classes
Below is an image map of the floorplan of Old St Peter's
Click on various parts to get the names + functions
of the various parts of the building
Remember that you are responsible for
knowing the information in the files linked to an image map
Vocabulary:
Gateway
atrium
Narthex
Nave
Triumphal arch
Clerestory
Aisles
Transept
Apse
