Architecture of Monotheism in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages:Jewish and Early Christian Architecture

Architecture in the Middle Ages (400-1400)

476Fall of Rome

c. 1400Italian

Renaissance begins

Middle Ages (“Dark Ages”)

Late Antique or Early

Christian

Byzantinefor the Eastern Empire (Byzantine Empire)

medieval for Western Europe

622official beginning

of Islam

Architecture in the Middle Ages (400-1400)

476Fall of Rome

c. 1400Italian

Renaissance begins

Byzantine = Eastern Empire

Late Antique or Early

ChristianByzantine

EARLY MEDIEVAL AND ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE ON THE MEDITERRANEAN

I. Monotheistic religions (Judaism and Christianity) shared characteristics that distinguished them from Greco-Roman polytheism

Greco-Roman polytheism Monotheistic religions: congregational spaces

Synagogue at Capernaum Santa Sabina (church)

Temple of Jerusalem

I. A. Monotheistic did require some veneration or occasional architecture 1. What was the main occasional temple for Judaism?

Temple of Yahweh, Arad, Israel

Sacrificial temples to Yahweh

as rebuilt by King Herod, c. 20 BC 9th cen. BC

I. A. 2. What form did veneration architecture take in early Christianity?

Christian mausoleum to Santa Costanza Rome, Italy, AD 350

Church of the Holy SepulchreJerusalem, Israel, AD 325-80

Converted residences in Dura Europas, Syria

Synagogue Christian meeting house

(domus ecclesiae)

I. B. But, monotheistic religions had the idea of . . . and needed congregational architecture 1. What form did the first congregational architecture take for Jews and Christians?

I. B. 2. When did purpose-built congregational architecture come into being for Jews and Christians?

Synagogue, Capernaum, Israel 4th- 5th cen. AD

Old St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, AD 319-33

II. Late-antique synagogues (synagogue = assembly)

Synagogue at Capernaum, Capernaum, Israel, 4th- 5th century

diaspora synagogues

II. A. Context: What events might have caused synagogue architecture to develop rapidly in the 1st century AD?

Priestly power (Temple) vs. Pharisees (after 167 BC)

Temple of Jerusalem

model, as rebuilt by King Herod, c. 20 BC

II. B. Precedent: What is one architectural model Jewish congregations adapted to their needs?

Synagogue at CapernaumGreek bouleuterion (senate house)

Synagogue at Capernaum

seating for servicecommunal

meal

II. C. Ritual: What ritual demands had an impact on the overall plan of the synagogue?

literature-sustained service (Torah)

Synagogue at Capernaum

II. C.

façade facing the direction of Jerusalem

prayer hall

Synagogue at Capernaum

II. C. 1. What were the two principle influences on the design of the synagogue’s prayer hall itself?

bimah and ark

no fixed place for the arkno fixed place for the bima

prayer hall

II. D. Architectural language of classical antiquity: How was Greco-Roman architecture changed in adapting it to the new religion?

II. E. Architecture of the persecuted: why aren’t there more synagogues surviving from late antiquity and the Middle Ages?

Synagogue at Ostia, Italy, AD 50Synaogue at Stobi, Greece, 4th cen. AD

Spread of Christianity

III. Function, not symbolism, seems to be the predominant consideration in Early Christian architecture

Old St. Peter’s, Rome, Italy, A.D. 319-333 New St. Peter’s, Rome, Italy, 1506-1667

Old St. Peter’s, Rome, Italy, A.D. 319-333

III.

Old St. Peter’s, Rome, Italy, A.D. 319-333

III.

S. Sabina, Rome, Italy, A.D. 422-32

III.

Early Christian basilicas, parish churches, and catacombes in and around Rome

S. Sabina•S. Sabina

III. A. Political context: What event inspires the first purpose-built Christian congregational buildings?

Old St. Peter’s, AD 319-33

Roman emperor Constantine legalizes Christianity in AD 313

pre AD 313: Christian meeting houses

after AD 313: Christian basilicas appear in Rome, the Holy Land, and North Africa

Domus ecclesiae in Dura Europas, Syria, AD 231

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great(or Constantine I), r. 306-337

III. B. Basic parts of the Early Christian basilica

Precedent: Roman civil basilica Conservative Early Christian basilicas in Rome

Basilica at Pompeii

Old St. Peter’s Basilica

Santa Sabina

III. C. Ritual: If the spaces of the Early Christian basilica were functional, how did they organize believers for worship?

S. SabinaAisles for catachumens during the sacrament of the Eucharist

Old St. Peter’s

III. C.

a contact relic at the shrine of St. Peter

III. D. Formal analysis of Early Christian basilicas 1. What characteristics of Roman civil precedent are preserved?

Basilica in Trajan’s FormBasilica at Pompeii Early Christian basilicas

apse

Old St. Peter’s

Santa Sabina

apse

III. D. 2. In terms of architectural language, how does the Early Christian basilica alter the Roman precedent? (two ways)

nave of S. Sabinanave of Old St. Peter’s

III. D. 2.

S. SabinaOld St. Peter’scolonnaded nave arcaded nave

arcuated lintels at Hadrian’s Villa

III. D. 3. How does the form of the Early Christian basilica change the Roman precedent to intensify the ritual of Christian congregation and sacraments?

S. SabinaOld St. Peter’s

Constantine’s Basilica in Trier, Germany, c. AD300(civil basilica)

S. Sabina(early Christian basilica)

III. E. Symbolism: Is the Early Christian basilica recognizable as an architectural symbol of Christian ideology: 1. strictly in terms of architecture?

III. E. 2. in terms of location?

Location of 4th-cen Christian basilicas in cemeteries outside the walls of Rome

S. Sabina

“Circus basilicas” with attached mausolea outside the wallmost common basilical form in 4th-century Rome

Old St. Peter’s outside the wall too but not a circus basilica

III. E. 2.

Mausoleum of Santa Costanza, Rome, c. 350

Lateran Baptistery, Rome315, and 432-40

Anastasis RotundaJerusalem, 325-80

Baptisteries Mausolea Martyria

IV. Early Christian occasional space for veneration A. Centrally-planned mausoleums, baptisteries, martyria based on Greek tholos form

S. Costanza (mausoleum), Rome, Italy, ca. AD 350

S. Agnese

S. Costanza

IV. A. 1. Context: Why were Christian mausolea not built until the 4th century AD?IV. A.

Eusebius: Jews and pagans needed holy places, but not Christians.

IV. A. 2. Plan and design: How did Christian mausolea differ from pre-Christian Roman tombs?

IV. A. 2. S. Costanza (mausoleum)

clerestorey ambulatorydome

Composite Order – invented by the Romans, last of the classical orders

IV. A. 3. Ritual: What Christian ritual was accommodated by the ambulatory?

S. Costanza (mausoleum)

IV. A. 4. Symbolism: Were centrally-planned Early Christian mausolea symbolically a Christian architecture?

S. Costanza (Christian mausoleum)

Roman mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, Rome, ca. 50 BC

Greek tholos at Epidauros, 360-20 BC