Early Christian Architecture
ABSTRACT
This lecture studies the changing nature of Rome as a Christian pilgrimage site. It looks in particular at the emergence of Christian architecture and its associated rituals and meanings, beginning with the Constantine basilica of St. Peters’ in Rome. 

KEY PEOPLES AND EMPIRES
•	Huns (Attila the Hun)
•	Visigoths
•	Constantine (272 – 22 May 337)
•	Emperor Justinian (482-565)

KEY CONCEPTS
•	martyrium (pl: martyia)
•	aisle
•	apse
•	nave
•	narthex
•	clerestory
•	transcept
•	dome
•	icon
•	ambo
•	iconostatis
•	eucharist and transubstantiation

KEY PLACES
•	Debre Damo, Ethiopia (6th century)
•	Cathedral of Syracuse, Sicily (6th century)
•	Old St. Peters’ Basilica (ca. 330)
•	Basilica of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls (originally built in 380,
•	Constantinople (330)
•	Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (540-560)
•	Armenia
•	Basilica of Saint Mark, Venice, begun 832, rebuilt 978

NOTES ON SELECT TERMS 
The Icon
In the early days of Christianity, at least some of the hierarchy of the church was still strictly opposed to icons in the early 4th century. At one meeting of the bishops (c. 305) it was concluded that "Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration".Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis wrote to Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 394) in which he recounted how he tore down an image in a church and admonished the other bishop that such images are "opposed . . . to our religion".
 
After Christianity was legalized within the Roman Empire by the emperor in 313, huge numbers of pagans became converts. This created the necessity for the transfer of allegiance and practice from the old gods and heroes to the new religion, and for the gradual adaptation of the old system of image making and veneration to a Christian context, in the process of Christianization. By the early fifth century, we know of the ownership of private icons of saints; by c. 480-500, we can be sure that the inside of a saint's shrine would be adorned with images and votive portraits, a practice which had probably begun earlier.
 
Though icon painting was common in the 9th to 10th centuries, it was only in the 11th century that the cult of the icon became widespread in the Byzantine world, partly on account of the dearth of richer materials (such as mosaics) but also because an iconostatis a special screen for icons was introduced then in ecclesiastical practice. The style of the time was severe, hieratic and distant.