When Rome Met Christianity

Basilica Ulpia
Trajan's Forum. Rome. c. 110-113 CE.

The Basilica Ulpia, constructed by the infamous Roman emperor Trajan, served as an important civic center and court of law.  Situated in the heart of Rome, the Basilica Ulpia and the Forum of Trajan became a thriving city locale, featuring governmental offices, magnificent libraries housing the emperor's collections of Latin and Greek manuscripts, and over 150 shops.  Despite its socio-political appeal, however, it is in truth the architecture of the Basilica Ulpia that drew such crowds near and made it so important in the context of its influence on later architectural tradition.

A basilica  was a large, rectangular building with a considerably extensive interior space for conducting governmental functions.  Typically these structures were arranged in a specific layout, adhering to an architectural trend popular in Imperial Rome.  The Basilica Ulpia, however, was a particularly grand example of this trend--a reflection of the commissioned emperor's wealth, power, and desire for recognition and legacy.

Oriented around a longitudinal axis,  the Basilica Ulpia stretched 385 feet long and 182 feet wide in its core dimension.  The large central area, known as the nave, would engulf visitors upon their entrance, reducing them to a size noticeably less significant than their majestic surroundings.   Flanking the nave on either side were double colonnaded aisles topped by open galleries or a clerestory.  The naturalness, and seemingly unfathomable height, of the lighting provided by the clerestory would cast a heavenly glow from above, bathing the resplendent columns and marble and creating an atmosphere intentionally other-wordly.

The basilica itself would later become the archetypal building structure for the later emergence of Christian architecture. Note-worthy characteristics of the structure that distinguish it from this very similar development, however, are, firstly, its openness and intimacy with the outside and/or natural world, and secondly, the continuance of the lavishness of the interior into the exterior.  These two things, reminiscent of the temples of Ancient Greece, are somewhat diminished in Christian architecture so as to emphasize a distinct transition between the outside world and that of the divine.  

Oratory of Galla Placidia
Ravenna. c. 425-426

The Oratory of Galla Placidia is one of the oldest surviving Christian structures located in Ravenna.  This small chapel was attached to the narthex of the church of the imperial palace and named for Honorius' half-sister, Galla Placidia, who was the daughter of the Western Roman Emperor, wife of a Gothic king, mother of Emperor Valentinian, and ruler of the West from 425 to about 440.  Following the belief that she and her family were buried within, the oratory was once known rather as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Constructed during the time of Emperor Constantine's shift of Rome's capital to the Eastern city of Constantinople (Byzantium), the Oratory of Galla Placidia exhibits several important architectural transitions, from traditional Roman into Early Christian.  In this structure, we see the beginning of the development of the cruciform shape--an architectural element that would become crucial to later Christian churches.  (Though the cruciform shape allowed, structurally, for the addition of a choir and other such later developments, the central appeal of this particular style of  church was perhaps that it reflected the cross upon which Christ was crucified and called to mind the importance of his sacrifice to the Christian theology.) We also see a marked contrast from the exterior of this structure and those of traditional Rome; while the lofty, serene,  and open-aired temples of the Roman forum immediately called to mind the grandest realms of the divine, this seemingly modest structure requires an entrance into its guarded interior in order to experience its majesty.

Once inside, viewers would be confronted with an elaborate, richly colorful, and intimate space.  The drastic contrast between humble exterior and beautifully jeweled inner chambers served to intensify the experience of the building, the metaphysical transition from the mundane human world into a sacred heavenly realm.  Featuring a pendentive dome in the center, the interior of the oratory is covered from head to toe in brilliant glass mosaics depicting images of Christ as the Good Shepherd, the four Evangelists, and a calming star-strewn sky allusive to an Early Medieval cosmology.  A thin layer of yellow marble covers the windows, giving a fiery glow to the space and further exaggerating the supernatural world in which one is partaking.  This particular aspect would be a sort of precursor to the use of stained glass in later Christian architecture as a source of divine light.  

One of the most important features of the Oratory of Galla Placidia, however, is the iconography present among its remarkable mosaics.  For the first time, people were using images to tell specific stories in a specific context--something that would be essential to Christianity and Christian architecture throughout its reign.  The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd over the entrance to the building, for example, shows him clothed in regal gold and purple robes, keeping loyal watch over his flock.  He is no longer the young boy in a simple tunic, but a divine emperor wreathed in a glorious halo and carrying a golden crossed staff.  This depiction of the Heavenly Father reflects Christianity's standing as the official state religion for 45, signifying the triumph of a new faith.

The Parthenon

a.               The curvature on the exterior of the Parthenon is an architectural element whose purpose has been much debated.  The three main theories, as documented by Pollitt, are the compensation theory, the exaggeration theory, and the tension theory.  The first suggests that the variations are “‘betterments’ to counteract optical illusion” that would “make the appearance of the temple fit their [the Athenians] mental conception of it”.  That is to say, it would compensate for what the eye sees and the mind’s distortion of it.  An example of this compensation can be found in the corner columns, which, according to Vitruvius, should be thicker “ ‘because they are completely set off against the open air and [without compensatory thickening] appear more slender than they are’”. (Pollitt 75).  The second theory, contrary to the first, proposes that the curvature “was intended to amplify normal optical distortion so that the temple appeared to be more immense that it actually was”.  And still the third conjectures that the deviations serve “the purpose of creating a tension in the mind of the viewer between what he expects to see and what he actually does see…a fascination which makes the structure seem vibrant, alive, and continually interesting”. (Pollitt 76).

b.     The east and west pediments of the Parthenon feature symbolic narratives illustrated by sculpture in the round.

          On the east pediment can be seen the story of the birth of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens and dignitary of this temple.  Athena is shown springing fully-grown and militarily clad from Zeus’ head, dancing a dance of war that distinguishes her as the Athena Promachos, a goddess ready for battle.  (An important aspect to note is the way in which the figures are positioned so as to conform in a seemingly natural way to the slope of the pediment). 

          The west pediment, which would have faced the entrance to the Acropolis, shows the contest for Athens, the battle between Athena and Poseidon for deity-ship of the city and rule over the Athenians.  Poseidon offers the power of the sea while Athena, who ultimately wins the battle, offers the olive tree.  This sculptural narrative provides a good example of the Greeks’ affinity for expressing their history through the idiom of myth.  Athena’s offering symbolizes the importance of the olive tree to Greek culture (for agriculture, export, and affluence) and the accreditation of this wealth to the goddess. 

c.     There are 92 metope reliefs featured in the exterior frieze of the Parthenon (Stokstad 133).  Each metope depicts a legendary battle between two opposing forces that is symbolic, as is the Parthenon in its entirety, of the Greeks’ defeat of Persia and, in such, the triumph of reason over barbarism.  In the metopes on the south side of the Parthenon, the Persians are represented as centaurs, half men and half brutes, while the Greeks are symbolized in the form of mythical Greek Lapiths.  This sculptural interaction is another example of the Greeks’ tendency of historical expression through myth.  It also thoroughly illustrates both their humanizing and generalizing impulses (as well as their demonization of enemies) that are direct correlations of Periclean Athens’ social consciousness.

d.               The second frieze (regrettably unavailable for photograph) is located within the Doric peristyle, along the exterior wall of the cella (Stokstad 133).  On it is an illustration of the festivities of Athens, the Panathenaeaic procession that took place every four years and in which the women and young girls of the city carried a newly-woven dress or peplos to the Acropolis in order to clothe a statue of Athena (not the gold and ivory Athena of Pheidias). (Pollitt 85).  The rhythmic position of the figures in the frieze suggests natural, realistic, and lifelike movement and interaction.  Contrasting colors, as well as a deeper relief at the top of the frieze, made clearer the action that takes place on this particular architectural element (Stokstad 135).

e.               The casts of the original pedimental sculpture shown above are from the east pediment, the best preserved of the two.  The three female figures are “probably Hestia (a sister of Zeus and goddess of the hearth), Dione (one of Zeus’ many consorts), and her daughter, Aphrodite” (Stokstad 132). 

These figures provide an incredible example of the attention given to human likeness that was born out of 5^th Century Athens.  The contours of women’s bodies are “expertly rendered” and create an illusion of real flesh and bone beneath the gracefully and sensually draping folds of fabric (Stokstad 133).  They are extraordinarily full of individual, humanistic life—something that had not been seen in Greek, or any, sculpture before this point.

f.                The statue of Athena located in the interior cella of the Parthenon is not the same warrior Athena that is depicted on the east pediment, but the Athena Parthenos, Virgin and patron goddess of Athens.  The figure, designed by Pheidias in ivory and gold, is outfitted in armor and holds both a shield (bearing an Amazonomachy on its exterior and Gigantomachy on its interior) and a Victory (Stokstad 130). These symbols, along with the reliefs on her sandals representing a Centauromachy make “the goddess who was the embodiment of Athenian intellectual and cultural attainments” a symbol “of the triumph and order and civilization over chaos and barbarism on all levels” (Pollitt 98). She is a cult image, framed by Doric columns and colossal in size to emphasize her importance as the presiding deity of Athens and benefactor of its cultural and civil wealth and prosperity.