BASILICA ID EST DOMINICUM:

FORM AND FUNCTION OF THE CHRISTIAN

BASILICA UNDER CONSTANTINE

Renata D. Solum
Department of Classical-Near Eastern Studies
The Age of Constantine the Great
March 30, 2009
 BASILICA ID EST DOMINICUM:
FORM AND FUNCTION OF THE CHRISTIAN
BASILICA UNDER CONSTANTINE

Introduction: A Grand, New Animal

As early as the period between the Valerian and Diocletian persecutions, Christian

churches in the Roman Empire began to outgrow their domestic habitats and move into buildings

especially suited for the maturing Christian liturgy. The early fourth century was an auspicious

era for such activity, as Constantine assumed the imperial purple sympathetic to Christians and

apparently feeling indebted to the Christian God for his own success. The new emperor became

the Church’s most zealous patron. He also used his influence to inspire and tighten an

impressive ecclesiastical hierarchy, and in his care, the Church itself awoke as a grand, new

animal.

Certain aspects of the character of the growing Church are self-evident in the architecture

and décor of Constantine’s projects. Obviously, they were much larger counterparts of the

earlier house churches and, interestingly, they took on a familiar shape—that of the Roman

basilica, itself an architectural genus that comprised the typical Roman law courts as well as
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public fora. In direct contrast to pagan architecture, where lovely and sometimes awe-inspiring

buildings such as the temples of Athena Parthenos and of Jupiter Capitolinus each had a sole

inhabitant (the respective god or goddess), the new churches’ best descriptor might be the epithet

“Basilica id est dominicum,” from the basilica at Golgotha. It means “an assembly hall that is a

house of the Lord,” embodying the notion that the church interior was a gathering place for the

1
Richard Krautheimer, “The Constantinian Basilica,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 21 (1967): 115-
140, 117. Krautheimer dubbed it a “genus,” quite reasonably, saying “this genus comprises
many more besides Christian basilicas.” To call it a genus is appropriate not only because of the
varied applications, but because of the myriad shapes and sizes of the architectural species.

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 Solum: The Christian Basilica 2

Christian people—a place where they had audience with Christ, whom Krautheimer says the

Romans viewed as “Emperor of Heaven.”2 Thus the basilica in Christian application typifies the

Church’s increasingly ceremonious liturgy and courtly styling, as well as its emphasis on

fellowship with God.

Solemnity and the Fourth-Century Liturgy

In his Life of Constantine, Eusebius tells us that Constantine’s churches were of an

unprecedented scale (Ch. XLVII). While this is true for Christian building, these new structures’

precedent in form (the basilica) was hardly uncommon. The basilica was customarily a public

gathering-place, but it was also intriguing in its new usage because it was an architectural

realization associated with the upper class. In certain applications—until Constantine prohibited

Imperial cult worship—it was even associated with a marriage of Imperial rule to the authority of

the pantheon. That is, according to Krautheimer, the spaces where the emperor himself (or the

visage of the emperor) presided over official business and court proceedings were by that very

fact religious buildings.3 I am inclined to believe Krautheimer, considering the solemnity to

which a basilica lends itself; although, that may be my own bias, as I have mostly experienced

this architectural form in the context of Catholic Mass with my grandparents. In any case, when

Constantine set out to raise the plucky Christian religion from the funk of oppression—even to

the point of spurning the Imperial cult—he appears to have given over to Jesus the privilege of

conferring holiness to an audience hall. 4 The Romans were obviously fond of the pecking order.

2
Richard Krautheimer, "Constantinian church building," in Early Christian and Byzantinian
Architecture (Penguin, 1979), 17-44, 18.
3
Krautheimer, “Constantinian church building,” 21.
4
Constantine’s suppression of pagan worship could be called piecemeal. O. Nicholson noted in a
lecture that the farther south-west one looked in the Roman Empire, the thicker the population
of Christians (March 23, 2009). Pagan worship was, of course, still widespread in the areas
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 3

If it is true they came to view Jesus as “Emperor of Heaven,” he’d simply become the new big

man on campus.

Bear in mind that the Church and its buildings in the early fourth century were intended

to accommodate masses of ordinary people, but this is not to say that the same ordinary people

couldn’t simply have a place in an elaborate, hierarchical organization. Massey H. Shepherd

points out that the specifics of the local liturgy in the pre-Constantinian era depended largely on

the circumstances of the participating community:

[…]e.g., the size and affluence of the particular church; the intellectual and
aesthetic talents and tastes of the leaders and people; the physical restrictions
imposed by small house-church or cemetery-chapel arrangements; the relative
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freedom from fear of police surveillance or persecution.

In the early fourth century, the Roman Church enjoyed the patronage of the Emperor himself.

Under these circumstances, it is easy to see how a liturgy and church organization—established

in the late third century and already modeled upon a Christian ideal of a heavenly court—

flourished under the auspices of Emperor Constantine. During this time, the Church appears to

have matured to more closely resemble the imperial organizational system, with top-down

delegation of Church responsibilities from the sees to the very level of a single village clergy.

The episcopal throne in the church basilicas during and after Constantine’s time is surviving

evidence of this pattern. Constantine, as noted by Krautheimer, was content to style himself

nearer to and North of the Rhine. Although with a comparison of Constantine’s gaze to that of a
keen-sighted eagle” (Ch. LV) Eusebius would have us believe that Constantine’s campaign to
stamp out idolatry was ubiquitous, it is safest to say that the Emperor effectively demonstrated
disapproval at least at some notable locations in the Holy Land. This was particularly wherever
he felt like placing a church.
5
Massey H. Shepherd, “Liturgical expressions of the Constantinian triumph,” Dumbarton Oaks
Papers 21 (1967): 57-78, 63. These variables are useful both to demonstrate how the liturgy in
the Empire as a whole differed from that of its recent past—the operative variable being relative
freedom from persecution—and also to show how the other variables may have caused the
liturgy to differ within the Empire despite tighter organization.
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 4

“Christ’s vicar on earth,” thus consummating the relationship between the courtly liturgy of his
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time and the imperial hierarchy.

The basilica lent itself well to another conspicuous aspect of the Christian liturgy: the

procession. Whether a considerable pilgrimage or merely the entrance of the clergy during

Mass, the procession with varying degrees of elaboration figured largely in the Church across the

Roman Empire—as it still does worldwide in the practice of certain Christian denominations.

Even without the ability to witness the fourth-century congrgation in action, processional

convention is evident in the very plan of the Christian basilicas in the time of Constantine.

An important point to make here is that, whereas the nave(s) of a basilica for secular use

could be located on either the long or the short axis, it is clear the location of the nave on the

long axis was favorable for Christian usage. The Baths at Caracalla is a notable example of a

secular basilica with nave on the short axis.7 Its floor plan hardly suggests an unavoidable path

from entrance to apse. In fact, procession from entrance to apse is made impossible by the

central frigidarium. Furthermore, at Caracalla the apse merely comprises one of three obviously

important features within the structure, the other two being symmetrical palaestrae nearer the

long ends of the building.

But whereas splashing around is evidently best done without a calculated, unbending

plan, it would seem that a proper Sunday Mass required regimental pomp. The significance of

the axes for procession is the most logical explanation for the drastic remodeling of the church of

St. Croce in Jerusalem, which Krautheimer reports was converted for Christian use; evidently

6
Krautheimer, "Constantinian Church Building,” 17.
7
Fred S. Kleiner and Christen J. Mamiya, eds., Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, vol. I, 12th ed.
(2005), 290.
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 5

this involved adding an apse to one short side and giving it a lengthwise axis.8 If a procession—

or at least the suggestion of linear, architectural movement—was not the focus of secular

applications of the basilica, as in the baths or a military barracks, it was certainly accentuated

through the longitudinal assignment of the axis and the addition of an apse in Christian usage.

Thus it was that an architectural configuration associated with the imperial chain of

command and readily adaptable to the increasingly peripatetic solemnity of the Christian liturgy

became the public front of the religion, which flourished in the care of Constantine, as if living

up to its new accommodations.

The Multitudes Cross the Threshold

The basilica did pervade the architectural inventory of Christian establishments, but that

is not to say that every Christian structure built in the early fourth century consisted merely of a

single-nave basilica with an apse on the longitudinal axis; nor were they of a uniform size. It is

natural to apply Massey’s variables concerning a local liturgy to variations in the local Church

buildings themselves. He mentions that the size and nature of the typical crowd was one

variable, and we see this demonstrated in Constantine’s Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem:

Richard Krautheimer notes that while the building’s forecourt was unusually large, its nave and
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aisles would only have accommodated a Sunday congregation of modest size. Rather, the

forecourt, he says, probably served as a resting place for a significant, regular body of pilgrims.

St. Peter’s, as well, had no permanent clergy, according to Krautheimer—its primary functions

were those of funerary hall and martyrium. It is, after all, a vast, covered graveyard with an

attached shrine to St. Peter.

8
Krautheimer, “The Constantinian Basilica,” 130.
9
Krautheimer, “Constantinian chuch building,” 38.
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 6

Nevertheless, there seems to be a fundamental similarity between the Christian edifices of

Constantine’s time, be they archetypal, single-nave basilicas; martyria of varying sizes; funerary

halls; or combinations of the three, as in St. Peters. Noting the various ways in which those

functions manifest themselves in form, it is clear that the similarity is not structural. The

Christian basilica under Constantine differed from the more private, if monumental, palace

churches; both differed from the small shrines venerating places where the Scriptures place Jesus

at various times in his life. However, whereas Krautheimer suggests that visual relationships

linked the structures, I do not share this opinion.10 That is, while Krautheimer describes in detail

the probable décor of the churches furnished by Constantine, the only pattern I can glean from

his descriptions is one of general magnificence. If you consider, too, Shepherd’s hypothesis that

the size and affluence of the church community were variables, it is hard to say that the churches

overlooked by Constantinian patronage even shared opulence with their counterparts at Trier,
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Rome, Constantinople or the Holy Land.

Rather, it would appear that the main similarity between Christian buildings in the time of

Constantine is one of function, or more specifically, a fundamental aspect of their function.

Christianity in the early fourth century already differed significantly from the contemporary

pagan faith in that it did not concern itself to such an extent with placating an otherwise aloof

god. Rather, it was a faith concerned with fostering personal, enlightened relationships between

a deity born in a cave to a carpenter foster-father, and individuals who elected him their

10
Krautheimer, “Constantinian church building,” 44.
11
Eusebius tells us that the dowager empress Helena, a Christian, traveled from place to place
throughout the Empire, “while at the same time she adorned the houses of prayer with splendid
offerings, not overlooking the churches of the smallest cities” (Ch. XLV). While this account
flatters Helena’s philanthropy, it is reasonable that churches of modest proportion and décor
remained about the Mediterranean. In fact, it’s pretty obvious.
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 7

shepherd.

Thus, regardless of M. Shepherd’s liturgical variables, structures serving the Christian

masses had open doors in common. These were doors open not merely to priests, wafted incense

and sacrificial smoke, but to laypeople—Christian believers well versed in the doctrine, and
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spanking-new converts alike—on any day of the year. In Eusebius’ Life of Constantine we see

a description of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem, where “three gates, placed

exactly east, were intended to receive the multitudes who entered the church.”13 Few such

images of multitudes pouring across the threshold come to mind in connection with temples of

the contemporary pagan religion. In fact, the only such example I can recall is the citywide

procession of Athens to the temple of Athena Parthenos on the acropolis, at which time her icon

was ceremoniously dressed in a new robe—once a year.

Furthermore, Eusebius notes that the church’s general entrance gates “afforded to

passers-by on the outside a view of the interior which could not fail to inspire astonishment.”14

This is interesting; presumably “passers-by” included citizens not affiliated with the Church, and

the extension of “exquisite worksmanship” to these outer gates involves the general populace in

the awe-inspiring effect of Constantine’s offering. I have a feeling it may have served as an open

invitation to the fold itself. Krautheimer does note that, for the most part, the exteriors of

Constantinian churches tended to be unadorned, saying “all lavishness was concentrated on the

interior.”15 Such lavishness, then, was intended for the wonderment of the occupants—in pagan

12
Krautheimer. “Constantinian Church Building,” 19. He notes that Catechumens, or Christians-
in-training, took part in certain portions of the mass, retiring during the Mass of the Faithful.
13
Eusebius, Life of Constantine, ch. XXXVII.
14
Eusebius, Life of Constantine, ch. XXXIX.
15
Krautheimer, “Constantinian church building,” 43.
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 8

architecture, these were none but the solitary god; in Christian architecture, I presume, the

intended beholders were the body of the Church.

Therefore, although quite as stately as an urban temple, a building such as the Church of

the Holy Sepulcher was no vault for esoteric veneration. Compare the light of a nave topped by

a clerestory to the mysterious cella that housed a cult image—Eusebius speaks of Constantine’s

men forcibly removing idols “from their dark recesses to the light of day.”16 There are stuffy,

incense-heady homes to comfort brooding gods, but there are airy, luminous spaces to inspire

men.

Conclusion: Constantine’s Designs

To say that the basilica was a paradigmatic token of the Church in the era of Constantine

is in no way to suggest that across the Empire, the Church invariably had a character befitting the

connotations of that architectural form. Massey’s variables concerning the liturgy may not be

directly observable, but extant structures confirm that liturgical variations between church

communities manifested themselves structurally in countless ways. Nevertheless, a basilica here

or a basilica there is worth mention because of its implications for the burgeoning, fourth-century

Christian tradition. Constantine’s designs to embolden the religion following a lamentable and,

from the Christian perspective, interminable period of persecution required more than merely a

proclamation of his tolerance. Rather, it would seem the Emperor, wielding political influence

and access to public funds, undertook an ambitious image makeover of the disadvantaged creed.

He was to spurn strategies from the pagan arsenal. Eusebius tells us of his impassioned

cleansing of sites significant to the Scriptures where he sought to erect a church, should they be

found to have been contaminated by idol worship. The architectural vocabulary of his Christian

16
Eusebius, Life of Constantine, ch. LIV.
 Solum: The Christian Basilica 9

projects coincided not with that of pagan temples, but with that of buildings for his own civic

purposes. He imparted to the fourth-century ecclesiastical hierarchy the structure of the imperial

order, and through his financial support of—as well as deferential collaboration with—Christian

clergymen, guaranteed the clergy comparable footing with civil servants.

Therefore, the Christian application of the basilica is lasting evidence of Constantine’s

grand design: lend the religion an illustrious public façade already joining imperial

administration to religious overtones, then let the people come. Constantine did not merely

allow Christians to practice free from persecution—he coaxed them from their hiding places.

Very likely it is Constantinian patronage to which the Church owes its survival today. Certain

modern denominations would have a very different character, indeed, had it not been for that

extraordinary infusion of imperial grandeur at the beginning of the fourth century.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eusebius. Life of Constantine. Appears in course packet.

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, vol. I. Ed. Fred S. Kleiner and Christen J. Mamiya. 12th
ed. (2005).

Krautheimer, Richard. “The Constantinian Basilica,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 21 (1967):

115-140.

Krautheimer, Richard. "Constantinian church building." In Early Christian and

Byzantinian Architecture, 17-44. Penguin, 1979.

Shepherd, Massey H. “Liturgical expressions of the Constantinian triumph,” Dumbarton

Oaks Papers 21 (1967): 57-78.

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