History of Early Christian Art PDF

I
HISTORY
OF
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
a
*w (^'
N,
z*"
/*C:^-^
/
/
)
THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

Laleran Museum, about A.D. 300. l-'rontispicce-
SIDE-LIGHTS OF CHURCH HISTORY.
HISTORY
OF
BY THE 1
REV. EDWARD L. CUTIS, D.D.,

AUTHOR OF
'a dictionary of the church of ENGLAND," "TURNING-POINTS OF
CHURCH history," ETC.
A)
rUBLISIIED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUiMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C ;
43,QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.

BRIGHTON I3S, NORTH street.
:
New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO-
lS93-
PREFACE
The special object of this book is to make more

widely known the results which the study of the
remains of Early Christian Art has attained in
throwing light upon the early history of the Church.

While making free use of the mass of material
open to every student, the writer has exercised an

independent judgment, and hopes that he has
contributed to put some things in a clearer light,
e.g. the externals of the worship of the Churches
before the time of Constantine.
Some care has been taken to show how the early
phase of the Church's life links on to the beginnings
of our own English Church history.
Grateful acknowledgments are hereby tendered to
the authorities of the Science and Art Department
I .sr>0070
VI PREFACE.
at South Kensington, for permission to make use
of reproductions of the woodcuts of sarcophagi, etc.
"
from its Monuments of Early Christian Art," by
Dr. Appell ;
and to Messrs. Hatchette, of Paris, for
permission to use reduced copies oi some of the
plates of the Count M. de Voguee's important work

on the architectural remains of Central Syria.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.

Definition of
'*
Christian art
" —Early Christian art was Greek
art ; in its decadence ; its historical interest — Scope of this
DOOlC »»» ••• •• tt« ••• •••
CHAPTER 11.
THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE.

The Upper Room at Jerusalem reconstructed ;
a service in it ;
dignity of the room and service ; it was the Church of the

—
Apostles The first Churches were the Ccenacula or Atria
of the houses of wealthy Christians Examples at Antioch —
in the Recognitions of Clement at Rome in the Acta of ;
St. Pontus ; at Bourges in Gregory of Tours, in the

—
Dialogues of Lucian Plan of a Grecian and Roman house
— These rooms in houses were often given to or acquired by
the Church and continued to be used as public Churches ;
;
and rebuilt on the same site
CHAPTER in.
THE PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE CONSTANTINE.
That the Churches worshipped in the catacombs during the ages
of persecution an error —The persecutions partial and brief ;
in the intervals the Church living and worshipping freely —
First public church in Rome
probably in the time of Alex-
—
ander Severus (222-235) Toleration of GaUienus Church —
organization in Rome
—
Forty public churches in Rome in
the time of Diocletian in other places The arrangements
;
—
of the first public churches derived from the houses in v>'hich
the Cliristians had been accustomed to assemble ... 24
viii CONTENTS.
CHArTER IV.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE

CONSTANTINE.
PAG a
Churches in the East in Syria ; in North Africa ;
Central
Egypt and Nubia
— ;
Description of a Basilican Church— The

—
Church at Tyre Church symbolism ... ... ... 34
CHAPTER V.
THE CHURCHES OF CONSTANTINE.
Rome no longer the capital of the empire, and not the centre
of Christian influence — Constantine's Churches at Rome —
Basilicas not converted into Cliurches Temples seldom con-
—
verted into Claurches ; their materials used in building
—
Churches on their sites Description of St. Peter's, St. Paul's,
—
and St. Agnes' at Rome Constantine's Churches in the East ;
"
at Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Constantinople Effect of Con- —

stantine's conversion on Christian art ... ... ... 4S
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE.
The colonnades with the Greek architrave with the Roman ;
arch with an upper tier of columns St. Clement's, Rome

;
—
— St. Ambrose's, Milan —
Churches of Central Syria Ba- :
bouda Qualb Louzeh ; Tourmanin — Domestic architecture

;
of Central Syria —
Churches at Nisibis ; Thessalonica The —
—
Golden Gate of Jerusalem Churches of Egypt and Nubia,
—
Thamugas Ravenna Tomb of Galla : Placidia ; St. Apolli-
nare Nuova St. Apollinare in Classe ; St. Vitale — Parenzo
—
in Istria
;
Churches of Gaul: Lyons; St. Martin's, Tours;

Clermont — Existing remains of the classical style in Gaul —
The dome in Persia ; in Central Syria ; St. Ezra ; Bozra —
The Byzantine dome ; Sta. Sophia Domes in the — West —
Traces of the basilican style of architecture in Britain, at
Canterbury, Frampton, Silchester The Celtic churches ...
— 65
CHAPTER VII.
THE BAPTISTERIES.
Primitive baptisms
— Baptisteries in catacombs When the —
Atrium was the Church, possibly the Baptisterium of the
bath was the baptistery —
Public baptisteries ; of the Lateran ;
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
at Aquileia ; at Nocera dei Pagani ; at Ravenna ; at Deir
—
Seta; in Italian cities Fonts in churches Illustrations of —
the subject in England —
Baptistery at York ; Canterbury
—
— —
Holy wells Fonts Chapterhouses ... ... ... 9"^
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CATACOMBS.
Literature of the — Incremation — Columbaria—Roman
subject
subterranean sepulchral chambers —Jewish burial customs —
The Church adopted the custom of burial — Christian cata-
combs — Description of those Rome — Family catacombs
at
of wealthy Christians put at the disposal of the Church —
Burial clubs — Public Christian catacombs became places of
pilgrimage
— Jerome's description of them — Prudentius's
description of them, and of the Confessio of Hippolytus
—
The removal of —The catacombs deserted and
relics for-
gotten ... ... ... ... ... "• 101
CHAPTER IX.
TOMBS AND MONUMENTS.
Tombs and monuments at Rome, Jerusalem, and elsewhere —
Christian tombs : of Constantia, Helena — Syrian
tombs at
Kerbet Hass, llass, Kokanaya — Subterranean chamber
at
—
Mondjeleia Twin columns at Sermeda, Dana, Bechindelayah
— stones
Pillar in Britain —Tombs used for funeral rites
— Primitive regard for the dead — Funeral — Confcssio
feasts
of the martyrs ; in the catacombs ; above ground — Story of
—
Theodotus of Ancyra Basilica of SS. John and Paul, Rome
— St. Alban, his martyrion —
Early tombs represented in
the paintings and sculptures of the Raising of Lazarus —
—
Abyssinian tomb Visits to tombs, and names scratched on
them — Prayers to the saints ... ... ... ... 130
CHAPTER X.
PAINTINGS.
Classical paintings at Rome

— and Pompeii Christian paintings in
the sepulchral chambers — —
and catacombs In churches Wider
range of Scripture subjects introduced in the fourth century
— Canons of Illiberis— Churches at Nola— Pictures of martyr-
doms — St. Nilus — Painting in English churches at Wear- :
CONTENTS.
mouth and Jarrow —

Scripture subjects in tlie decoration of
houses testimony of Asterius, Palace of Constantine ;
;
House of SS. John and Paul, Rome Subjects of paintings —

at different periods: apocalyptic,Symbolical, historical,
Passion subjects, Madonnas
of the early Christian — Style
school of painting of the Byzantine school Repetition of a
—
;
narrow cycle of subjects Originated in the East The IX0T2; — —

—
the XP ; the AH The origin of the emblems lamb, dove, :
etc. —
Conventional treatment of subjects The "Guide to —
Painting
" —
Came from the East Clement of Alexandria — —
The Apostolical Constitutions St. Ephrem ; St. Gregory
of —
—
Nyssa ; St. Cyril Paintings in North Africa ; in Alexandria 159
CHAPTER XI.
THE LIKENESSES OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES.
The earliest representations conventional statuary group

— The
at Paneas; the likenesses by St. Luke ; the Veronica legend ;
Eusebius on the subject ; Publius Lentulus's description —
The two types of likeness, the classical and the Byzantine —
St. Peter and St. Paul The four evangelists ... —
... 186
CPIAPTER Xn.
^
Emblems: the cross; the crucifix; the "Graffito Blasfemo;"
SYMBOLISM.
the monogram — Symbolical subjects the shepherd the :

;
lamb ; the fish ;

a fisherman ;
the ship ; anchor ; amphora ;
vine ;palm ; doves ; sheep ; goats ; peacock ; phoenix ;

olive ;
Orpheus mount with four streams ; stag drinking nimbus ; ;
aureole —;
Symbolical subjects from the Old and New Testa-

ments their meaning ; Daniel ; the Three Children ; Jonah ;
:
Lazarus ;
Noah ; sacrifice of Isaac ; healing the paralytic ;
woman the blind man the passage of the Red

the infirm ; ;
Sea giving the Law the burning bush gathering manna (?)
; ; ; ;
seizure of Moses (?) ; striking the rock ; Job ; creation of Eve ;
fall of man ;
Adam and Eve clothed ; Abel and Cain ;
translation of Elijah ; baptism of Christ ; entry into Jeru-

—
salem ; arrest of Christ Eucharistic symbols : feeding the
multitude miracle of Cana manna table with and ; fish
and bread — List of subjects on sarcophagi in the
; ;
bread fish
Lateran and Vatican collections — Groups of subjects

;
on :
ceilings, gilded glass, arcosolia ... ... .., 195

CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER Xlir.
SYM UOLISM —coutiiiiied.
PAGE
The representation of individual persons
— Representations of
deceased ; oranti ; oranti with saints — The so-called Ma-
donna of the Cemetery of Priscilla ; the so-called iVIadonna of
St. Agnes —
Funeral feasts —
Personal emblems: fossors ;
sculptor; painter, etc.
—
Punning emblems: a dragon for
Dracontius, etc. —
Instruments of martyrdom (?) ... ...
234
CHAPTER XIV.
SCULPTURE.
Classical sculpture — Christian statuary : the Good Shepherd, at
Rome, Constantinople, and Athens; the St. Plippolytus ; the
St. Peter —
Sarcophagi :
Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman, Chris-
tian —
kept ready made The subjects sculptured on them
;
—
Sarcophagi of Empress Helena ; Constantia ; Petronius
Probus ; Junius Bassus Anicius Probas, etc. Sarcophagi —
in Gaul, Spain, etc. — Pagan;
sarcophagi used for burial of

Christians —
English examples— Survival of style and subjects
in stone crosses and fonts ... ... ... ... 253
CHAPTER XV.
THE MOSAICS. J^
History of mosaic decoration ; its subjects Examples: at Rome ;
—
St. Constantia ; St. George Salonica ; Sta. Maria Maggiore ;
Sta. Pudentiana ; Vatican ; SS. Cosmas and Damian ; S.
—
Praxedes, etc. At Ravenna tomb of Galla Placidia ; the
:
two baptisteries; St. Vitalis; St. Apollinare Nuovo ; in Classe

— —
At Constantinople, etc. At Aix-la-Chapelle ; St. Mark's,
Venice — Fragments in the catacombs ... ... ... 2S3
CHAPTER XVI.
IVORIES.
Consular Diptychs ; Church Diptychs Diptych of St. Gregory- —

—
Chair of St. Maximinus ; of St. Peter Book-covers Pyxes —
and relic-boxes — Caskets and shrines — Doors ... ... 297
CHAPTER XVII.
GILDED GLASS VESSELS.
Where found mode of execution ; subjects ; inscriptions— En-
;
£C?"aved glasses — nnnl use: menorial nn lica'ion

'")n' ... "504
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRII'TS. PAGE
Earliest books, sacred and profane— Sacred Syrian MSS.—The
the Genesis of
Gospels of Rabula— Early IMS. in England :
the Cotton Library; the C.C.C. Cambridge and Bodleian

Gospels— The Irish and Saxon MSS. ... ... ... 312
CHAPTER XIX.
GOLD AND SILVER VESSELS— HOLY OIL VESSELS — SACRED
EMBROIDERY.
The altar and its altar vessels, etc. censers crosses"}
lamps— Holy
canopy ;
oil vessels ;
their use examples at Monza
;
; ;
—
Superstitions connected with : continued to the present day
— Sacred embroidery ; hangings in churches ;
clerical vest-
••• ••• 319
ments ... ... ... •••
CHAPTER XX.
RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS IN DOMESTIC USE.
in decorating
Religion in daily life— Use of religious subjects
houses ; dress ; water-vessels ; wine-cups ; buckles— Lamps 329
CHAPTER XXL
COINS, MEDALS, AND GEMS.
Coin of Severus with Noah's ark ; of Trajan with XP of Salonina ;
with EN EIPHNH— Coins with Christian symbols of Con- :
stantine, etc.— Medals pectoral crosses— Gems primitive :

:
use of them with Christian symbols— Clement of Alexandria

— Examples in the British Museum, etc. .• ••• 33^
CHAPTER XXII.
INSCRIPTIONS.
History and character of inscriptions ; prayers for the departed,

and requests for their intercession ; euphemisms ; examples 348
CHAPTER XXIH.
•" ••• 357
Some Conclusions ... ... •«•
Index ..• #.. ... ••« ••• 365

all rru raJfaJ inJ raJ \M\ raJ raJ r^T^J raJ Kia raJ raJ raJ raJ raJ ISM raj raJ r^ raJmT
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
The Good Shepherd, Lateran Museum, about a.d. 300
Frontispiece
"
Capital of Pilaster supporting the Triumphal Arch"
OF the Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian, Diarbekr 35
Church at Chaqqa, Syria ... ... ... ... 37
Arch of Constantine, Rome ... ... ... 50
The Maison Carri&e at Nimes... ... ... ... 55
The Church of St. Paul without the Walls, Rome.
After the Fire ... ... ... ... ... 59
The Church of Bethlehem ... ... ... 62
Plan of St. Clement's, Rome ... ... ... ••• 67
The Church of St, Clement, Rome ... ... 68
Church of Babouda, Syria ... ... ... ••• 7^
Church of Baqouza ... ... ... ... 72
Church of Tourmanin, Syria ... ... ... ... 73
From a House Front, Central Syria ... ... 74
Plan of George, Ezra, Syria
St. ... ... ... 81
Church of St. George, Ezra, Syria ... ... 82

Roman Funeral Urn ... ... ... •• ••• 102
Ambulacrum with Loculi and Entrance into Cubicula,

Cemetery of St. Cecilia, Rome ... ... ... 109
A LocuLus closed with Slabs of Stone ... ... "o

xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
a loculus partly opened ... ... ... ... ho
a loculus closed with an inscribed marble slab ho
The Tomb ok the Empress Helena ... ... ... 133
Tomb at HAss, Central Syria ... ... ... 134.
Subterranean Sepulchre at Mondjeleia, Central Syria 137

A Christian Monument at Prymnessos, Phrygia ... 139
Plan of Chapel in the Cemetery in Via Ardentiana,
Rome ... ... ... ... ... ... 147
Tomb at Adowa, Abyssinia ... ... ... 148
The Raising of Lazarus ... ... ... ... 154
Wall-painting of St, Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, from
the Cemetery of Callistus, Rome ... ... 157
Painted Ceiling of One of the Chambers of the Ceme-
tery OF St. Callistus... ... ... ... 161
Ceiling, from the Catacombs ... ... ... ... 163

Fresco Painting, from the Cemetery of St. Callistus 174
Our Lord as the Giver of the Divine Word. Fifth
Century ... ... ... ... ••• •• i93
Wall-painting, from the Cemetery of Pontianus,
Rome ... ... •• ••• ••• ••• ^97
Wall-painting, from the Church of the Nativity,

Bethlehem ... ... .• ••• ... 198
Scribbling on the Wall, Palatine Hill, Rome ... 199

Miniature Painting, from the MS. Syrian Gospels, by
RABULA ... ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 202
Monumental Inscription at Sivaux, France ... 203

Monumental Inscription in the Roman Catacombs ... 203
The Sacred Monogram ... ... ... ...
203
Glass Vessel embedded in the Mortar of a Loculus,
with Palm Branch ... ... ... ... 208
Orpheus. From the Cemetery of Domitilla, Rome ... 211
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Callistus, Rome 227

Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Marcellinus. An
Orante clad in Chasuble ... ... ... 235
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Soter, Rome ... 236
Inscription on Marble ... ... ... ... 236
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. C.^xilia, Rome ... 237
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv
PAIB
Painting from the Upper Cemetery of St. Gennaro,
Naples ... ... ... ... ... ... 239
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Callistus, Romei! 243
Orante and Child, the so-called Madonna of the
Cemetery of St. Agnes ... ... ...
244
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Callistus, Rome ... 245
The Good Shepherd. Statue in the Lateran Museum 254
From a Sarcophagus in the Cathedral, Tortona,
Fourth Century ... ... ... ... ... 257
Statue of St. Hippolytus, Lateran Museum ... 258
From the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, a.d. 359 ... 263
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, a.d 359 ... ... 269
Sarcophagus of Anicius Probus, a.d. 395 ... ... 271
Sarcophagus the Lateran Museum, late Fourth
in
or Fifth Century ... ... ... ... 273
Sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum ... ...
275
Sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum ... ... 277
End of Sarcophagus of Archbishop Theodorus, St.
Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna. Seventh Century 278
Mosaics in the Apse of the Ancient Church of the
Vatican ... ... ... ... ... ... 2S9
Mosaic from the Tomb of Galla Placidia, Ravenna 292
Upper Gallery, Church of St. Vitalis, Ravenna ...
293
The Empress Theodora: St. Vitalis, Ravenna ... 294
Ivory Diptych at the Cathedral, Monza ... To face 298
A Pax of the Eighth Century, Cividale, Friuli 300
Gilded Glass Vessel, from the PvOman Catacombs. Side
View ... ... ... ... ... ...
305
Gilded Glass Vessel, from the Roman Catacombs. Full
View ... ... ... ... ... ... 305
Gilded Glass Vessel: " Pompeiane, Teodora, Vi-
b(v)atis" ... ... ... ... ... ... 306
Gilded Glass Vessel: "Angne" ... ... ... 307
Gilded Glass Vessel. Bust surrounded by Twelve
Figures ... ... ... ... ... ... 30S
The Ascension : from the Syrian Gospels, by Rabula,
A.D. 586 (?) ... ... ... ... ... 315
XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Ampulla, at Monza ...
Water- VESSEL from North Africa
Buckle of a Belt. Daniel in the Lions' Den, and an
Orante 332
Clay Lamp, with xp Ornament 334
Coin of Septimus Severus 337
Coin of Constantine the Great ... 338
Coin of Constans 340
Coin of Justin I, ... 341
Coin of Licinia Eudoxia, Wife of Valentinian IH. 341
Medallion of the Eighth or Ninth Century 342
St. Paul and St. Peter (Bronze) 343
Leaden Medallion 343
Early Christian Rings ... ••• ...
345
^F^:t;tit:t
RjîiiiiJ:iJdiiii+ii;i-+-4; + :fl:4-4-l-I^H
:
HISTORY
OF
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART,
CHAPTER I.

Definition of " Christian art "—Early Christian art was Greek art; in
its decadence ; its historical interest— Scope of this book.
T may be well to explain, to begin with,

that by the phrase Christian art is meant
art apph'ed to Christian uses. The
Christianity is in the subjects, not in the
style. Artists cannot invent a new style to order,
or at will. A man must utter his thoughts, how-
ever novel they may be, in the language of his time.
The Evangelists and Apostles had a new revelation
to convey, but they had perforce to express its
mysteries in the Greek which was the lingua franca
B
2 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
of their age. So if a man undertake to express facts

or thoughts in painting or sculpture, it must be in
the art of his time the early Christian artists had

;
ito present their subjects in the style of art which

Kwas then in current use. Language indeed grows
and changes, but slowly, under certain influences ;
so does art change, slowly, under the influence of new
needs, materials, methods of construction, moods of

thought, and feeling and the climax of the history
;
of early Christian art is the actual emergence of a

new phase of art under the gradual influence of all
these causes.
f Art all over the civilized world at the time of the
t Christian era vvasGreek art. The Macedonian con-
quests had spread Greek civilization and art over

the East the Romans had adopted them from
;
conquered Greece, and carried them forward with

lessgenius of conception and less refinement of taste ;
I
and, beyond the slow process of natural decadence,
art underwent no changes in Roman hands. At
the beginning of the Christian era this art had
already passed its highest point of excellence ; but
the architects of the time of Augustus could still
decorate the Forum with temples imitated from and

hardly inferior to the best of the ancient temples
of Greece the sculptors produced fine replicas of
;
the great works of earlier art and the original ;
statues of imperial and noble persons which peopled

Rome had great dignity in the pose, skill in the
broad handling of the robes, and especially great
power of portraiture. Few examples of the painting
of the period have survived, and those chiefly the

less serious works which were used in domestic
decoration enough, however, remains in the house

;
of Livia on the Palatine, at Pompeii, and elsewhere,

to prove that the artists possessed great technical
skill and abundant graceful fancy.
But by the time that the Christian Church needed
to employ the arts in its service, the decaSfehCfe of
^ctSssicat''arT'lTa3'TuTI}rêr in,'~1and the decline con-

tinued through several centuries. Moreover, the
j
Christian artwork which has survived is not equal
to the contemporary work of heathen art. The
j
\ circumstances of the early Church made it unlikely

that should obtain, " for
it love or money," the
services of the greater artists who were busy building
and adorning the palaces of Roman patricians, and of
plundering proconsuls and procurators. So that the
early art we have to do with here is poor and
debased compared with the earlier classical art, and
effete and feeble compared with that of later
ages,
when Christian civilization had at length wrought
for itself a new style in which to express its
mind and
(out soul. This early Christian art, with all
its defects, is, however, of the highest interest to us,

because it the autograph record in art language
is
of the history of the Church of those times, its

doctrines, worship, manners and customs, hopes and
aspirations. And those times were times of especial
interest in the history of the Church :
first, the three
ages before the Church was allied with the State ;
then the three ages during which all the great

Doctors and Fathers of the Church taught ;

while
the Church was still in external unity, and its life-
blood circulated freely throughout its vast extension.

In the latter part of the period of the decline of
classical art the phenomena are not merely those
of decline ;
there present themselves indications of
a new initiative — new modes of treatment, a growing
boldness and vigour of originality, new plans in
architecture, new subjects in pictorial art, a disregard

of the naturalistic conception and treatment of Greek
art and in its place the mystic conception and
suggestive treatment of the Byzantine art. There

is a wide borderland between the two, in the upper
part of which Byzantine feeling is making itself felt,

and in the lower classical tradition still survives.
,A history of early Christian art is bound to note the
rise of the Byzantine school while it pursues with
interest the late survivals of the earlier school.
CHAPTER 11.

The Upper Room at Jerusalem reconstructed; a service in it ; dignity
of the room and service ;
it was the Church of the Apostles —The
firstChurches were the Cceracula or Atria of the houses of wealthy
—
Christians Examples at Antioch in the Recognitions of Clement ;
at Rome in the Acta of St. Pontus ; at Bourges in
Gregory of
Tours, in the Dialogues of Lucian —
Plan of a Grecian and Roman
—
house These rooms in houses were often given to or acquired by
the Church ; and continued to be used as public Churches ; and
rebuilt on the same site.
HE history of Christian art, i.e. art applied

to Christian uses, begins with the birth
of the Church, on the great Day of]
Pentecost, in the upper room of Mary's j
house at Jerusalem.
Let us try to reconstruct this upper room. A
typical Eastern house of the better class is usually
built round an open court, which is paved with
marble, and has a marble tank or fountain in the

middle. Sometimes trees planted near the tank rise
to a considerable height, seeking air and sun, and
spread out their foliage, giving a pleasant shade ;
round the sides of the court are disposed shrubs in

great boxes, or a border of flower beds and climbing ;
plants half clothe the walls. In one corner is a kind

of room, open on one side to the court, rising through
the two stories of the house up to the flat roof, its
floor raised two or three feet above the pavement of
the court, with a stone or marble bench round its three
sides. This is the divan, where the master of the house
usually receives visits of courtesy or of business.* An

external stone stair along another side of the court
gives access to a balcony f at the height of the

second story. And from this balcony opens a large
room which is the great reception-room on occasions
of ceremony or festivity. This is our Upper Room,
in Graek virepwov, in Latin cosnaciihim.
Now Mary, the mistress of the house, apparently
at this time a widow, was the sister of Barnabas the
Levite. Josephus states at the beginning of his Auto-
biography that the priests were the aristocratic caste
"of his nation ;
the Levites were the second order
of this aristocratic caste; and Mary was of aLevitical
family. Her brother Barnabas had not only the
emoluments of his office, but was also a landowner in
Cyprus, and appears from the whole narrative to

*
Our Lord was probably sitting here when they let down the
paralytic through the roof above, so that the sick man alighted on this
raised platform at the feet of Jesus, between those who sat round the
divan and the crowd who stood in the court (Luke v. i8, 19),
t On theof Pentecost the Apostles probably came out of the
Day
upper room upon this balcony, and thence Peter addressed the crowd
in the court below, and perhaps on the flat housetops around. The
fountain in the middle of the court would afford water for the
baptism
of the three thousand (Acts ii. 14).
have been a person of some distinction. Mary, his
widowed was probably a person of some social

sister,
consideration and wealth, for she resided in the capital,
and her house was a large one, since its ccenaailuin
would contain at least one hundred and twenty
persons. Herod the Great, half a century before, had
introduced into Jerusalem a taste for sumptuous
architecture in the prevailing classical style of art,
and the large and lofty reception-room of Mary would

possibly be in the prevailing taste ;
adorned with i
pilasters and cornices, its wall-panels and ceiling

ornamented with painting. It would make a very
convenient church, as the Royal Chapel at Whitehall
did, which was built for a banqueting hall.
An Eastern reception-room has little more perma-
nent furniture than the low bench which runs along
one or more of its sides, so that there was nothing
to interfere with an assembly of people; and since
Eastern congregations always staTidto_worship^ there
was nothing lacking for their accommodation.
Having reconstructed the room, let us go a little
further and assist at one of the Christian assemblies
in it — the early morning assembly for the Breaking
of the Bread. On this occasion some furniture is
required ;
at least a plate for the bread, a cup for the
wine, and a table to place them upon.

Now, the people of those times did not possess the
facilities which we have for investing surplus wealth
at interest. The accumulated wealth of well-to-do
people was not shape of scrip and shares, but

in the
of actual silver and gold and gems. But instead of

keeping all this precious metal and these beautiful

stones hidden, it was the custom to use them much
more largely than we are in the habit of doing in the
form of personal decorations and of ornamental furni-
ture. A wealthy household would have a very much
larger display of precious vessels in common use
than
a household of similar- station and means among
ourselves. In supplying the vessels necessary for the
solemn Memorial of the Sacrifice of the Son of God
a natural feeling of reverence would lead Mary to
select the best in her possession. We know the kind
of vessels in common use at the time, and recognize
that the "paten" and "chalice" would very
first
possibly be a tazza and a cup of silver or gold, perhaps

adorned with gems, and made beautiful in form and
ornamentation by the best skill of the goldsmith.
The tables of the same time often consisted of a
marble slab supported by an ornamental frame of
bronze and such a one would be convenient for the
;
use in question.
Convenience would dictate that the table should
be placed at the upper end of the room. The Apostles
would naturally stand behind it^âsjhe ministrg,jUs,»-
while the people would stand in reverent order in the
body of the room, the men by themselves and the

women by themselves ;
this was the arrangement
directed by our Lord in the miracles of the feeding
of the multitudes, which were types of this spiritual
feeding of the people. Look at the dress of the

Apostles, for it is the earliest authority for "clerical
vestments." The usual dress of the higher and middle
THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 9
classes at that time in Judsea, as elsewhere, was the

tunic and pallium * on occasions of religion and
;
ceremony their colour was white, and the long tunic 1

was worn, the sleeves of which reached to the wrists and ||
the skirts to the ankles. This is the dress assigned to f
the Apostles in the earliest pictorial representations, ''^
even when the successors of the Apostles had adopted \
other fashions of episcopal costume,f and it is
highly /
probable that it is that which they actually wore % ;
is a costume of such
it
statuesque simplicity of line
and breadth of fold, that artists to this day employ it
to give dignity to their sacred figures.
This, then, is the first presentation of Christian art

in the Church ;
and in the magnitude and architectural
character of the place of assembly, in the costly
beauty of the sacred vessels, in the habit of the
ministers, in the order of the congregation, there was
nothing lacking to the dignity of the Divine service.

We have taken pains to realize this assembly of the
Apostolic Church in the upper room at Jerusalem in
order to combat at the outset the vulgar error that
the early Church affected a studious plainness and
informality in Divine worship and its appointments.

There is not a word of evidence to that effect in the
* The
pallium was a Inrpe nhlnnir pipr^ (^f nin th, lately come into
use instead of the old toga, and was disposed in certain folds about the
person.
t As in the mosaic in SS. Cosmas and Damian at Rome, of the time
of Felix IV. (526-530), and in the mosaics of the same century at
Ravenna.
In the "Recognitions of Clement,"
:|:
viii. 6, about 150 A.D., St.
Peter is represented as saying, "My dress is what you see, a tunic
with a pallium,"
lo HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
Scriptures, or in the early Christian writers, and the

probabilities are to the contrary. The first Christians
were Jews, and had been trained in the principles of
Divine worship amid the splendours of the Temple,
and continued to attend the Temple worship. Even
" "
the synagogues for their prayer-meetings were
handsome buildings and suitably furnished. But
the worship of the Church was the continuation of
the solemn liturgical worship of the Temple, not of

the prayer-meetings of the synagogue. When the
[Churchescould do no better they worshipped in the
'open air or in a cave, and knew that their worship

" "
in spirit and would be acceptable to the
in truth
Most High but when they could do better, they

;
thought the best which they could do was only a

suitable outward expression of their reverence. This
principle of Christian worship is sanctioned by

our
Lord's approval of Mary of Bethany's act of worship
in anointing with the precious ointment, and
His feet
by His implied rebuke of Simon the Pharisee's neglect

of the ceremonious courtesies usually offered to an
honoured guest.
highly probable that this Upper Room was

It is
the usual place of assembly of the innermost circle of

the disciples ;
that there the Lord celebrated the last
Passover and instituted the memorial of the breaking

*
of the bread there the disciples assembled on the
;
evening of the great Easter Day,t and on the follow-

ing Sunday % there the election of Matthias to the
;
Luke xxii. I2. t John xx. 19. J John xx. 26.

THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. ir
Apostleship* took place; there the disciples assembled

every day after the Ascension in prayer for the coming
of the promised Comforter ; f and there, on the day
/i'of Pentecost, they were baptized with the Holy Ghost
(I
and with fire, and the Church began to be.
^^ It is highly probable^'tRat the Upper Room thus
consecrated continued to be used for the assemblies

of the Church and for its worship ;
that it was there
"at the house" that the disciples daily broke the
bread, that is to say, celebrated the Eucharist ;% that I
this was the house which was supernaturally shaken f
in answer to their prayers § there the Church kept ; \
up its ceaseless intercession for Peter while in prison ; ||
there the seven deacons were ordained ; If there the

first council was held,** For there is an early tradition >
that the house of Mary was at length entirely given *.
over to the Church ;

and under the name of the
Ccenaculum, or of the Church of the Apostles, it \
continued to be the most venerated of the churches
|
of Jerusalem down to the fourth century and /
-^
later.ft
We meet with other notices in the writings of the
New Testament of the use of these upper rooms for
Christian assemblies. Dorcas was '"•^'laM^ TTOt:'^ to
* Ac's i. 15. t Acts ii.

J Acts ii. 46.
§ Actsiv. 23-31. II Actsxii. 12, f Actsvi. 6.
** Acts XV.
4-6.
tt St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (a.d. 347), seems to say that the
"Upper Church of the Apostles" of his time was this Room Upper
("Catechetical Lectures," xvi. 4). In the group of buildings on the
southern brow of Zion, now known as the Ccenaculum, is a
large
upper room fifty feet by which
thirty, is supposed to represent, if not
actually to be, this venerable room.
receive the last honours in an upper room,* very
possibly that in which the Christians of Joppa were

accustomed to assemble. The Church at Troas was
used to assemble an upper room, on the first day
in
of the week, for the breaking of the bread. f It is-
probable that in all the cases in which we have

notices in the New Testament of the Church in the
house of Such-an-one, what is implied is not the
prayer-meeting of a circle of Christian friends, but
the general assembly of the Church of that city,
regularly held in the house of some wealthy convert.^

For there is sufficient evidence that in the period
before the Christian communities were able to erect
public churches for their meetings, it was the regular

practice everywhere to hold the assemblies for Divine
worship in the house of one of the brethren ; usually
(aswas natural) in the house of a Christian of wealth
and distinction, because its large rooms afforded
ample accommodation to the Church. There were
probably more early converts of the higher classes than
is popularly apprehended. St. Paul indeed says §
that "not many wise, not many mighty, not many

noble," were among the disciples of his time but ;
some there" were. At the very first, among those

who believed in the Christ were the nobleman of
Capernaum, who is probably the same as Chuza,
II
Herod's steward H the centurion of Capernaum

; ;
Joseph and Nicodemus, members of the Sanhedrim ;
* Acts ix. 37. t Acts XX. 8-
X Acts xviii. 7 J
Rom. xvi, 15 ;
I Cor. xi.18, 22 ; xiv. 23 ; xvi. 19}
Col. iv. 15.
§ I Cor. 1. 26. 11 John iv, 46. \ Luke viii. 3.
later,the treasurer of Ethiopia and the centurion of

—
Caesarea one of the patrician Cornelii ; still later,
"
Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, the most
"
excellent Theophilus of Antioch, Dionysius the
" "
Areopagite, to say nothing of the chief women of
"
Thessalonica, and the honourable women which
"
were Greeks not a few at Berea ; lastly, members
of the noble Roman families, Pudentian, Pomponian,
"
Anician, and others, culminating in them of Caesar's
*
household," a phrase in which recent discoveries
have enabled us to include Flavius Clemens and his
wife Flavia Domitilla, the former the cousin and the
latter the niece of the Emperor Domitian.
Other recent discoveries in the Roman catacombs f
have proved that the Manius Acilius Glabrio, who
was included in the same indictment and sentence with
Flavius Clemens, was also a Christian with members
of his family. This family attained celebrity about
200 years B.C., when Acilius Glabrio the consul con-
quered the Macedonians. Towards the end of the
Republic they were established on the Pincian PI ill,
where they had a palace and large gardens, and were
so greatly esteemed that Pertinax, in the memorable
sitting of the senate in which he was elected emperor,

declared them to be the noblest race in the world.
Manius Acilius Glabrio was consul with Trajan in
the year 91 A.D., and in this very year he was com-
pelled by Domitian to fight with a lion and two

bulls inthe amphitheatre adjoining the emperor's
villa at Albanum. He survived the combat, and was
• See
p. 115. f See p. 117.
banished. But four years afterwards, A.D. 95, he was

condemned, and executed, together with Flavius
tried,
Clemens and others, on the charge of having embraced
the customs and persuasion of the Jews.
Recent discoveries have also put beyond a doubt
it
that Pomponius Gra^cina, the wife of Aulus Plautius,

the conqueror of Britain, was a Christian. An inscrip-
tion bearing the name nOMnONIOC TPHKEINOO
has been found in the cemetery of Callistus, together
with other records of the Pomponii Attici and Bassi.

Some scholars think that Graecina, the wife of Aulus
Plautius, is no other than Lucina, the Christian
matron, who interred her brethren in Christ in her

own property, at the second milestone of the Appian
Way.
Other evidence of the conquests made by the gospel
among the patricians is given by an inscription dis-
covered in 1866, in the catacombs of Praetextatus,
near the monument of Quirinus the martyr. It is
a memorial raised to the memory of his departed

wifeby Postumius Quietus, consul A.D. 272. Here
alsowas found the name of Urania, daughter of
Herodes Atticus, by his second wife Vibullia Alcia,
while on the other side of the road, near St. Sebastian,
a mausoleum has been found, on the architrave of
which the name URAN10E[VM] is engraved.
Eusebius, in speaking of the martyrs of the Flavian
family, quotes the authority of the historian Bruttius.
He evidently means Bruttius Praesens, the friend of
the younger Pliny, and the grandfather of Crispina
the Empress of Commodus. In 1854, near the
entrance to the Flavian crypt, was found a fragment

of a stone sarcophagus with the name of Bruttius
Crispinus, so that the Flavian family and that of

their historian were united in the proximity of their
villas and tombs and by community of religion.
There also occur the names of several Cornelii,
Caecihi, and ^milii, the flower of Roman nobility,
grouped near the graves of St. Caecilia and Pope

Cornelius; of Liberalis, 2, consul sujfectiis* and a
martyr, whose remains were buried in the Via
Salaris;
of Jallia Clementina, a relative of Jallius
Bassus, consul before A.D. 161 of Catia Clementina,
;
daughter or relative of Catius, consul A.D. 230, not

to speak of persons of equestrian rank whose names
have been collected in hundreds.f
The
subject of these domestic churches is of such
general interest that it is worth while to illustrate it
in some detail.
The " Recognitions
of Clement," written soon after
the middle of the second century, says that " At
Antioch, by the preaching of St. Peter, within seven

days more than 10,000 men were baptized, so that
Theophilus,t who was more exalted than all the men
of power that were in that city, consecrated the great
hall of his house for a church,§ and a chair {cathedra)
Êlected to supply the place of a consul dying or retiring in his
year of office.
"
t Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome," ii. 9.
'
% The "most excellent Theophilus of St. Luke's dedication of the
Gospel and Acts; "most excellent" was an official title. Tradition
says that St.Luke was a resident in Antioch.
"
§ '^Domus stm ingcntem basilicam ecdesice nomine constcraret (x. 71).
l6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART,
was placed in it for the Apostle, and the whole mul-

titude assembled daily to hear his word."
The writer of a novel, for such is the nature of
the "Recognitions," does not necessarily narrate truths,
but he is careful to make his narrative truth-like we ;
/ infer, therefore, that it was in accordance with the

known facts of the history of the Church, that a man
of rank and wealth should give up "the basilica of his
'
house
"
for a church.*
' "" ~^ —-^
" "
The Acta
of St. Pontus supplies, in the course
of a charming contemporary sketch of Roman life,
another_exain2leof thechurch__in_aji^^
It relates that one day, in his boyhood, as Pontus
was passing at dawn through the streets of Rome,

on the way to his preceptor, accompanied by his
pedagogue and a young companion, he heard singing
from an upper room of one of the houses which they
"
were passing, and distinguished the words, Our God
is in heaven. Their idols are silver and gold,
. . .
the work of men's hands," etc. (Ps. cxv.). Seized

with a sudden impulse, he knocked at the door of
the house. Some looked down from above through
a window,t and saw that it was a child who knocked.
Bishop Pontianus (A.D. 230-235), who was present,

* The house would
probably be the same building, called by
Eusebius o ttjs E/c«A.7/(nas oiKOi, "the house of the Church," in which
Paul of Samosata made so much display of episcopal state, and which
he refused to give up on his deposition from the bishopric for heresy,
until compelled by the intervention of the Emperor Aurelian, A.D, 272.
t The principal windows of an Eastern house look into the interior
courtyard, but there is often a small projecting window overlooking the
street, so that the inhabitants can, as in this instance, ascertain who
comes and goes and knocks.
"
bade that he should be admitted, for of such," he
"
said, is the kingdom of God." Pontius, with his com-
panion Valerius (who is the author of the narrative),
having been admitted, ascended to the coenaciihnn

(the upper room), and seeing that they were cele-
bratmg the Divine mysteries, turned aside till the

service was concluded then Pontianus talked with
;
him, and laid the foundation of his conversion.
Gregory of Tours relates that the missionaries

who planted the church at Bourges in the middle of
the third century, when they had made some converts,
began to cast about for a place for their assemblies
for worship, and sought to obtain possession of the
private house of some citizen for the purpose of con-
verting it into a church but all the senators and

;
wealthier people of the place were still heathen. So

they had recourse to one Leocadius, a man in the
highest position and related to the family of Vettius
Epagathus, who had suffered in the famous persecution
at Lyons a century earlier, and offered to purchase
his house. He became a Christian, and gave his ,
I
house for use as a church. The existing cathedral
of Bourges is the magnificent representative, on the
same ^
site, of the atrium of Leocadius.
I
The satire of an opponent of Christianity affords
us still another example.
In the "Dialogue of Philo-
patris," which goes by the name of Lucian, but is

probably by a later writer, and of date A.D. 363, the
time of the Emperor Julian, one of the characters
relates that he was persuaded to visit some men, who,
he was told, would teach him all mysteries. Pie
C
i8 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
passed through iron doors and by brazen ways, and

having ascended a long roundabout route, he came to
a chamber with gilded ceiling, such as Homer tells of
the house of Menelaus.* He saw no Helen, however,
but only a number of men with pale countenances
bent towards the earth. In short, he had been in-
duced to visit a Christian assembly. This description
of the satirist is no doubt imaginary, but it is better
evidence for our purpose than an isolated fact, because
his storywould certainly be founded upon what was
known to be the general custom of the Christians.
The Christians at Cirta, North Africa, were using a
house for their assemblies at the time of the outbreak
of the Diocletian persecution.
The housesof Greece and Rome were built on a

differentmodel from the Eastern house which has
been described, and in houses of this plan it would
be the atrium which would be used for the place of
assembly, and it is this atrium which afforded the
type of the churches of the first six centuries. .
In the sketch plan of a Greek or Roman house

"
given in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities," -f* the visitor passes first through an
outer court, which is sometimes surrounded by a
colonnade, and has a fountain in the middle. He
* "There was a radiance like that of the sun or moon throughout
the huge vaulted hall of renowned Menelaus, .the gleam of bronze
. .
and of gold, of amber and of ivory" (" Odyssey," bk. iv.).

t The prehistoric palace at Tiryns (Smith's
"
Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Antiquities") and the first-century houses at Pompeii
(Lanciani, "Pagan and Christian Rome," Ii4)jbear witness 'to the
persistency of this normal plan.
enters into the atrium, the commonreception-room.

It is always large in proportion to the size of the
house, for, as in the halls of our Saxon ancestors, the
indoor life of the family was for the most part trans-
acted in it.
Frequently it was divided into a nave
and by two rows of columns, which sustained
aisles
the roofs. Beyond, it was the tablimim, or

supper-
room, which was only divided from the atrium by
a curtain. The outer court, atrium, and tablinum,
formed the principal body of the house besides ;
these,were usually a room on each side of the

tablinum, some small rooms on each side of the
atrium opening from it, and receiving their only light
through their doors and sometimes a second story
;
of small rooms over these. The houses of Pompeii

afford many examples of houses of this plan still
standing.
At Corinth, when St. Paul desisted from his preach-
ing in the synagogue, he separated the believers, and
formed them into a Church, which " came together
into one place" for worship (i Cor. xiv. 23), probably
in the house of Justus (Acts xviii. 7). Now, Justus
was a Gentile, and the house of a well-to-do Gentile
in the lately rebuilt city of Corinth would be of the
usual plan and architectural style of the period. The
Christian congregation would pass through the outer
court into the atrium. The reader may accompany
them, and study the place and people. On the further
side of the open-air court, by a short passage through
the house, he enters the atrium. It is a large and lofty
hall ;
two rows of pillars support the roof, which is
open in the middle for light and air ;

the walls are
divided by pilasters to correspond with the columns,
and the wall panels are decorated with paintings, like
those in the house of Livia, or in the houses at
Pompeii. At the further end, when the

curtain is
withdrawn, the eye travels into the tablinum,* which

is like a chancel its table is already conveniently
;
placed for the approaching Breaking of the Bread,

the necessary vessels are already placed upon it, and
the Apostle Paul and his assistant ministers, Silas and
Timotheus, are seated behind it, waiting for the time

to begin. The hall would be destitute of furniture,
'
and the people would stand, the men on the left
hand and the women on the right, the men with their
.heads uncovered, the women with the usual head-
/veil,which partly concealed the face. Mere con-
venience would dictate that the Divine service should
be performed in the tablinum, and the sermon
preached thence ;
the people would come up to the
tablinum, and there, standing, would receive the con-

secrated food, as they now do in all the churches of
the East. Thus naturally grew the plan of the
church and the order of its service.
There is abundant evidence that the Churches

continued to assemble for Divine worship in private
houses, not only during the ages of persecution, but
/
long after the decrees of Constantine had given
* This
custom of screening the tablinum from the atrium by a
curtain was perhaps the oiigin of the custom of the early Church to
place a curtain before the apse, which was drawn and withdrawn in
different portions of the services.
universal peace to the Church. It was natural that

it should be The so. buildings, as we have seen,
whether upper room or atrium, were sufficiently
spacious to contain a
considerable congregation,
sufficiently dignified architecturally for a church, and

endeared to the Christian community by long years
of the most sacred associations. There, in the
tablinum, saints and martyrs had celebrated the
Divine mysteries and had preached the Word ; there,
in the atrium, this and that illustrious person
had stood to worship there their parents and rela-
;
tives had worshipped there they themselves had

;
firstbeen brought to the assembly of the faithful.

No wonder that the place had become to them a
sacred place, " none other than the House of God,
and the very gate of heaven." It is probable that in
some cases the whole house had been given to the
Church. We see something like this adumbrated very
Mary's house at Jerusalem. The
early in the case of
owners of the house, ex hypothesi zealous Christians
and wealthy people, would be moved by natural piety
to feel that a building so long dedicated to sacred
purposes should not return to secular uses, and would

give it to the
Church; or the Church, desirous to
retain a building so endeared to them by its venerable
associations, would seek to possess it, if necessary by
purchase. The place so long used for the assembly
of the congregation would still be used as the church,
and the rest of the house would afford a dwellins:-
place to the bishop, or to some of the clergy, or
would serve some similar Church use. Thus there
is an extant
letter of Pius I. (a.D. 142-157), Bishop
of Rome, which inhe states that Euprepia, a pious

widow, had assigned her house over to the Church,
"where dwelling with the poor we celebrate the
Divine offices."
The natural sequel would be that, in course of time,

these houses would be taken down and larger churches
would be built upon their venerable sites. The
ancient and credible tradition at Rome is that several
of its most ancient churches were thus built upon the
sites of houses in which first the Church assembled
by permission of the owner, then the owner gave the

house to the Church, and lastly, larger churches were
built upon the site.
St. Prisca is traditionally said to occupy the site of

the house in which St. Prisca was baptized by St.
Peter, and the first church to have been built by

Bishop Eutychianus, A.D. 280. The interesting church
of St. Clement is said to have been built upon the
siteof the house of Flavius Clemens, of the imperial
family. The Pudens saluted by St. Paul, in his

Epistle to Timothy (2 Tim. iv. 21), is said to have
been the distinguished senator of that name, in whose
house St. Paul is said to have lived and the grandson ;
of this Pudens, Pius Bishop of Rome from a.d. 142

I.,
to 157, is said to have converted part of the family

*
mansion into a church, of which the existing church
of St. Pudentiana is the successor. Its proper name
is the Church of Pudens, and it is so called in an
inscription on the book held by the figure of our

* Part of the house still remains (Lanciani).
THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE, 23
Lord the apse, for the early Christians called their

in
churches after the name of their founder. Part of the

Anician Villa on the Via Latina was converted into
a church in the fourth century by Demetrias, the
daughter of Anicius Hermogenianus, prefect of the
city (368-370), and of Tyrrania Juliana, the friend
of Augustine and Jerome, The remains of villa and
church were discovered in 1857.*
*
Lanciani, "Pagan and Christian Rome." . / ''^
V(5U
\;:^ \AsA^
i!m\m\mm\mmB^f^}mm\mm\mm\mm\mmm-\m\mm}mm\mmm
CHAPTER III.
THE PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE CONSTANTINE.

That the Churches worshipped in the catacombs during the ages of
—
persecution an error Tlie persecutions partial and brief; in the
intervals the Church living and worshipping freely —
First public
church in Rome probably in the time of Alexander Severus
— —
(222-235) Toleration of Gallienus Church organization in Rome
— Forty public churches in Rome in the time of Diocletian ; in
other places—The arrangements of the first public churches derived
from the houses in which the Christians had been accustomed to
assemble.
HERE is a very widespread belief that

there were no public churches before
Constantine ;
that during the first three
centuries Christianity was under such
continuous persecution, that its adherents were driven
to worship in secrecy and concealment in caves and
catacombs, or in holes and corners of one another's

houses.
The error has an
important bearing upon our
subject, for a community in such a condition could
have no thought to spare for art. It has a more
important bearing upon the whole history of the
PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE CONSTANTINE. 25
Church, for men in the condition supposed, however

fervent their personal piety, could have no freedom
to embody their principles in institutions, to develop
their beliefs and sentiments and aspirations into

manners and customs, to express their inner life
of thought and feeling, as free human nature

will In such a case, we
do, in their surroundings.
should have had to reckon with two results first, :
that the condition of the Church before Constantine

could not be accepted as a model of what the Church,
freely and fully grown and developed, should be ;
and next, that the Church after Constantine would

lieunder the suspicion of having suddenly developed,
not freely and independently, but under the influence
of imperial patronage.
Whereas the truth is that, while Christians were
always liable to individual molestation, and local
Churches did suffer from occasional persecutions, and
while this might serve to keep off the half-hearted
and to brace the spiritual nerve of those who really
believed, there was not enough of continuous general
persecution to warp or hamper the natural growth of
the life of the Church.
There are two points to be noticed the chronic —
danger in which all Christians lived, and the special
danger of the occasional systematic persecutions.
,/ Christianity was at first a " new superstition," ex-
clusive, unsocial, mysterious, which excited suspicion
and dislike. Being a religio illicitaâ religion un-
recognized by the law, its professors were liable at
any moment to be brought before the magistrates
on that charge. The condition of the Christians,

till after the edict of Gallienus (a.d. 260), was
always precarious, and there were many examples
of suffering for conscience sake in all parts of the
empire. Informers sometimes, moved by cupidity
or malice, brought the accusation against indi-
viduals the fanaticism of the people sometimes, on
;
the occasion of public calamity, clamoured against

the Christians as atheists, who provoked the anger of
the gods against those who tolerated them. But the
emperors Trajan and Hadrian issued edicts against
these individual delations and these riotous out-
breaks and the Christians in time lived down the
;
popular suspicion and dislike, and, except in times of

systematic persecution, exercised their religion freely
and lived unharmed among their neighbours.
The authorized persecutions were few in number,

brief in duration, and occupied in the aggregate a
very small space out of the three centuries over which
they extended. Nero's persecution in the year
64 A.D. was a solitary act of wanton tyranny which
did not extend beyond Rome. It is not till halfway
through the three centuries that Marcus Aurelius_

ordered the first general procedure against the
professors of the new faith, which extended over
about twenty years (161-180) of his reign, and ceased
at his death. Septimius Severus, about two years
before the close of his reign (209-211), provoked at
finding men and women of the highest rank becoming
Christians, issued an edict forbidding his subjects to
become Jews or Christians, and renewed the law
" "
against close associations ; but this edict was
rescinded by his successor, Alexander Severus (222-
235) had a statue of Christ, among those of other
great religious teachers, in his private oratory, and
favoured Christianity and Philip the Arabian
;
(244-
249) was so friendly to Christians that he was
suspected of being a secret convert. There were
partial outrages against Christians under Maximin
(235-238). Decius ma-de a serious attempt to destroy
Christianity entirely, but his action was directed
chiefly against the clergy, and did not continue above
a year (251). The persecution was renewed during the
last three years and a half of the reign of Valerian
(253-260), but on his capture by Sapor (260), his son
Gallienus suspended the persecution, and shortly after
restored the confiscated buildings and property of the
Churches, and gave the Christians freedom of worship ;

there is reason to believe that his wife Salonina was a
Christian. Diocletian himself during the first twenty
years of his reign (284-305) showed great favour
to the Christians. Eusebius tells us that of the
freedmen whom he employed in the management of
the affairs of the empire many were Christians he ;
entrusted to Christians the government of provinces,

and exempted them from the customary sacrifices
which it was their official
duty to attend his wife and ;
daughter were secretly attached to the faith the ;
bishops were recognized and treated with respect by

the magistrates of their cities. In short, the Church
was looking with hope and expectation for the con-
version of the emperor, when, under the influence of
the brutal Gallerius, the last and most dreadful perse-

cution began. The first persecutnig edict was issued
in 303. The tolerance of Constantius and Constan-
tine mitigated the severity of the persecution in the
provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, over which they

ruled. The persecution lasted in the East till 308, and
the last two years were the most prolific of bloodshed.

/AH fear of persecution ceased in the West with the
V conversion of Constantine in 312; vexatious pro-
ceedings were continued in the East until the final
victory of Adrianople (323) made Constantine sole
1/ master of the Roman world.

/; If the reader will take the trouble to consider this
brief summary he will find that there was no general
official action against the Christians till 161, and that
it ceased with the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180.
From the death of Marcus Aurelius to the reign of
Decius the Church had peace for eighty years, with
the short interruption of Severus's unfavourable
action, which only lasted about two years the ;
Decian and Valerian persecutions occupy about eight

years (25 1-260) and again, from the death of Valerian
;
to the beginning of the Diocletian persecution, there

was another interval of forty years of unbroken
peace, and during those years the Church was not
only tolerated by official indifference but was some-
times encouraged by imperial favour.*
• In times of
persecution most likely the Churches met in secret
places. Thus Gregory of Tours (lib. x. 31) says that Gatianus, the
first Bishop of Tours, in the time of Decius, concealed himself on
account of the attack of great men who overwhelmed him with ill-
treatment, and celebrated secretly in crypts and hiding-places the
PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE CONSTANTINE, 29
During these long intervals of peace the Church

was freely and independently growing in numbers,
wealth, and consideration. The congregations
assembled without any secrecy in the houses where
their worship was conducted ; and later on they built
churches in the cities, and possessed themselves of

suburban cemeteries in which they erected chapels
and monuments; till at length this great organization,
rapidly growing numbers, wealth, and influence in

in
every part of the world, including all ranks and

classes, bound together by a bond of sacred fraternity,
possessed of a spirit of self-devotion to the cause,

and a burningzeal of proselytism, seemed to Roman
statesmen to constitute a serious danger to the State,
In these long intervals of peace the Churches made
free use of the arts and applied them to their require-
ments ;
while the individual martyrdoms and general
persecutions have left their marks upon the art history

of the times.
To return to the special question of Christian

architecture before Constantine, it was probably in
the interval of peace after the death of Septimius
Severus, under the favour of Alexander Severus,
that the Christian communities first openly began
to build churches.
In the reign of Alexander Severus (222-235) there
was a dispute between the Christians of Rome and
the Guild of the Popinarii —the Taverners — about the
Mystery of the Solemnity of the Lord's Day to the few converts whom
he had made.
possession of a plot of land, on which one proposed

to build a church and the other a tavern it was ;
referred to the emperor, who gave his decision in
favour of the Christians, saying that it was better

that God
should be worshipped in any form in the
place, than that the place should become the scene of
the license of a tavern. Tradition says that the
church built on this was dedicated by Bishop
site
Callistus, and is now represented by the Church of

St. Maria in Trastavere.
It is very possible that the persecution of Decius

was in part provoked by this growing boldness of the
* but the
Church, and would check it for the time ;
edict of Gallienus, restoring to the Church

property its
and making its worship lawful, was almost an invita-

tion to build places forits worship. It is certain that
before the end of the third century churches had

been built in many of the cities of the Roman empire,
and probably in the eastern countries beyond the
boundaries of the empire, in which also the Church
was flourishing. Lactantiusf relates that in the
"
empire, by the time of the outbreak of the Diocletian
persecution, the numbers of the frequenters of the
churches had so increased that they pulled down the
ancient churches and rebuilt them from the founda-
tion in all the cities, and these buildings were
* A
passage in the "Apostolic Constitutions" (viii. 34) seems to belong
" If it be not
to this period. possible to go to the church on account
of the unbelievers, thou, O
bishop, shalt assemble them in a house, . . .
not possible to assemble in a house, let every one by himself sing
if it is
"
and read and pray, or two or three together.
t
" De Mortibus ch. xii.
Persecutorum,"
PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE CONSTANTJNE. 31
insufficient to contain the increasing multitudes of
worshippers, and in their place more spacious and

stately edifices were erected." The publicity of their
churches and their architectural character is illustrated
by that of Nicomedia, the eastern capital of the
" "
empire, which is described as a magnificent
building, erected on an elevated site in the midst
of the other great buildings of the city, in full view
from the windows of the imperial palace.
There are some interesting notices which help us
to conjecture the growth of Church organization in
Rome. An extant letter of Pius I., Bishop of Rome
(142-157), states that Felix, a presbyter, had given
" *
a titulusy As early as the beginning of the
third century Bishop Evarlstus is said to have
divided the "titles" among the priests and appointed
seven deacons. Fabian (236-251) divided the four-
teen (civic) regiones of Rome among the deacons and
;
there is reason to believe that each region had its

"
titulus, or parish church," and its cemetery ; that
each cemetery had its
chapel^ r basilica : and that
there were two priests to each title, one of whom
ministered in the chapel of the cemetery. DIonysIus
(259-269) is said to have revised this organization ;
Marcellus (308-3 10) constituted twenty-five tituli m

the city of Rome Optatus of Melevia states that
;
there were forty churches in Rome and its suburbs

in the time of Diocletian —
twenty-five in the city
and fifteen in the suburbs.
* I.e. a
permanent church to which priests were appointed, and which
might not be abandoned (Ducange).
The provincesof Gaul, Spain, and Britain were much

behind the ancient, populous, wealthy, and civilized
provinces of the East, and behind Italy but that ;
even in those remote and backward populations there

were, before Constantine, Christian communities, who
had built for themselves churches, we gather from the
statement of Lactantius, that the Csesar Constantius
did not approve of the persecution ordered by Diocle-
"
jtian, and while he destroyed the churches in his
provinces, which could be rebuilt, the true temple
/|
which is in men he preserved." That there were
public churches and cemeteries in Spain and no
hindrance to their free use seems to be proved by
certain Canons of the Council of Illiberis (300 or
301 A.D.) for Canon 21 censures those who should
;
be absent from church for three Sundays Canon 36 ;
prohibits the painting on their walls of sacred persons

or saints ;
and Canon 35 forbids women to attend the
night vigils in the cemeteries, because it was found

to lead to abuses. We
have also proof of the exist-
ence of churches in Africa in the fact that when Con-
stantine became Emperor of the West he gave the
clergy of those regions money for the rebuilding of
their churches which had been destroyed.
When the Church began to erect independent

for its worship,it adhered to the
buildings plan to
which it had so long been accustomed, with such
modifications as convenience suggested. Its architects
found this modified plan ready to their hands in the
basilicas of the Roman magistrates. For the official
was an enlargement of the usual reception-

basilica
rooms of a Roman house, adapted to the needs of a
large public assembly. There the great patrician
received the crowd of clients who waited upon him
daily to pay their respects or to prefer their requests ;
there the Roman magistrate received the crowd of

courtiers and suitors, administered justice, and
transacted his general public business.* It retained
the open court on what we may conveniently

call the west. The great hall was divided by its two
rows of columns, only instead of the centre of the
nave being left open to the weather, it u'as usually
completely roofed over. The ancient tablinum was
modified into an apsidal tribune, which, for the sake
of convenience and dignity, was raised above the
level of the hall, and the opening between them was
spanned by The curule chair of the
a lofty arch.
magistrate was placed upon the elevated platform,

on the chord of the apse, conveniently overlooking
the great hall and a stone bench round the curve of
;
the apse afforded seats for assessors, officials, or visitors

of distinction. A curtain was drawn before the
tribune while the judges consulted. transverse aisle A
or transept sometimes separated the tribune from the
"
rest of the hall. Such a basilica was Herod's judg-
ment hall "1 at Csesarea, where Festus, sitting in his
chair of office, with
Agrippa and Bernice on chairs
beside him, and the chief captains and principal men
of the city on the bench behind, permitted St. Paul
to speak for himself.
*
Compare the basilica of the house of the •'
most excellent Theo
"
philus at Antiodi, p. 15.
I
CHAPTER IV.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE

CONSTANTINE.
Churches in the East; in Central Syria ; in North Africa

; Egypt and
— —
Nubia Description of a Basilican Church The Church at Tyre
— Church symbolism.
I
HEN the architects were required to build
churches for public worship, we have seen
that they adopted the basilican plan, which
retained the architectual arrangement to
which the congregations were accustomed, with just
such modifications as made it still better suited to
Christian worship. We find the plan almost universally
in use from Britain to Nubia, from Spain to Mesopo-
tamia, and it continued in use for centuries, and
indeed continues, in a modified form, down to the
present day. In the thirteenth century it became
usual, in England, to enlarge the semicircular tribune
into the square-ended chancel, in order to
long
transfer the choir into it out of the atrium but ;
the nave and aisles of mediaeval and modern churches

ARCHITECTURE BEFORE CONSTANTINE, ^35
are the old atrium, with Gothic, instead of Grecian,

details.
In looking for the earliest existing examples of these
public churches, we do not necessarily turn to Rome,

where the people, and especially the noble families,
were among the latest to abandon the worship of
Capital of pilaster supporting the "Triumphal Arch" of the Church

of SS. Cosmas and Damian, Diarbekr.
the ancient gods nor necessarily to the

;
empire at
all. There are several other countries where we
might search with better reason. Tradition indicates
a very early acceptance of
Christianity by the kings
of Osrhoene, and it is confirmed the fact that the
by
Abgarus who reigned at Edessa from i6o to 170

replaced the old symbols of the national worship on
his coinage by the symbol of the cross. The Edessans
are said in their chronicle to have had a church
{templum ecclesics Christianorwn) which was destroyed
by a flood in 202 A.D. A
church still exists at Urfa
(Edessa) of basilican plan and with details of good
classical character.*The Church had been planted in
Parthia in Apostolic times, and, sometimes protected,
sometimes persecuted by the Great King, it had
attained considerable magnitude before the age of
Constantine. Two churches exist at Diarbekr f with
capitals of fine and pure classical design at Nisibis ;
is a basilica of early date and in perfect preserva-
tion ;
these may be among the earliest existing
churches, but we need fuller and more accurate infor-
mation about them. Gregory, called Thaumaturgus,

is said to have built a church at Neo-Csesarea in
Pontus Gregory the Illuminator caused three
in 258.
churches to be built at Etchmiadzin, about 300 A.D.,

and under his preaching Armenia had embraced
Christianity as the national religion before the age of
Constantine ; among the ancient churches of these
countries it is possible that some very early examples
may still exist.
The examples which we are able

earliest existing
with any confidence to claim are in Central Syria and

in North Africa.
In Northern and Central Syria are more than a
* "Christians under
the Crescent," p. 81.
t Ibid., p. loi.
ARCHITECTURE BEFORE CONSTANTINE. yj
hundred ruined —or rather deserted — cities; for in
many of them houses, public buildings, churches, and

tombs are so far perfect that a very little labour in
replacing fallen stones, putting on roofs and adding
doors, would restore them to their original condition.
They were built in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth
centuries, were deserted probably at the time of the

Mohammedan conquest early in the seventh century,
have never since been occupied, and remain unaltered
by the hand of man. We shall have to return to this
Church at Chaqqa, Syria.
interesting series of examples of Christian architecture,

but for the present we have only to introduce two
of them which belong to the period with which we
are here immediately concerned. M. de Vogue * thinks
that at Chaqqa to be the earliest, and assigns it to
the end of the second or beginning of the third
century. It differs from the conventional basilican
type. It is 1830 metres from east to west, and
1980 from north to south, the height of the fagade

• "
Syrie Centrale," by Count M. de Vogu^.
being 8"36. The internal colonnades are not, as usual,

of equally spaced columns, but each colonnade con-
sists of a wide central arch with one narrower arch on
each side. De
Vogiie says that there was a gallery
on each side over the side aisles. The construction
is rude, of stone without cement, except in the facade
and pillars.
The basilica at Taffka, which has the
remarkable feature of a tower at the north corner,
is assigned by M. de Vogu6 to the third century.
The section across the church shows that the arches

of the nave reached to the roof; while the side
aisles are divided into two stories, of which the
upper forms a gallery. The entire construction is
of stone ;
the roof, the floors of the galleries, even
the shutters of the windows (of which two remain
171 situ), are of stone.
In North Africa there are also ancient cities so
far perfect that they are more correctly described
as deserted than ruined, as Lamboesis, Thamugas,
Theveste, in Algeria, south of the slopes of the Aures,
and Sufetulu, in Tunisia an account of the remains
;
of the early churches in these countries would occupy

a chapter their foundations may be traced in nearly
;
every town, and occasionally portions of the super-

structure remain. These also are all (or with very
rare exceptions) of the basilican type.
In Egypt, and so far south as Nubia, very ancient
churches are found. The church at Ermet in Egypt,
and that at Ibrim in Nubia, are, perhaps, of the end
of the third or beginning of the fourth century. The
fine basilica of Theveste, built not later than the first
ARCHITECTURE BEFORE CONSTANTINE. 39
century, has certainly been a church since the reign

of Justinian, butit was perhaps originally built for a
civil basilica, and subsequently converted to Christian

uses. One of the earliest which we can claim as
having been built for a church, is at Djemla, in

Algeria. It is a rectangular hall, 92 feet long by 52
feet wide, divided by pillars into a nave and aisles,
with a lofty square enclosure at the upper end, on

the usual site of the chancel. Its floor is covered
with a fine mosaic pavement, so purely classical in

design as to leave no doubt of its early date. Another
very early church at Announa, also in Algeria, is of
the common basilican plan, a body and aisles, about
95 feet square, with a semicircular apse at the upper

end. A basilica at Orleansville, the ancient Castellum
Tingitanum, erected, according to an inscription, in
252 (probably a local era corresponding to A.D. 325),

is 80 feet long by 52 wide, divided by four rows of
pillars into a nave with double aisles, and has an

apse at the lower as well as the upper end. A
church of the usual basilican plan at Oued Gilma, of
the fourth or fifth century, has the novel features of
external buttresses and small windows in the aisle

wa^.
It is clear, then, that the Christian communities from

the first were accustomed to worship in the spacious
and handsome upper rooms, or in the stately pillared
atria, of the houses of wealthy converts ;

and that
at a comparatively early period, they built public
churches, in which they imitated the domestic build-
ings to which they had become accustomed, not only

in general architectural plan and design, but in the
use of marble and bronze, mosaic pavements, and

mural paintings. There is reason to believe that the
sumptuous appointments of the private houses were

also imitated in the furniture of the public churches ;
and that the greater churches sometimes possessed

considerable wealth in gold and silver vessels for
the Eucharistic service, silver lamps, and silken
hangings.*
The following is a detailed description of a basilican
church :
—
The court was
usually approached from the
west by a pronaos or entrance more or less orna-
mented. It was a large open area surrounded by
a pillared cloister, and in the middle was a cantharus

or fountain, at which the people washed their hands
as they came to worship. This was the original of
jf
the holy-water stoop outside the doors of our
medieval churches, into which the people dipped
their fingers.
The church presented on the side of the court
an unpretending fagade, A low portico, a con-
tinuation of the cloister of the atrium, stretched
across the front, and sometimes a long narrow porch
beyond that called the nart]iex,2,\.Q.xx\\ whose derivation

is uncertain. Above the portico were usually three
long round-headed undivided windows, symmetrically
arranged, and above them a round window in the
pediment ;
windows of the same kind were introduced
* See
chapter xix.
in both side walls immediately under the eaves,

which admitted abundance of light. The portals
were usually square-headed, and often decorated with
sculptured architraves taken or copied from older
buildings. The church itself, we have seen, was a
large hall divided by colonnades. The pillars often
supported an architrave which carried the wall above ;
but the arch was more frequent. In either case the

structure was not adapted to vaulting, and was roofed
with timber ;
the rude timber beams which we see
in some
cases are not necessarily original, it is pro-
bable that the original roofs were more ornamentally
finished with timbers carved, coloured, and gilded,
or sheathed in metal ;
we know that the basilica of
Ulpia, for example, was roofed with beams of gilded

bronze. At the upper end of the nave was placed
the choir elevated some feet above the pavement, and
enclosed by from which we get the name
cancelli
of chancel. In the early Oriental churches these

cancelli were made of wood in the West all the
;
examples which remain are of marble, very generally

adorned with that kind of mosaic which is called
opus Alexandrinum. On either side of the choir
stood the atnbones, or pulpits, the loftier and more
richly adorned was usually on the (ritual) north side
from which the deacon read the Gospel, the other on
the south side from which the subdeacon read the
Epistle. From the Gospel pulpit also the Bidding

Prayers were read, and the bishop or priest preached ;
a small pillar in front of it

supported the Paschal
candle.
The sanctuary in the larger churches was divided

from the nave by the triumphal arch. The altar —
—
there was only one stood on the raised platform of
the apse, on the chord of the apse, or a little before
or behind that line, but always well forward from the
east wall, surmounted by its tabernacle or baldachino.
A stone chair, elevated on some steps against the
centre of the east wall, was the throne of the bishop,
and the stone bench round the curve of the wall
formed the seat of his presbyters.
We are able to conclude this series of the ante-
Constantine churches by a contemporary description
of one of them, the earliest detailed description of a
church and its furniture which has come down to us.
A new church was built at Tyre between the years

313 and 332 it ;
was built on the site of a former
—
church though that was not the most advantageous
position which could have been found for it on —
account of the attachment of the people to the old
site. It was built, not by the imperial bounty, for it
must be borne in mind that the imperial favour was

not extended to the Church in the East till the defeat
of Licinius in A.D. 323, but
by the voluntary donations
of the people themselves, under the pious care of
Paulinus, the aged bishop. It is not to be supposed
that all churches were of like magnitude and splen-

dour, for we are expressly told that this was by far
the most noble church at that time in Phoenicia.
Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, the well-known historian
of the early Church, as metropolitan of the province,
dedicated the church, and preached the dedication
sermon, and, with a pardonable vanity for which we

are very grateful, preserved his sermon in his History;
and in his sermon the description of the church
occurs. We give a paraphrase
*
of Eusebius's
account as more generally intelligible than the
rhetorical and somewhat obscure original :
—
"Eusebius states that the bishop surrounded the
site of the church with a wall of enclosure. This
wall, according to Dr. Thomson (' The Land and the
Book,' p. 189, chap, xiii.), can still be traced, and
measures 222 feet in length by 129 in breadth. In
the east side of this wall was a large and stately
entrance, which gave access to a quadrangular atrium ;
thiswas surrounded by ranges of columns, the spaces

between which were filled by net-like railings of wood ;
in the centre of the court was a fountain, at which
those who were about to enter the church purified

themselves {i.e. washed their hands and feet).
"
The church itself was entered through interior por-
ticoes,perhaps a narthex, but whether distinct from
the portico which bounded the atrium on that side,
does not appear. Three doorways led into the nave ;
the central of these was by far the largest, and had

doors covered with bronze reliefs ; the other door-
ways gave entrance to the side aisles. Above these
aisles were galleries, well lighted (doubtless by ex-
ternal windows), and looking upon the nave these ;
galleries were adorned with beautiful work in wood.

The passage is a little obscure, but it seems most pro-
bable that the passage from the galleries into the nave
*
From the •'
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities."
was protected by a balustrade of wood. The nave

was constructed of still richer materials than the rest,
and the roof was of cedar of Lebanon. Dr. Thomson
states that the remains of five granite columns may
still be seen, and that

'
the height of the dome was
eighty feet, as appears by the remains of an arch.'

Nothing which Eusebius says leads to the supposition
that there was a dome, and the arch was probably
the triumphal arch, through which, as in many
basilican churches, a space in front of the apse, some-
thing like a transept, was entered.
"
The building having been in such manner com- )
'
pleted, Paulinus, we are told, provided it with thrones

in the highest places for the honour of the presidents, \
and with benches according to fitness, and, placing

the most holy altar in the midst, surrounded the
whole with wooden net-like railings of most skilful
work, so that the enclosed space might be inaccessible

to the crowd. The pavement, he adds, was adorned
with marble decoration of every kind. Then, on the
outside, he constructed very large external buildings
and halls, which were attached to the sides of the
church, and connected with it by entrances in the
hall lying between. These halls, we are told, were
destined for those who
required the purification
still
and sprinkling of water and of the Holy Ghost.

"
It may not be out of place to extract the
passage
of the sermon in which the preacher makes an
elaborate parallel between the material and the
Church of Tyre. 'The exterior wall he
spiritual
compares to the great mass and multitude of the

people. The doors, to the ostiaries who admit the

people into the building. These he has supported
by the four pillars which are placed without around
the quadrangular atrium, by initiating them in the
first elements of the literal sense of the Four Gospels
Then he stations around
on both sides of the royal
temple, those who are yet catechumens and that
are yet making progress and improvement, though
not very far separated from the inmost view of
Divine things enjoyed by the faithful. Receiving
from among these the souls that are cleansed like
gold by the Divine washing [baptism], he likewise
supports and strengthens those with columns far
better than these external ones, viz. by the inner
mysteries and hidden doctrines of the Scriptures.
He also illuminates them by the openings to admit
the light, adorning the whole temple with one grand
C\ vestibule (?) of adoration to the one only God, the
universal Sovereign exhibiting however, as the

;
second splendour, the light of Christ and of the Holy

Spirit on each side of the Father's authority, and
displaying in the rest, throughout the whole building,
the abundance and the exceeding great excellence
of the clearness and brilliancy of truth in every part.
Having also selected from everywhere and every

quarter the living and moving and well-prepared
stones of the mind, he has built a grand and truly
royal edifice of all, splendid and filled with light

within and without.
" '
And in this temple there are also thrones and
many seats and many benches [for the bishop, priests,
and deacons], and in all the souls in them the gifts

of the Holy Spirit reside, such as anciently were
seen in the holy Apostles, to whom
cloven tongues
as of fire appeared and sat
upon each of them. But
in the chief of all [the bishop] Christ Himself resides
as it were in His fulness. In those that rank next

to Him one shares proportionately
[the priests] each
in the distribution of the power of Christ and of the
Holy Ghost. The souls of those to whom is com-

mitted the care of instruction [the deacons, etc.] may
be seats for angels. Nobler and grand and unique
is the altar, such as should be, sincere and most
holy, the mind and spirit of the priest of the whole
congregation [the celebrant]. That great High Priest
of the universe, Jesus, the only-begotten Son of
God, Himself standing at His right hand, receives
the sweet incense from all, and the bloodless and
immaterial sacrifices of prayer, with a bright and
benign eye and with extended hand bears them to
;
the Father of heaven and God over all. He Him-

self firstadoring Him, and the only one that gives
to the Father the worship that is His due, and then
interceding with Him for us, that He may always

"
continue propitious and favourable to us.'
Notwithstanding a obscurity of language

little
here and there, we

easily catch the meaning of this
interesting early example of ecclesiastical symbolism.
The preacher reaches his climax when he proceeds
to remind his hearers that the material Temple
which they are dedicating, is a figure of the universe,
and this worship of the Church on earth but a faint
echo of the worship which all His intelligent creatures

offer through Christ to God :
—
i
'"Such is the character of this great Temple which
the mighty creative Word hath established
through-
out the whole world, constituting this again a kind
of intellectual image on earth of those
things beyond
the vault of heaven. So that in all His creation,
and by all His intelligent creatures on earth, the
Father should be honoured and adored. But those
regions beyond the heavens are also displays of
what areliere and that Jerusalem above, and that
;
heavenly Sion, and that City of the Living God
beyond our earth, in which* are the mnumerable choir

of angels, and the assembly of the Firstborn written
in heaven, extol their Maker and the Universal
Sovereign of all with praises and hymns inexpressible.
These surpass our comprehension, neither could any
mortal tongue be adequate to express that
glory.
For eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to
conceive those things which God hath prepared for
them that love Him.' "
CHAPTER V.
THE CHURCHES OF CONSTANTINE.

Rome no longer the capital of the empire, and not the centre of
Christian influence —
Constantine's Churches at Rome Basilicas—
not converted into Churches —Temples
seldom converted into
Churches ; their materials used in building Churches on their sites
— Description of St. Peter's, St. Paul's, and St. Agnes' at Rome
—
Constantine's Churches in the East ; at Bethlehem, Jerusalem,
—
Constantinople Effect of Constantine's conversion on Christian art.
HEN Constantine entered Rome, after the

victory at the Milvian Bridge (A.D. 312),
it was as an avowed convert to Chris-
tianity and champion of the Christian
cause. He made open profession of his new faith
by causing to be placed in the hand of his statue in
the Forum
a copy of the Labarum, the standard
embroidered with the symbolic XP under which he
had gained his decisive victory ;
and the senate,
probably with no very great enthusiasm, decreed
/ a triumphal arch to the victor.
The arch of Constantine is in a sense a Christian
monument, the earliest of his reign, and the only

THE CHURCHES OF CONSTANTINE. 49
one which has come down to us unaltered and un-

injured, and it is quite worth while to include it
among our only as a standard of
illustrations, if
architectural comparison, and to say a few words

about it.
After the victory of the Milvlan Bridge, which
gave to Constantine the Empire of the West, and
secured the victory of Christianity, the Roman senate
decreed to their new sovereign the honour of a
triumphal arch. It was the work of the senate,
which was still, and

long afterwards continued
for
to be, conservative of the religion of the gods of

Rome but it is a monument of the victory of
;
Christianity, and its ambiguous inscription bears

witness to the politic compromise which the senate
made between their own beliefs and the new religion
of the emperor to whose honour it was dedicated.
It is sufficiently well known, and the woodcut
sufficiently represents its general features to make

a detailed description unnecessary. But there are
some remarkable features in its construction which
illustrate the state of art at the time which we have
elsewhere had occasion to mention. Portions of the
monument, notably the bas-reliefs and statues which
adorn its faces, are of the age of Trajan, and probably
belonged originally to an arch dedicated to that
emperor while others of the bas-reliefs introduced
;
are in a style of art greatly inferior, and are no doubt

the \vork of the sculptors employed at this date by
the senate. The usual explanation is that the senate
destroyed an arch of Trajan, and used the materials

E
in the construction of their monument to Constantine,
which would be in accordance with the custom ol
the time to rifle ancient monuments of their precious
materials for the construction of new buildings, of

which we find so many examples in the Christian
Churches for centuries afterwards, and, in harmony
with another custom, to appropriate old imperial
Arch of Constantine, Rome.
statues to new emperors by the simple expedient

of cutting off the heads of the old statues, and
replacing them by new portraits. But we take leave
to offer another conjecture which we venture to think
more probable. The fine designand pure archi-
tectural details of this noble monument seem to be
beyond the capabilities of the debased art of the
beginning of the fourth century. Moreover it does

not on examination give evidence of being, as a

whole, a new design worked up out of old materials.
The work looks like a fine and
homogeneous whole,
with a few debased details manifestly added. We
suggest that an arch dedicated to Trajan was bodily

"annexed" by the senate; a few new bas-reliefs
substituted for others which were unsuitable for its
present appropriation and a new inscription placed;
over the central arch, which dedicated it to the glory

of the new master of Rome.
The inscription on the south front is as follows :
—
IMP . FL CONSTANTINO MAXIMO
CAES . . . .
AVGVSTO S. P. Q. R.
P. F. .
QVOD INSTINCTV
. DIVINITATIS MENTIS . .
MAGNITVDINE CVM EXERCITV SVO , . .
TAM .DE TYRANNO QVAM DE OMNI EIVS

. . . . .
FACTIONE VNO TEMPORE JVSTIS . . .
REMPVBLICAM VLTVS EST ARMIS . . . .
ARCVM TRIVMPHIS INSIGNEM DICAVIT

. . .
"To the Emperor Constantinus, Csesar Flavius

Maximus, Pius, Felix, Augustus, who, by the inspira-
tion of the Divinity and the greatness of his genius,
together with his army, has avenged, by his just arms,

the Republic at the same time from the Tyrant and
all his faction, the Roman Senate and People have
dedicated this eminent Arch of Triumph."
Inside the centre arch are also the inscriptions :
LIBERATORI .
VRBIS, on one side, and on the other,
FVNDATORI QVIETIS. To . the Liberator of the City ;
To the Founder of Peace. There used to be a
question whether the words INSTINCTV divinitatis .
were not a later insertion, a correction of some

allusion to a
Pagan deity ;
but at the instance of the
Emperor Napoleon III., architects and savans were

allowed to ascend the arch and make a careful ex-
amination of the inscription, and they found that the
words were beyond doubt an integral part of the
original inscription.
The popular notion that Constantine proceeded
to give basilicas and temples to be converted into
churches, and to make Rome the centre of the

Christian world, is erroneous.
Rome was at that time, and continued to be for
two centuries longer, the chief stronghold of the

ancient temples occupied the most
religion ;
its
commanding situations, and were among the great

architectural glories of the city ;
their worship was
maintained with all its wonted splendour. The
great nobles adhered to the old religion as part of
the ancient order to which they belonged, and the
citizens as a body showed the same attachment.
The vast population of the city, drawn from all
parts of the world, afforded converts enough to

make up the most numerous Church of any city
in the empire, but they were chiefly of the lower
orders of the people. The Church was over-

shadowed in Rome by the dominant State re-
ligion.
Nor was the Church of Rome distinguished among
the Churches of Christendom it had not
; yet pro-
duced a single name great in theological learning or
ecclesiastical statesmanship. The Churches of the

East constituted by their wealth, learning, and
civilization, the most important part of Christendom,
and for many generations to come they looked down
upon the comparatively recent, rude, unlearned
Churches of the West. Moreover, Rome had long
ceased to be the political centre of the empire.
The Eastern conquests had made the shores of the
Bosphorus most convenient centre of

the affairs ;
there, on the Asiatic shore, Diocletian had built a

new capital at Nicomedia, and Constantine shortly
removed it to the western shore at Byzantium and ;
the secondary capital of the Augustus of the West

had been established at Milan.
This explain the fact that Constantine remained
will
less than three months at Rome on this occasion, and
did not revisit it again till he celebrated there his

decennalia. No doubt the conqueror during those
three months showed his good will to his new faith
by benefactions to the Church of Notably he Rome.

founded two noble churches over the resting-places
of the Apostle-martyrs, the founders and patron-
saints of the Roman Church, St. Peter's at the
Vatican and St. Paul's without the Walls and several
;
other churches are, with less certainty, attributed

to him. When it is said that the emperor built
churches, at Rome and elsewhere, what is meant is
that he contributed the necessary funds, but there is
direct evidence that he left the design and execution

of the work to the bishops of the places, to whom it
naturally belonged.
There isno evidence that he gave any of the civil

basilicas in Rome or elsewhere to be converted into
churches. It would be explain why the

difficult to
head of the civil administration of the empire should

eject the magistrates from their courts and build new
basilicas for them, when it was just as easy to build
new churches where they were wanted. There is, in
fact, only one known example in which a basilica was
turned into a church, and that was at Treves.*
Constantine did present the Palace of the Lateran,
which had come to him through his wife, the Empress
Fausta, to the Bishop of Rome, who made it the
episcopal residence ;
and the basilica of the palace,
which was probably larger and handsomer than all

the earlier churches, was used as a church the —
—
cathedral church of the city and it still takes pre-
cedence of all the churches of Rome. Bishop
Sylvester is said to have added a baptistery.
Nor did Constantine give up the ancient temples
to be used as churches. It was his wise policy at
this time to relieve the public mind of any fear of

retaliation for the past persecution of Christianity,
or of a crusade against the ancient religions. The
only temples whose worship Constantine suppressed
were some temples of Venus, on account of the im-
moralities practised in them, and for like reasons he
suppressed the worship of Egypt. The temples

Isis in
were gradually deserted, until the edict of Valentinian

II' (391) put an end to the public ceremonies of the
old religions, closed the temples, and appropriated

* E. A. Freeman,
them to various public uses, or left them to gradual
decay.*
The building which is given here as a specimen of
the ancient temples is that at Nimes, in France,
which popularly known as the Maison Carrie.
is It
is a gem of architecture. The excellence of its
proportions, the beauty of its Corinthian columns,
The Maison Carree at Nimes.
frieze, and cornice, and its wonderful preservation,

make it the finest example of a classical
temple
remaining Northern
in Europe. The date is disputed,
but it is probably of the time of Antoninus Pius.
The columns scattered around it are the remains of
*
Jerome (Ep. cvii. I, 2) speaks of the temples at Rome as left to
neglect, disorder, and decay.
long colonnades, which probably formed part of the

forum of the ancient city, into the further end of
which the temple projected.
Some of the disused temples of the ancient gods
were ultimately converted into churches, but the
ordinary plan of a temple was not well adapted to the
uses of the Christian assembly. The ancient worship
was an outdoor worship. The altar was placed at
the base of the porticoed front of the temple. As the
people stood assisting at the sacrifice, the pillared

facade of the temple formed a background to the altar
and an ornamental screen for the cella behind, in which O
the deity was supposed to be present. Since thej:ella _j y
was not intended to contain a body of worshippers,

it was comparatively small and dark. An early
church was architecturally a temple turned inside out.
It was intended to enclose the whole body of
worshippers within ample area its stately colon-

its ;
nades, sculptured friezes, and marble veneering were

all inside, while the exterior presented to the outside
world only a mass of brick wall, with hardly any

attempt to mitigate its blank ugliness.*
There were exceptions such as will readily occur
to the mind of the reader. The Parthenon at Athens,
and the Temple of Jupiter of the Capitol of Rome, in
which the senate held its meetings, and others, had
a cella large enough to contain a great congregation ;
in some other instances, by throwing down the

cella and building a wall between the columns
* The exteriors of the Syrian churches are an exception to thi-s
statement.
which had surrounded it, a capacious church was

obtained.*
More frequently the temples left desolate by the
expiring heathenism, and handed over to the trium-
phant Church, were pulled down, and churches were
built on the site, and largely out of the old materials.
A great number of churches all over Christendom
are traditionally said to occupy the sites of heathen
temples, and among them St. Peter's, Cornhill, and

St. Paul's, London. One of the commonest features
of the most ancient churches is that they are largely
made up of the spoils of more ancient buildings.
The Christian architects had not wealth enough at
their disposal to obtain at first hand the shapely
monolithic columns of the earlier magnificence of the
Roman world, or skill enough to execute the beauti-
fully carved capitals of a purer style of art ; but they
had taste enough to appreciate them, and they
habitually used them in their new buildings. Some-
times the columns did not match, and the architect
helped a column which was too short by giving it a

taller base.In the same way, the Christian artists ^ >
used ancient carved ivories to ornament a bishop's /^

chair or form the covers of the sacred books, and
ancient gems engraved with classical devices (some-
times strangely incongruous) to enrich chalices and
* The Pantheon and the Church of S. Maria Egiziaca are the only
examples at Rome of temples turned into churches (Liibke's " History \
'^.'^
of Art") (the Pantheon at Rome was consecrated as a church in

A.D. 610), and the Church of S. Urbano alia Caffarella in the suburbs
of Rome (Lord Lindsay), but very few in
Italy ; in the East a larger
number were thus converted.
shrines. And in doing this they were perhaps moved

not only by the artist's instinct to adorn his work
with that which was intrinsically precious in material

and beautiful in art, but wiLh something of the spirit
of a conqueror displaying in his triumphal procession
the riches of the conquered people. These were the
Church's trophies of conquest over the heathen
its
worships and godless luxury of the ancient time.
X The new churches which were built at this
period at Rome, the two basilicas — the one

on the
site of Nero's Circus, in honour of St. Peter, and the
other without the walls, on the Ostian Way, in honour

of St. Paul — both have ceased to exist. St. Peter's
was destroyed to make way for the present magnifi-
cent monument of the Renaissance. Of the old St.
Peter's, however, drawings exist which give us a
very accurate idea of the great church. The plan

shows the atrium, 212 feet by 225, entered by a
portico with buildings on each side which may have
been added in the Middle Ages. It has the usual
columned cloister round the sides and the fountain

in the middle. The eastern portico, which formed
the narthex, entered by a little porch. The church
is
itself was 380 feet long by 212 wide its magnificent;
dimensions are perhaps best understood from the

statement that covered as large an area as any
it
7 mediaeval cathedral except Milan and Seville. At

the upper end is a kind of transept, and the apse was
separated from the transept by a row of pillars.

Over the colonnades of the nave the side walls were
divided into a double tier of panels, each of which

contained a picture above these panels was the cleres-
;
tory from which the building received its light, and

a broad cornice of ornamental work supported the
wall-plate of the roof. What was the design of the
original roof matter of pure conjecture probably
is ;
it was finished with an ornamental ceiling. The
The Church of St. Paul without the Walls, Rome. After the fire.
columns with their bases and capitals were taken

from earlier buildings.
The first Church of St. Paul without the Walls

was a small church of the normal basilican plan a —
fore court, a nave with
aisles, and an apse flanked by
two square chambers.* Having been badly built,
* "
Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome."
6o HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
it fell into disrepair. The second church on the
same site was begun by Theodosius and finished

by his sons Arcadius and Honorius on a much
larger scale. It was 419 feet long by 217 wide,

and the nave 80 high feet ;
it had a great court,
on the west side of which were five chambers. The
noble colonnade was composed of pillars taken from
earlier buildings, pillars of the finest and rarest
marbles— Greek, Phrygian, and African— some with

Corinthian capitals of their own, some with capitals
of the time. The two columns of Pentelic marble
which supported the triumphal arch were, base and
capital included, 45 feet high.
was almost an exact counterpart of St. Peter's
It
in dimensions and plan, but there was one important
structural difference the pillars which separated the

:
nave from were surmounted by arches

the aisles
instead of a horizontal architrave, which was an
in picturesque effect as well as an
improvement
advance in the principles of construction. The
woodcut gives a sufficient idea of the grandeur of
the general effect. It was partially destroyed by an
accidental fire in 1822. From existing drawings and
from the portions which survived the fire the church
has been rebuilt as a reproduction of the original
church.
Several smaller churches claim to have 'been

or in his reign.
originally built by Constantine
One of these, the Church of St. Agnes without
the Wall, has preserved its whole construction with
THE CHURCHES OF CONSTANTINE. 6i
very little change, and is in this respect one of the

most interesting churches in Rome. It consists of a
nave separated from the two aisles by sixteen ancient
—
columns some of them curiously fluted with good —
Corinthian and composite capitals. Above rises a
second range of columns of smaller dimensions, upon
which windows and sup-
rests the wall, pierced with
porting the roof. Over the aisles and at the west

end is a gallery which was reserved for the women.
Under the high altar, which has a baldachino, is the

" "
confession of St. Agnes, where the remains of the
virgin martyr are deposited. The square chamber at
the east end of the south aisle was probably the

ancient sacrarium, and the larger chamber (now used
as a vestry) at the north-west side of the building
was perhaps the baptistery.
Among the other churches in Rome traditionally
said to have been founded by Constantine are San
Lorenzo and Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme. Both contain
portions of the original building and fragments of the
greatest interest, but they add nothing to our know-
ledge of the art of that early period.
When Constantine had won the Empire of the East
he caused other churches to be erected at his cost.
One at Antioch for its splendour was called the

Golden Church; others were at_Îamre, at Heliopolis in
Phoenicia, and at Nicomedia. When the pilgrimage of
his mother, the Empress Helena, had drawn attention
to the "Holy Places" of Palestine, the emperor built
a church at Bethlehem over the site of our Lord's
Nativity, a group of churches on the site of the Holy

Sepulchre, and one on the Mount of Olives, over the

supposed site of the Ascension.
The nave of the church at Bethlehem still remains
as represented in the accompanying woodcut. It is
the only church of Constantine which still exists all ;
the others have been rebuilt or have disappeared.

This seems to be a purely unaltered example of
the age, with the advantage that all its pillars and
The Church of Bethlehem.
capitalsappear to have been made for the place which

they occupy. The dimensions of the whole church
are 215 feet long by 103 across. The choir, with
its three apses, was probably added or rebuilt by
Justinian.
The group on the site of the Holy Sepulchre
consisted first of a memorial church, of the usual
circular plan, round about the rock-tomb which was
believed to be the actual tomb in which our Lord was

laid, and to the east of it a basilican church in honour
of the Resurrection ; and the two were connected by
subsidiary buildings. Constantine's directions to the
Bishop of ^lia for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

were that it should excel all other churches in beauty,
and that not only the building itself, but all its
accessories should be such that they should not be
surpassed by the fairest structures of any city of the

empire. Eusebius gives an elaborate description of
the church, and an account of the grand ceremonial
of its dedication, A.D. 335. A
full description, accom-
panied by plans of the buildings erected by Constan-

tine, may be seen in Professor Willis's essay in the
second volume of Williams's "Holy City." Mr. Fer-
gusson has started the strange notion that the Dome
of the Rock on Moriah is Constantine's church and ;
another site outside the Damascus Gate has lately

been put forward as that of the Holy Sepulchre ;
but
it is highly probable that the traditional site is not
only that which was pointed out to the Empress
Helena, but also that it is the true site of the Sepulchre.
When Constantine built a new capital for the
reunited empire on the west shore of the Bosphorus
he made it from the first a Christian city not a ;
single heathen temple was permitted within its walls,

but fourteen churches supplied the people with
abundant provision for Christian worship. The
chief of them, dedicated in honour of the twelve
Apostles, which came to be more commonly known
after his own name as the Ecclesia Constantina, was,
"
Eusebius says, vastly high, and yet had all its walls
[internally] covered with marble, its roof [ceiling] over-
laid with gold, and the outside, instead of tiles, covered
with gilded brass," A
second great church dedicated
to the Holy Wisdom, Sancta Sophia, was finished
by his son Constantius. The Church of St. John

Studens, commonly said to have been rebuilt after
the taking of Constantinople by the Latins, is now
believed to have retained its and pro-
original plan
bably much of the original building, the date of which
is tolerably well ascertained as A.D. 363. It is a plain
basilica, 120 feet long by 85 wide, divided into a nave

and by rows of marble columns, supporting
aisles
an architrave, frieze, and cornice, upon which stand

other columns supporting arches ;
the capitals are
semi-classical, ornamented with acanthus leaves. The

style is rich, and retains much of the ancient classical
form and feeling. It has a semi-octagonal apse and
an oblong narthex.
The conversion of Constantine gave a great
impulse to the spread of Christianity, especially
among the upper class of society, and thereby
caused a great increase in church-building and in
the employment of all the arts in the service of
religion. It would also naturally have the effect of

placing at the disposal of the Church the services
of the most eminent artists. But this would only
ensure that the best of contemporary art would be
bestowed upon Christian subjects it could not pos-
;
sibly produce any sudden change

in the style of art.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE.

The colonnades with the Greek architrave ; with the Roman arcn ;
with an upper tier of Clement's, Rome— St. Am-
columns— St.
brose's, Milan— Churches of Central Syria: Babouda ; Qualb
Louzeh ; Tourmanin— Domestic architecture of Central Syria —
Churches Thessalonica—The Golden Gate of Jerusalem
at Nisibis j
—Churches of Egypt and Nubia, Thaumugas— Ravenna Tomb of :
Galla Placidia St. Nuova

; Apollinare St. Apollinare in Classe
St. Vitale — Parenzo in Istria — Churches ;
of Gaul :
Lyons
;
St.
Tours Clermont —
;
Martin's, remains of the classical style

—The dome in Persia Existing
in Gaul
;
in Central Syria Ezra Bozra St.

—The Byzantine dome Sta. Sophia— Domes the West —Traces
;
;
in
; ;
of the basilican style of architecture in Britain, at

Canterbury,
Frampton, Silchester— The Celtic churches.
HE great defect, as it seems to us, in the

interior design of some of the early-
basilicas was that the columns were too
low in proportion to the great height of
the wall which they supported, so that the long-
drawn colonnades, which ought to have been the
noblest feature of the view, looked dwarfed and over-
loaded. This was especially the case where the
pillars were surrounded by a straight architrave, as
in St. Peter's. But it must be borne in mind that
F
painting was very largely used in the decoration of

interiors, and that this wall space would be divided
into panels corresponding with the intercolumnia-
tions the strong vertical borders of these panels
;
would break up the long wall, and continue the line
of the columns upwards and the panels would be

;
filled with painted designs, so that the whole wall
would be alive with interest and rich with colour.

The defect of the disproportion of the height of
the columns to the height of the wall was greatly
diminished by the substitution for the architrave of a
series of round arches, as is seen in the interior view
of St. Paul's without the Walls (p. 59). The change
abolished the strong horizontal line of the architrave
which emphasized the defect, and the extra height
of the arches increased the proportionate height of
the arcades in fact and still more in effect to the
eye ;
the painted decoration also would
lines of
naturally follow the curve of the arches and give

additional apparent height to the arcades, while it
diminished the apparent height of the wall. But in
later examples, as we have seen in St. Agnes, the
architect frequently got rid of the defective proportion
altogetherby means of a second tier of columns,

which formed what in Gothic churches we call the
triforium and the Roman designer made better use
;
of this space over the aisle than the Gothic builder,
by making it a commodious gallery for the accom-

modation of the women. The architrave over the
lower arcade found its constructive use as the front
of the floor of the gallery, and carried a low parapet
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE. 67
wall or screen which formed the gallery front. The
sloping timber roof, of low pitch, was covered with

tiles ; internally it was often ceiled, but in any case
the main timbers were often carved and gilded and
the panels ornamented with painting.
The apses of the aisles
were not intended for
^C
chapels and had no altars. Paulinus of Nola * de-
scribes one of them as the sacristy, and the other as a
place where the pious could read the Scriptures and

say prayers. There was not more than one altar in
a church till centuries later in the Western Church,
and in the Eastern Church never.
The Church of St. Clement at Rome was lone
thought to be the original church
built upon the site of the house
of the Flavian family, and one of

the most unaltered of existing Chris-
tian churches. Recent discoveries
have shown that the original church
was filled in, probably in the twelfth
century, in consequence of the great

rise in the level of the neighbouring
ground the present church was

;
built on the same site and partly

out of the old materials, and the
furniture of the old church was re- rianof St. Clement's,
Rome.
placed in the present. The result
is that the
present church does retain a less altered
appearance than any other, and that its arrangements
give a better idea of the interior of a primitive basilica.
*
Ep. 32.
68 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART,
It has the only perfect court (a) left in Rome. The

chancel (g), the earliest remaining example, was
probably removed to its present position from the

lower church, and is of the time of John VIII., in the
The Church of St. Clement, Rome.
ninth century. The enclosing walls of marble are
sculptured with Christian emblems. On the sides of

the choir are the anbones or pulpits (f, f). That on
the left (looking towards the altar), from which the
Gospel was read, is ascended by a double stair, and

has a handsome candelabrum of mosaic-work for the

Paschal candle ;
that on the right has two reading-
desks, one towards the tribune, the other towards the

nave. The presbytery (i) is separated from the choir
by a screen of handsomely sculptured marble panels,
evidently of the same period as the choir (b) is the ;
narthex (l) the altar

; (m) the bishop's throne.
;
The Church of St. Ambrose at Milan still retains

very much of the plan and design of a primitive
basilica. The fine ninth-century court surrounded
by a colonnade is perfect. The church, originally
built in the fourth century, was renovated in the
twelfth, but it retains its ancient
plan, and the tribune
retains an
ancient episcopal throne there is a ;
sculptured sarcophagus of the sixth century over

which the pulpit is built, the baldachino is of the
eighth century, and the gold and silver altar frontal
of the Carolingian period.
As we have had to quote a late example of the
chancel, so we have to take a late illustration of the
arrangement of the apse. The little church at Tor-

cello, in the Venetian Lagune, was originally erected in
the seventh century, and was altered and perhaps to
some extent rebuilt in the first year of the eleventh ;
but it still retains much of the original arrangement

and character, and is the best example we know of
the ancient arrangement of the apse the bishop's —
throne elevated so that it overlooks the whole con-
gregation, and the benches of the presbyters arranged
like those of an ancient theatre.*
*
Fergusson's "History of Architecture," i. 427.
The exteriors of the older basilicas were usually-
very plain and depended upon magnitude

in design,
and proportion for any dignity which they possessed.

Other buildings attached to the church are occasion-
ally described, or traces of them found, but the pro-
vision of an official house for the clergy does not
appear to have formed a regular part of the plan,

except in the case of monastic churches.
The numerous churches of the deserted cities and

monasteries of Central and Northern Syria afford a
very interesting and valuable series of examples,
fairly perfect and unaltered, of the ecclesiastical art
of the period from the third to the seventh centuries.
Many of them are given in plan, elevations, and

"
details, in Count M. de Vogue's work on the Archi-
tecture of Central Syria." The churches have not
some of the houses
usually inscriptions or dates, but
and monuments have, and by comparison M. de Vogue
claims to assign the dates of the churches with trust-
worthy accuracy. These Syrian architects, while

adopting the universal basilican plan, and using the
principles and ornamental forms of the old Greek
art, display much vigour and freedom. They
artistic
had not, as the builders in countries of older civiliza-

tion had, the ruins of temples and palaces to furnish
them with columns and capitals ready to their hand,
and consequently they had not the example of those
older works as a constant check upon their own
genius. Moreover, the material with which they
had to deal influenced their work to some extent
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE, 71
both in construction and ornament ;

for the absence
of timber drove them to employ arches to span
their intercolumniations and to cover their areas,
and the hard character of the stone was unfavour-
able for such fine work as Corinthian and Composite
capitals, and led them to the use of ornament

in
low relief. The result is that we do not find their

churches — like so many in other countries — made
up of interesting but incongruous ancient materials,
and we do find original invention in scientific
construction and in artistic design. In these
churches first occurs the idea of two western
towers, which became a characteristic feature of
medifeval cathedrals some of their apses are deco-
;
rated in a way which found its full development in
the Romanesque of the Rhine ; and, lastly, we find
here the introduction of the square plan surmounted

by a dome, which after-
wards developed into
the characteristic fea-
ture of Byzantine archi-

tecture.
We can only cite two
or three examples of
special interest as re-
presentatives of the
characteristics which we
, , .11 Church of Babouda, Syria. ;
have described.
The little church at Babouda, of the fifth century,
has a nave witliout aisles, an apse, and a narthex.
The western elevation is a charming example of the
ornate composition of the external designs of these
Syrian churches. It will be seen by a study of the

elevation that the narthex has an upper story, open
to the air westward and to the church eastward, by
which the church receives a flood of light ;
this upper
story forms a western gallery. The roof of the
church continues over the narthex. The massive
piersand their capitals, the ornamented moulding
round the arches, and the shafts which carry the
Church of Baqouza.
timbers of the roof are worthy of special notice.

The aisles are roofed with horizontal slabs of stone.
The church of Baqouza, of the beginning of the
sixth century, has a nave with aisles, an apse, and a
chamber on each side of the apse, a narthex, and two
porches on each side. The woodcut gives a view of
the striking eastern elevation being built on the
;
slope of a hill, this east end stands on a base which

gives it additional dignity. The nave is of six bays

divided by circular columns with Corinthian capitals,
supporting round arches.

Qualb Louzeh, in remarkable preservation, has a
nave and aisles three bays in length, and a narthex
flanked by two western towers. The apse is a
fine composition, with three windows, ornamented
with shafts still more richly than that of Baqouza.
Church of Tourmanin, Syria.
One of the finest of these designs is the church of
Tourmanin, which consists of nave and aisles of seven

bays, an apse with a chamber on each side,
and a
narthex with two western towers. Like the church
at Baqouza, this stands on a site vv^hich gives
occasion for a flight of stairs
up to the western
entrance. It will be seen that here also, as at
Babouda, the narthex has an upper gallery, open

both to the outer air and to the church. The west

end is an especially fine composition.
These Syrian cities give us also illustrations of the
influence of Christian feeling in domestic architecture.
De Vogiie remarks that the sudden growth of
civilization in the district came immediately after the
victory of the Church, and that the religious zeal of

the people is shown not only in the existence of
numerous churches and several monasteries, but in
From a house front, Central Syria. De Vogue's "

Syrie Centrale,"
Plate XLII.
the fact thaton the greater part of the houses

Christian symbols are sculptured, and numerous
inscriptions of pious sentences and scripture texts,
whose choice indicates the general exultation in the
recent triumph of the faith. He mentions one in the
bourg of Refadi where a certain Christian named
Thalasis built himself a house, and on the door
engraved his profession of faith : XPIETE BOHeEI
EIS eEOS MONOS, "Christ, help ;
Thou art the one
God." At Deir Sanbit some one has painted on the
wall of a house, with red distemper, the sacred
monogram of Constantine's Labarum XP with the

All, and repeated it, and written over TOYTO NIK A.
At beyond the Euphrates, is a triple
Nisibis,
church which retains the mouldings of its doorways
and windows as perfect as when they were erected.
"They are identical

style in with
buildings the
of Diocletian at Spalato, and of Constantine [?] at
"
Jerusalem (Fergusson).
At Thessalonica the Eski Juma, or Old Mosque,
is a Christian church
probably of the fifth century.
It is a simple basilica in plan, with nave and narthex.
St. Demetrius is larger, divided into five aisles with
internal transept, and accessory buildings.

The Golden Gate in the east wall of the Temple
enclosure at Jerusalem is a fine and fairly perfect
work. Fergusson assigns it to Constantine, but it
is more
probably of the fifth to sixth century (De
Vogiie), and a good example of the style as it
approached the Byzantine.
Basilicas of the fifth and following centuries are
still numerous in
Egypt and Nubia, the oases of
the Libyan Desert, and in the waste lands of
Algeria and Tunis. They are usually small, with

the peculiarity that the apse is included within a
square external wall. At Thamugas in the Aures is

one with an inscription which states that it was built
in 646 —
a square building with an apse, divided
into nave and aisles by columns of rose-coloured
marble.*
* Colonel
Playfair's "Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce."
As time went on the basilican plan and arrange-

ment foran ordinary church were still adhered to in
the Western Empire, but the architects especially —
where they were not influenced by the use of old
materials and the presence of old models — began to
work with greater freedom, and to feel their way
slowly towards a new style.
The most important examples are at Ravenna,
which Honorius in 404 had made the capital of the
empire. His sister, Galla Placidia, afterwards

adorned the city with superb monuments, of which
her tomb remains. At a later time, when it fell into
the hands of Theodoric the Goth, the enlightened
conqueror continued the works which he found in

progress and built others. The Church of St. Apol-
linare Nuova was built in his reign (443-525), and
his tomb, with its dome composed of a single stone,
is one of the most remarkable of architectural
monuments. His daughter Amalasuntha encouraged
similar undertakings. When Narses gained the
victory over the Goths, Ravenna became the resi-
dence of the Exarchs of Justinian. In this reign

was built the Church of St. Apollinare in Classe, at
the port of Ravenna, about three miles from the
city ;
was commenced in 538 and dedicated in 549.
it
These two basilicas still remain in their original

condition. They show a considerable development
in plan and design ;
the nave has a tall
clerestory
above the level of the aisles, an impost over the
capitals, arches over the windows, and a tall bell-tower.
In St. Apollinare in Classe the exterior has some
little relief to the plain side walls of the nave and

aisles, in an arcading of shallow pilasters and arches ;
but the west wall and the great narthex are as

unadorned as they possibly could be, in striking
contrast to the elaborate and beautiful architectural
design of the interior. A woodcut in Fergusson's

"
History of Architecture," vol. i.
p. 423, of the angle
where the nave joins the apse, gives some idea of
the grandeur of the design and the richness of its
ornamentation. Internally, with its twenty-five Greek
marble columns, its richly adorned archivolts, and its
grand mosaics (hereinafter described), it is a very
noble monument of early Christian architecture.
The Church of San Vitale, built A.D. 528-547 under
Eastern influences, is the first church in the West
which shows a strong Byzantine feeling. It is in
plan an octagon, forty-seven feet in diameter, with

a choir and apse added to it ; massive pillars support
the clerestory and dome between the piers of this
;
*
central area are niches, with galleries above the ;
square piers are cased with marble, and the wall-spaces

above are adorned with twisted columns and mosaics.
Another fineexample, contemporary with these at

Ravenna, is the cathedral at Parenzo in Istria, built
by Bishop Euphrasius, A.D. 542. It is a long basilica,

with apses to the aisles in addition to the central
apse, and retains its atrium ;

to the west of which is
—
the baptistery an octagon within a square and to ;
the west of that a tower, square externally and round

* An arcade of this gallery is given at p. 295.
internally. Some of the capitals are Corinthian,

taken from an earlier building others are of a form
;
and ornamentation influenced by the new Byzantine

style, which was very shortly to supersede the long-
continued debasement of the classical forms of art.
For down to this time the sculptors were still
imitating the old capitals, architraves, and cornices,
rudely and with variations which, with the occasional
exception of deliberate copies of old work, departed

more and more from the ancient forms.
Very few examples of the buildings of this early
period remain north of the Alps. We know that

Southern Gaul was highly civilized, and possessed
noble buildings of all kinds, including churches. The
basilican plan for the larger churches, at least, was
almost universal, and they had marble columns,
tessellated pavements, gilded ceilings, glass windows,
mosaics and paintings on the walls. Sidonius (Caius
Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius), in one of his pleasant
letters,* describes a basilica which Patiens, Bishop of
Lyons (A.D. 470), built in honour of the popular Gallic
saint Justus, for which Sidonius wrote a dedicatory
inscription, engraved on a tablet and fixed on the
"
west wall. The church faced the equinoctial east."
"
It is light within ;
the sun is attracted to the gilded
ceiling, and wanders, with its yellow glow, over the

gilded metal. Marbles of various splendour enrich the
ceiling {camerariiis), the pavement, and the windows ;
and through the green glass of the windows, beneath

vari-coloured figures, an encrustation, grassy and
* Liber ii. lo.
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE, 79
springlike,bends around the sapphire gems.* It has

a triple portico (probably along three sides of the
atrium), magnificent with Aquitanian marbles, and

a similar portico closes the further (eastern) side of
the court. A
grove of stone scatters its columns
far and wide over the interior." It is easy to recog-
nize that the church was of the usual basilican type,
with court and narthex, handsomely adorned with
marbles, mosaics, and gilding.
Gregory of Tours describes some of the Gallic
churches of his time (A.D. 573-594). The new basilica
of St. Martin, built by Perpetuus, the sixth successor
of Martin in the see of Tours, was 160 feet long by
60 wide, and its height to the ceiling, 45 feet it had ;
52 windows, 120 columns, and 8 gates. The church

which Namatius, the eighth Bishop of Clermont,
built, "which the principal church there," was 150
is
feet by 60, and 50 feet high to the ceiling of the
nave ; in front {i.e. to the east) it had a round apse,

and on each side stretched aisles of elegant structure,
and the whole edifice was disposed in the form of a

cross. It had 42 windows, 70 columns, and 8 gates.
The wife of the above-named Bishop Namatius built

the basilica of St. Stephen, without the walls of the
town, and had it painted with paintings which she
indicated to the artists out of a book which she pos-
* The passage is very obscure. Does it describe a pattern of coloured

glass in the windows, or the mosaics on the walls ? Here is the
original :
—
*'
Ac sub versicoloribus figuris
Vernans herbida crusta sapphiratos
"
Flectit per prasinum vitrum lapillo?
sessed. Was it a book with miniature pictures, or a

book like that which the Greek artists of later times
of *
possessed— a directory subjects for artists ?
The inhabitants of the south and south-east of France
long maintained the classical civilization which the

Greek colonists had originally planted there ;
and
the classical style of art survived in their buildings to
a late period. The actual remains of this classical
style in Gaul are the porch of the cathedral of Avignon,

St. Paul aux Trois Chateaux, near Avignon, and other
fragments in the Rhone Valley, as the apse at Alet,
with good Corinthian capitals and cornice the ;
baptistery at Poictiers, the church of the Convent of

Roman Motier, on the Jura, St. Trophimus in
Languedoc, and others. In the
Aries, St. Gilles in
north of Gaul the cathedral at Treves claim.s to be
of the date of Constantine ;
four colossal granite
columns with Corinthian capitals, and portions of the
original walls, still remain. It had a circular building
adjoining probably a baptistery, on the site of the

it,
present Liebfrauenkirche. The church is remarkable

for having an apse at the west, as well as at the
east end. This feature has its prototype in the
basilica of Trajan at Rome it is found in the early
;
basilica at Orleansville, Algeria, already mentioned ;
in several other northern churches, e.g. at Bemberg,

Rothenberg, Maintz, and Laach ;
and perhaps at
Canterbury and Lyminge, Kent.f
* See Miss Stokes' edition of Didron's "

Iconographie."
t Tlie small parish church of Ileybridge, Essex, also hfis a westerq
as well as an eastern apse.
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE. 8r
One of the most striking developments of the new

style of architecture which was gradually growing
up to express the mind of the new Christian world,
was the adoption of the square plan, surmounted by
a dome, which became the characteristic feature of
Byzantine architecture.
Where that grand architectural feature the dome
originated is not known
; perhaps the earliest example
which exists is at the palace of Sarvistan in Persia,

constructed in the fourth century, B.C.* It was from
Persia probably that the and able builders
energetic
of Central Syria borrowed it. The earliest church
in which it appears the Church of St. George at
is
Ezra, which is
certainly one of the most interesting
of all the Christian buildings of this Finished
region.
in 515 A.D.,
according to an inscription carved on the
lintel of the west door, it has
come down to us without altera-
tion, and uninjured in its es-

sential features
always conse- ;
crated to the offices of religion,

for which it was built, and which
are still celebrated beneath its
venerable vault.
The plan is
extremely simple.f M J I I I
It consists of two regular con- Plan of St. George's, Ezra,

centric octagons, inscribed in a Syria.
square ;
the central octagon supports a drum and
cupola. Projecting from the eastern face of the
It'
Ill
L'Art Antique de la Perse." M. Dieulafoy.
"
t Plate XX., De Vogue's Syrie Centrale."
HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
external octagon is built the choir (flanked by two

square sacristies); which terminates in an apse, and in
each of the angles of the square is a niche there are ;
three doors at the west, and one on the north and

south sides of the square. The diameter of the
external octagon is 60 feet of the interior octagon,
;
35 feet ;
the total length of the choir is 27 feet.
The cupola is supported by eight pillars 14 feet
high, which carry a drum of 18 feet. The last
Church of St. George, Ezra, Syria,
two rows of this drum are made of slabs, which

transform the octagonal drum first into a figure of
sixteen sides, and then of thirty-two sides, and so
the octagon passes gradually into the circle, which
serves as the base of the cupola. The cupola De
Vogue believes to be part of the original structure.
Its ovoid form is very unusual, and recalls the monu-
ments of Central Asia. At the base of the cupola
is a row of small windows, the first example of a
THE CHURCHES AFTER CONSTANTINE. Z^
method of lighting which finds its full development

in Sta. Sophia at Constantinople. Round the apse
are seats for the clergy.
i The inscription seen over the west door is to the
effect that the abode of demons is become the house
of the Lordthe light of salvation enlightens the
;
place which the shadows obscured the sacrifices to ;
a deity are replaced by the choirs of angels where ;
the orgies of a false god v/ere celebrated the praises of

God are sung. A
man who loves Christ, the notable
John, son of Diomed, has offered to God, at his cost,
this magnificent monument, in which he has placed
the precious relic of St. George, the triumphant martyr;

the saint having appeared to him, the said John,
not in a dream, but in reality. In the ninth indiction
in the year 410 (=: A.D, 515). The church, we gather
from this inscription, was erected on the site of a
temple to apagan deity, probably to Theandrites,

a divinity especially worshipped at Ezra.
The cathedral of Bosra is almost of the same date

as that of Ezra) and constructed in the same style,
but on a much larger scale. The exterior walls alone
remain, and in the empty interior a small basilica was

subsequently built. The original plan (Plate XXIL,
"
Syrie Centrale ") of the cathedral was a great circle
of 120 feet diameter, inscribed in a square of 125 feet
a side, to which was added on the east a choir of 36
flanked by sacristies and lateral chambers. The
feet,
dimensions are exactly double those of the cathedral

at Ezra, and an imaginary restoration is easily deduced
from the latter church, aided by some indications in

the existing walls. An inscription states that it was
finished under the Archbishop Julian, in 511 of our
era, and dedicated to the holy martyrs Sergius
Bacchus and Leontius.
Of the completed Byzantine style the dome is the
essential and characteristic feature. Where the build-
ing a square, or octagon, or square carried up into an
is
octagon, one dome covers the whole building where ;
the plan is a cross of equal arms, a central dome

covers the crossing and minor domes the arms. The
other principal features are the mighty arches and
broad wall surfaces. Colonnades which were the
principal ornamental feature of the basilicas, hold
here only a subordinate position, to screen off aisles
or support galleries. The friezes, door and window
frames, capitals and bases, everything which lends
itself to it, is covered with surface ornamentation,
classical in suggestion, skilfully wrought, and elegant
in design. The internal walls and piers are veneered
with marble domes, arches, and niches are
;
the
adorned with mosaics the capitals have a convex,
;
outline adorned with acanthus leaves which sit close

to the bell, are, indeed, incised upon it, and have a
reminiscence of the old archivolt in a moulded
impost. The general effect of the broad spaces over-
arched at a great height by the golden hemisphere of
the dome is very grand, the sculptured architectural
details are original and beautiful, and the mosaics
add greatly to the richness and dignity of the effect.
When Justinian, in the middle of the sixth century,
undertook to replace the ruined Church of the

Holy
Wisdom at Constantinople, originally built
by Con-
stantine and rebuilt by Theodosius II., he
adopted
this idea of a square plan surmounted by a dome.
The emperor's ambition was to make it the most
splendid temple Avhich the world had ever seen.

He entrusted the design to the two most eminent
architects of the time, Anthemius of Tralles and
Isodorus of Miletus. The body of the building
was constructed of brick, and the exterior walls,
after the fashion of those ages, were entirely destitute
of any attempt at architectural adornment. But
the interior was as costly and splendid as power,
wealth, and art could make it. The world was
ransacked for the most costly materials. Eight great
porphyry columns, which Aurelian had carried off
from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, and which
were worth a great fortune, eight green columns
said (erroneously) to have been taken from the
Temple of Diana at Ephesus, still adorn the build-

ing. The most beautiful marbles from all countries
were brought to line the walls.
On the day of its consecration, Christmas Eve, A.D.
568, the emperor ascended the pulpit, looked around,

and with outstretched arms cried, " God be praised
:[
who has deemed me worthy to complete such a
"
work," and added, sotto voce, Solomon, I have out-
stripped thee."
The plan is a central
square surmounted by the
dome, contained within a larger square which forms
the aisles. The influence of the original basilica
plan is seen in a semicircular apse on the east, the

narthex on the west, and the western atrium. The
sculptured details of the architecture are free from
any imitation of the old classical style they are the
;
most examples of the new style which had

finished
been gradually growing up in the East, and of which
there are numerous earlier tentative examples in the
churches of Syria which have been already described.
Santa Sophia was the triumph of the new style of
Christian art, and exercised an influence over the
architecture of the Greek Church which has survived
in full vigour to the present day. The structure of
thisgrand church still remains uninjured, waiting
the decadence of the Turkish empire shall once
till
more restore it to the uses of Christian worship for

which it was erected.
Meanwhile the conquests of the Barbarians had

divided the Western Empire from the Eastern. In
the West the new nations took the art whose monu-
ments they saw around them as the starting-point of
the new styles which their fresh energy gradually
evoked. There are noble examples of the square
plan and dome in the West, but only where some
exceptional Greek influence was powerful enough
to introduce them. After Justinian's conquest of
Italy the Church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna was built
on the new Greek plan, and became the model of all
those erected in Europe for several centuries. Charle-
magne's church at Aix-la-Chapelle is one of the

most important of them. Others are the Duomo of
Ancona, and St. Fosca Torcelli. St. Mark's, at
Venice, on the same plan, and is an evidence of

is
the extent to which the Eastern associations of that
great emporium influenced its art. At the Renais-

sance the influence of Byzantine art led to the
adoption of the dome as the great feature of the new

St. Peter's at Rome, and, later, to Wren's adoption
of the dome in St. Paul's. But in the West the
Greek idea of square plan and dom.e was always an
exotic, and never made its way against the traditional
following of the original basilican type.
Of the churches of this period, we have only slight

traces in this country, but these traces are very in-
teresting to us. We know, from Bede's history of
the re-establishment of the Church in Kent in the
sixth century, that there existed at Canterbury, after
its conquest by the Jutes, at least two deserted
churches of earlier times. One, St. Martin's, was
repaired by King Ethelbert worship which
for the
Bishop Eleutherius and his staff of clergy maintained

on behalf of the Christian queen Bertha. The present
church partly built of the old materials, since some
is
of the bricks of the Roman time, easily recognized
by shape and texture, are still visible in its

their
walls but there is nothing to indicate its original
;
plan and design. Of the other, which Ethelbert gave

to Augustine, nothing remains but a description of
it at the fire which nearly destroyed it
time of the
in 1067; but from this description Professor Willis was
able to make out that it was a basilica, having a
western as well as an eastern apse, like that at Treves,

with an adjoining baptistery. The plan of two other
early churches has been preserved by foundations still
existing. One at Frampton, Dorset, 31 feet by 21,
has an apse ;
in the tessellated pavement, across the
chord of the apse, was a band of circles all filled
with scrolls of foliage, except the centre one, which
had the sacred monogram XP. Since this symbol
seems not to have been used in Rome till about the
time of Constantine, the date of this building was
probably about the fourth century. The other, at
Silchester,Hants (probably the Roman Calleva), was

only discovered in 1892. The foundations indicate
a nave with apse, two aisles enlarged into quasi-
transepts, and a narthex extending along the
(ritual) west end. The whole of the nave and

apse has been paved with tesserae in front of the ;
apse, where the altar would be placed, is a square

of finer mosaic, five feet square, in black and
white check, with a border of coloured lozenges.
There are remains of a tessellated pavement in the
narthex. About eleven feet in front of the narthex
is a foundation ofbrick about four feet square,
perhaps formerly the base of the fountain in the

middle of the atrium. The very interesting church
of Brixworth, Northants, is built of Roman brick,
and the main walls may possibly be of Roman con-
struction, but there is nothing to prove conclusively
that it was a Roman church. The church in Dover
Castle, also, is
partly of Roman
work, but so altered
in the eleventh century, and almost rebuilt in the
thirteenth, that its original plan and design arc

lost in the subsequent alterations; and, again, there
is nothing to prove that it was originally a church.
The Celtic churches had a plan of their own, the
which is a long square-ended
characteristic feature of
chancel with only a small opening into the nave, and
this plan has modified our national type of church.
Some eminent Churchmen of the Italian school, like

Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop, travelled through Gaul
to Italy, and brought back from models for Rome
church-building, decoration, furniture, and music so ;
that the churches of Wilfrid at Hexham and Ripon,

and of Benedict at Wearmouth and Jarrow, were
imitations of classical basilicas. The Norman
builders also used the circular apse of the old
basilican type ;
at Norwich Cathedral the traces
still exist of the bishop's stone chair and the
presbyters' bench at the east end of the original
apse.
CHAPTER VII.
THE BAPTISTERIES.
Primitive — —
baptisms Baptisteries in catacombs When the Atrium
was the Church, possibly the Baptisierium of the bath was the
baptistery
—
Public baptisteries ; of the Lateran ; at Aquileia ; at
Nocera dei Pagani ; at Ravenna ; at Deir Seta ; in Italian cities —
Fonts in churches — Illustrations of the subject in England-
Baptistery at York j Canterbury
— Holy wells— Fonts — Chapter
houses.
N the first age, before public churches and

baptisteries were erected, we have to infer
the details of the administration of bap-
tism from the incidental notices of it
with which we meet. The mode of our Lord's
Baptism by John would be likely to influence the
mind of the Church and we suppose that the tra-
;
ditional representation of it is correct, that our Lord

went down into the water to a certain depth, and
that the Baptist poured water, from his hand or
from a shell, over His head. It is thus represented
in a painting in the Cemetery of Callistus, of the
second century ;
in a painting of uncertain date, over
the font in the Cemetery of Pontianus (Marchi,

THE BAPTISTERIES. 91
Plate XLII.); in the baptistery at Ravenna, called San

Giovanni in Fonte, A.D. 450 ;
in the later baptistery,
in the same city, called Sta. Maria in Cosmedin,

A.D. 553 ;
and in other early works of art. So,
probably, Philip baptized the treasurer of Queen
Candace in the stream which they came to on
their journey. The three thousand who were con-
verted on theDay of Pentecost seem, from the nar-
rative, tohave been baptized there and then in
Mary's house, perhaps with water poured over their
heads from the fountain in the middle of the court
of the house (see p. 5) ;
and the jailer of Philippi
and his family perhaps same way.
in the
Tertullian observes that Peter baptized his converts

in the Tiber at Rome, as John had baptized his in
Jordan, and that it makes no difference whether one
is baptized in the sea or a lagoon, a river or a foun-
tain, a lake or a marsh. In the " Recognitions of
Clement" St. Peter is represented as preaching to
the people that they might wash away their sins in
the water of a river, or a fountain, or the sea and ;
the writer describes the actual baptism of some con-

verts in certain fountains by the seashore. Justin
Martyr seems to say that baptism was usually per-
"
formed outside the church All who believe the
:
things which are taught, and promise to live accord-

ingly, are taught to pray, with fasting, for forgiveness.
Then we bring them where there is water, and they
receive the washing of water ;
. . . we bring the
person to be washed to the bath ijo Xovrpov). After
thus washing him, we bring him to those who are
called brethren, where they are assembled together

"
to offer prayers in common and he goes on to
;
describe the celebration of the Eucharist.* The

"
recently discovered
Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles," a document whose date is said to be
"far nearer the middle of the first century than
"
the middle of the second," directs, Baptize in living
water \i.e. water not separated from its source], but
if thou hast not living water, baptize in other water
— in warm, if thou canst not do it in cold. But if
thou hast neither[in sufficient quantity], pour water
upon the head three times in the name of Christ."

This would seem to contemplate baptism in a spring
or river, in the baptisterium of a bath, or by affusion
only.
Perhaps the earliest font which still exists is that
in the Cemetery of Pontianus, already alluded to.
The fossores, in extending its underground galleries,
came upon a spring of water, and it was natural that

they should excavate a little chamber and cistern in
the floor of the chamber to make a reservoir for their
own convenience, and for the convenience of any

who visited the cemetery. It was quite as natural
that, in some subsequent time, those who had control

over the cemetery, with their minds full of religious
symbolisms, should appropriate the subterranean
fountain baptismal purposes, and convert the
for
chamber into a baptistery. The decorations of the

little chamber prove that it was thus used. The font
consists of a small cistern, or piscina, between two
• "First
. -
Apology," §§6i and 65.
and three feet deep, and six feet broad, constantly

supplied by a current of water. It is approached by
a flight of steps, between the base of which and the

water a level space, about five feet wide, on which
is
the priest may have stood. Above the water is a
painting of our Lord's Baptism, and on another side

is a painting of a cross, adorned with gems and
throwing out leaves and flowers from its stem ;
two
lighted candelabra stand on the arms of the cross,
and the letters Ai2 are suspended from the arms by
chains (see woodcut, p. 197). The date of the paint-
ings is probably the seventh century, and may be later

than that of the excavation of the cemetery. There
is something of the same kind in the catacombs at
Naples.*
A careful consideration of all the circumstances,
and of these incidental notices, suggests that

when churches were in the private houses of
well-to-do baptisms were performed in
converts,
the bath which formed a usual adjunct of such
a house so that as the atruim and tablimim
;
afforded the type of the future churches, the baptis-

teriuin afforded the type of the future baptistery.
In the old baths at Pompeii the baptistery is square
externally, internally a kind of octagon ; the circular
piscina, or basin, in the
middle of its floor is 13 ft. 8 in.
in diameter and 3 ft. 8 in. deep, coated with white
marble, having two marble steps down into it, and a
* In thecatacombs of San Gennaro, at Naples, is a church with
three arches, supported by columns cut out of the tufa rock, with an
altar, episcopal seat, and baptistery of stone, and in another part is
a
fountain, which was probably used for baptismal purposes.

marble bench all round on which the bather could sit.
The diameter of the building leaves a broad margin

of floor round the piscina ;
the roof is vaulted.*
The piscina of the baptistery in private baths seems
usually to have been circular.f
When the Church built public basilicas it possibly
built baptisteries beside them, but the only one we
can mention before the time of Constantine is in
connection with the new church at Tyre,
already
described (p. 43) ;
for Eusebius seems to allude to a
baptistery when he says that there were spacious

exJiedrcB and oeci on each side, attached to the
basilicaand communicating with it, " for those who
require yet the purification and the sprinklings of
water and of the Holy Spirit." From the beginning
of the fourth century a baptistery is usually found
attached to a cathedral church, and in Rome alone
to many of the churches.
Fromthe beginning the baptisteries are built on
a certain fixed general design, from which there are
only minor deviations. The plan is

usually octa-
gonal,t or rarely circular, with an inner octagon of
eight columns supporting a second story ; the columns
surround a piscina, or bath, which is protected by a
•
See plan, p. 254, and interior, p. 279, in Smith's "Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Antiquities," article " Balnea;."
t E.g. that of Pliny's villa at Laurentium (Letter xx. to Gallus).
X The octagonal form was considered peculiarly applicable to the

baptistery
—
" Octochorum
sanctostemplum surrexit in usus i
Octagonus fons munere dignus eo.

est
Hoc numero decuit sacri Baptismatis aulam
Surgere, quo populis vera salus rediit."
parapet wall, and support a dome which forms a

canopy of honour over the piscina. In some cases
the central columns do not form a constructional part
of the building, but are smaller shafts fixed in the
angles of the parapet wall of the piscina, carrying a

light cupola over it. In either case, the shape of the
building, the internal circle of columns surrounding
the basin, the reflection of the architecture in the
stillmirror of the sacred bath, must have produced
very striking pictorial effects. There was often an
anteroom at the entrance of the baptistery, where the
catechumens made the renunciation of Satan and
confession of faith which formed the introduction to
*
the service and an apsidal recess opposite the
;
entrance contained an altar at which the newly

baptized received their first communion. Baptis-
terieswere also used for assemblies of people, and
bishops were not infrequently buried in them.
The earliest remaining example is the building at
Rome known as San Giovanni
in Fonte,t or the
baptistery of Constantine, which is said to have been

built for the baptism of the two Constantias the —
sisterand daughter of the emperor. It is an octagonal
building of brickwork, in the adornment of which
the columns and capitals of earlier buildings have
been freely used. The central
octagon of eight
columns, with Ionic and Composite capitals, carries
a cornice which runs round the building, and supports
* In
medieval times this vvâs done in the porch of the church,
t St. John of the Fonts, i.e. St. .John Baptist. All the Italian
baptisteries are similarly dedicated.
eight smaller columns of marble, which again support

the octagonal drum of the cupola and lantern of the
roof. has a portico which was so large as to form
It
an entrance hall to the baptistery. The fabric may-

be of the time of Constantine, altered by later adapta-
tions and adornments, but Liibke is of opinion that
the original structure is of the fifth century.
There is an example of this primitive period in
ruins at Aquileia * octagonal in form, with a small
apse at the east angle, an inner octagon of columns,

and a hexagonal piscina.
At Nocera dei Pagani, between Naples and
Salerno, an extremely beautiful circular church of
is
"
early date almost unaltered, built undoubtedly for
the purpose of a baptistery." An inner circle of
doubled columns supports the dome, and forms a
circular aisle. The central piscina is twenty feet in
diameter and nearly five feet deep, circular within

and octagonal without two stone steps or benches
;
surround the interior ;

it has a raised parapet of
marble, ornamented with incised patterns, and upon
the angles of the parapet stood eight columns which
probably carried a canopy, t
The most interesting of all the early baptisteries
which remain to us is that known as San Giovanni
in Fonte, in Ravenna, of the fifth century. It is an
octagonal brick building of two
stories, very plain
externally, but internally richly adorned with marble
*
Engraved in the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," i. 175,
"
t Plan and section are given in Fergusson's History of Archi-
tecture," i. 433, 434.
columns which support a dome the walls are lined ;
with marble and the dome with mosaics. It has an
octagonal basin, and a stone reading-desk beside it

for the convenience of the officiating minister.*
At Deir Seta, in Central Syria, is a hexagonal
baptistery, with a hexagonal basrn, with columns at
its angles which probably supported a canopy.f
There are other interesting baptisteries, all of the
same general design, at Bologna, Florence, Torcello,
Volterra, Cremona, Verona, Padua, Parma, Pisa,
Baveno, etc. The basin was sometimes of fanciful
form in Lusitania it was
:
commonly cross-shaped ;
" "
in the Pontifical of Landulph it is a quatrefoil in
plan.
After the eleventh century it became the custom
for parish priests to baptize children soon after birth,
and fonts were introduced into the parish churches
for the purpose about the middle of the eleventh
;
century. Pope Leo IV. recommended the clergy hence-

forth to provide fonts in their churches and very io^fj ;
cathedral baptisteries were subsequently built. In

some of the Italian cities, however, as Pisa, Florence,
and others, baptism continued, and still continues,
to be administered only in the
baptistery. We can
easily understand the strong sentiment in favour of
continuing to baptize the whole population of the
city in the one font, the same in which the ancestors
of the whole people had been
baptized for many
* " Ecclesias-
There are good representations of it in Gaily Knight's
tical Architecture of Italy."
t De Vogue, " Syrie Centrale," Plate CXVII,
H
"
generations. The miniature paintings in the Ponti-
fical of Landulph of Capua," which is of the ninth
century, represent two scenes within one of these early
baptisteries. In one an adult is standing up to the
breast in the piscina, and a priest seems to have
—
poured or to be about to pour water over his
—
head ;
in the other, infants are being baptized by
immersion.*
The
plan for the church of St. Gall, which is of
early ninth century, shows a circular font within
the nave, at its west end, surrounded by a screen.
In our own country we have some illustrations
of these Church customs. Augustine Canterbury at
and Paulinus at Catterick are said to have bap-

tized their converts in the neighbouring river. We
have already had occasion to notice that the
Romano-British basilica at Canterbury had a bap-
tistery adjoining it. For the baptizing of King
Edwin of Northumbria a wooden baptistery was
erected over a spring or well, and the cathedral was
subsequently built around it, and the well still exists

in the crypt. About A.D. 750, Cuthbcrt, Archbishop
of Canterbury, erected a church east of the cathedral,
and almost touching it, to serve as a baptistery and
for other purposes {exantinationes jiidiconwi, burial of
archbishops, etc.). There are wells in some of our

churches and churchyards, which were very possibly
used as baptismal fonts. Some of the holy wells are
enclosed in a building, and have a screen of columns
* are engraved in D'Agincourt's
" L'Art
They par ses Monumens,"
and in the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," pp. 158 and 171.
supporting a canopy over the water, after the fashion

of the old baptisteries there is a beautiful example
;
at Holy Well, Flintshire, near Chester.*

Wehave no existing baptisteries attached to our
cathedrals, and there are no fonts in our English
churches earlier than the eleventh century. It is
interesting to note that the small parish church

fonts retain some reminiscences of the diocesan
baptisteries which they superseded, for their most

usual form is an octagonal external plan with a
circular bowl ;
and many of them have, and probably
many more once had, a cover in the shape of a
canopy of honour. Some of them have the Baptism

of Christ sculptured upon them, as at Bridekirk,
Cumberland, and Lenton, Notts, On the Norman
font at Darenth, "Kent, and those at Kirkburn and
Thorpe Salvin, Yorkshire, is a representation of
baptism in a font.
Thechapter houses attached to so many of our

cathedrals seem to have been derived from the old
cathedral baptisteries. Every monastery had its
chapter house, but it was an oblong hall, always

adjoining a transept of the church but the chapter ;
house of cathedrals served by canons was usually a

large octagonal building (sometimes of nine sides)
with a pyramidal roof, standing alone conspicuously,
in the immediate neighbourhood of the church, and
sometimes connected with it by a covered

way. It
would seem that when no longer needed for baptisms,
such a building was still wanted for ecclesiastical
* It
may very possibly have been used as a baptistery.
loo HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
I
assemblies. The modification of its construction by

the substitution of a central pillar to support the
groining of the roof, in place of the old octagon of
columns supporting the dome, is an interesting ex-

ample of mediaeval felicity ot design.
^^^^l•l;+•+^t^l^l^f•t^t•fH:+:4H;fiiiili•>;+H•4;+rl:l:4•4;|:+'TH^^ W
:4;^;4-^^RT^^-lj+;f;4^;^^;+;4^;4^;T^;î;+;+it:+:+Hi^;^^;t:j^}^;^'^;•|^;^^;^•;^yl^ a
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CATACOMBS.*
Literature of the subject — —
Incremation Columbaria Roman subter- —
—
ranean sepulchral chambers ^Jewish burial customs The Church —
—
adopted the custom of burial Christian catacombs Description —
of those at Rome — Family catacombs of wealthy Christians put
at the disposal of the Church— Burial clubs— Public Christian
—
catacombs became places of pilgrimage Jerome's description of
—
them Prudentius's description of them, and of the Confessio of
IÎippolytus
— —
The removal of relics The catacombs deserted and
forgotten.
HEIR tombs are often the most important

surviving monuments of the existence
of the ancient races of mankind, and the
contents of the tombs supply the prin-
cipal materials left to us for determining what manner
* On the
rediscovery of the Roman catacombs at the close of the
sixteenth century the first results were published by A. Bosio (" Roma
Sotteranca," 1632). Aringhi, Boldetti, and Bottaii do little more
than work up Bosio's materials. in his
" Histoire de
D'Agincourt
I'Art par ses Monumens," 1823, gives the result of additional discoveries
up to his time. A
new era opens with Padre Marchi's "Monument!
deir Arte primitive Cristiane," 1844, followed up by the magnificent
works of De Rossi, the "Christian Inscriptions of Rome," and the
" Roma Sotteranea." Garucci's " Storia della Arte Christiana "
brings
I02 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
of people they were. So of the earhest ages of the

Church, the catacombs contain almost the only ex-
amples left of the painting and sculpture of several
centuries, and afford invaluable illustrations of the
beliefs and customs of primitive Christianity.

At the periodwhen the Church began its exist-
ence the cremation of
the dead had been for
some centuries the gene-
ral custom throughout
the Roman world. The
law required that the
dead should be disposed
of without the walls of
the towns and cities, and
it was the custom to
place their monuments

beside the suburban
[hW>. ..'.,<"•> 1
The body was
upon a costly
pile, or more
economically cinerated in a ustritmm
— a furnace made
for the purpose a handful of the calcined human
;
remains was carefully rescued from the heap, and en-
together, in its five great folios, photographic representations of all the

principal objects of art of the first centuries. T. Roller has illustrated
the Roman catacombs and their contents by photogravure, and discussed
them from an anti-Roman point of view. J. II. Parker's photographs
of the paintings and sculptures of Rome are a very valuable addition to
the student's materials. F. Ferret's copies of the paintings are fanciful
restorations of what the originals may have been, or ought to have
been —of very little archaeological valud The photographs are the only
trustwôrthy authorities,
THE CATACOMBS. 103
closed in an urn of earthenware, glass, marble, silver

or gold, according to the wealth of the deceased.
Some Roman cemeteries which have been carefully
examined {e.g. at Colchester) indicate that large
areas of land by the sides of the principal roads
leading out of the towns were appropriated as general

cemeteries, each with its own ustrinum and that ;
the funeral urns (together with other vessels of glass

and earthenware, containing perhaps salt, wine, oil,
as offerings to the manes, and personal relics of
etc.,
the deceased, as a necklace of beads or the like)

were buried in orderly rows in small shallow square
graves ;
in many cases four of the large flat Roman
bricks lined the grave and formed the sides of a rude
cist, while another brick formed the lid, which

sufficed to ward off the pressure of the surrounding
soiland to preserve the frail deposit uninjured to the
present day. Over some of these graves were erected
monuments of various kinds, as plain upright stones
with an inscription, columns, slabs of stone with an
effigy of the deceased sculptured in sunk relief, and
accompanied by an inscription.
*
Wealthy families purchased a suburban plot of

land, and built a family tomb upon it. A common
form of the tomb was a square basement with a
round upper story the massive walls were internally
;
honeycombed with niches, each of which accommo-

dated a funeral urn ;
while the chamber afforded
accommodation for the funereal rites, and memorial
feasts. Place was often found in the tomb for the
funeral urns of dependents of the family. The
external shape of the round tower and its internal

rows of niches like pigeon-holes obtained for these
tombs the name of cohimharia.
Some however of the Roman families, especially
perhaps those who prided themselves on their de-

scent from the ancient Etruscan nobles, adhered to
the earlier custom of entire burial. These deposited
their dead in chambers hewn out of the sides of the
rocky hills, with an architectural facade against the

scarped face of the hill or they excavated chambers
;
in the rocky substrata of the plain, reached by a
perpendicular well or a sloping driftway, the entrance

to which was protected by an architectural building like
a little
temple. Of the former kind is the Tomb of the
Scipios in the Latin Way, which consists of a chamber
hewn in the hillside, with a Doric front and the ;
•Tomb of the Nasos (the family of the poet Ovid) in

the Flaminian Way, which is a similar crypt in the
hillside, also with a Doric front. Of the latter kind
is the group of sepulchral chambers found in recent
times on the Latin Way, paved and lined with
marble, and adorned with paintings, with the sculp-
tured sarcophagistill remaining undisturbed in their
recesses.
The Jewish funeral customs had, no doubt, great
influence upon the mode in which the Christian
Church disposed of its dead. The Jews clung to
the custom of entire burial and laid their dead in
chambers hewn out of the rock. The earliest ex-
ample is the Cave of Machpelah. The neighbourhood
'
of Jerusalem still possesses examples of these tombs.

THE CATACOMBS. 105
The hillsides round about the holy city are honey-

combed with sepulchral grottoes. The Tomb of
Joseph of Arimathea was one of them, hewn in the
rock within his suburban garden. The Tomb of
Helena, Queen of Adiabene, a proselyte in the reign
of Claudius, has a facade to the scarped front of the
rock, consisting of a column and two semi-columns,
supporting an architrave, cornice, and frieze its door ;
gives access to an entrance hall, and from the hall

open a series of small chambers all excavated out
of the interior of the hill. The so-called Tomb of
St. James is a chamber excavated out of the side
of the cliff, with a fagade consisting of two
Doric columns and two semi-columns supporting
architrave and frieze. The so-called Tomb of the
Prophets is a catacomb with a central chamber and
radiating and concentric galleries. Individuals of

the powerful and wealthy Jewish colonies of Alex-
andria, Cyrene, Antioch, and Cyprus, may have con-
structed monuments equally important. But the
custom of the less
wealthy istheillustrated in
Jewish cemeteries of the same period in the neigh-

bourhood of Rome and elsewhere. They adopted
the method of which we have seen an example in
the Tomb of the Prophets. They obtained possession
of a piece of ground, dug down to the rocky stratum
beneath the surface soil, and excavated galleries and
chambers, extending them from time to time as need
required. Three small catacombs on different sides
of Rome have been identified, by the inscriptions
and symbols which they contain, as belonging to
^\
io6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
the Jews, and one of them is ascertained to be the

earliest of all the numerous catacombs around the
city.* Another has been found at Venosa in
the south of Italy.

The Church seems at once to have adopted the
custom of burying its dead without mutilation. The

fact that the nuclei of theChurches were generally
groups of converted Jews would naturally incline the
Church custom in that direction. The burial of the
Lord would afford an influential precedent to His
followers. A number of religious considerations, as
body which had been grafted
to the sacredness of the
into the mystical Body of Christ, and had been the
temple of the Holy Ghost, and as to the doctrine of

the Resurrection, would strengthen the other motives
for shrinking from cremation and adopting burial as
the custom of the Church. The funeral customs of
the early Christians were therefore derived from two
sources. The Jewish custom of burial was uni-
versally adopted ;
but the other circumstances of the
interment were largely influenced by the general
funeral customs. It must be borne in mind that
many of the Christians of these early ages were men

and women converted in adult age, who had their
ingrained notions and habits that no customs have
;
so tenacious a hold upon the popular mind as those

which relate to burial ; and that the Church did
not set itself against the innocent customs of the
people, but rather adopted them, impressed upon

*
Julius Csesar gave the Jews at Rome legal protection for their
burial associations and graves.
THE CATACOMBS. 107
them a Christian character, and utilized them in
the service of religion.

The Christians of Rome appear to have at once
followed the example of the Jews of Rome and
buried their dead in underground catacombs. There
are Christian catacombs in other places besides Rome,
indicating that this method of interment was widely-
adopted by the Church. There are extensive cata-
combs at Naples ;
a catacomb at Alexandria only
partially explored, at Venosa, Chiusi, Oria, Syracuse,

Malta, and other places ;* and subterranean chambers
of less extent abound about the deserted cities of
Central Syria.
The Christian catacombs themselves, independently

of the paintings, sculptures, and inscriptions which
they contain, are an interesting monument of the
primitive age of the Church, and demand a careful
description.
The Christian catacombs in the neighbourhood
of Rome are not only the most extensive known to
us, but they have been the most thoroughly explored,
and, what is still more important, the discoveries

made in them have, especially during the last few
years, been systematically observed and recorded.

The substrata of the soil around Rome consisted
The Pozzolana piira was
chiefly of three formations.
a stratum of sharp sand which formed excellent
material for the making of mortar, and the Roman
* Some
Christian sepulchres were found at Cagliari, in Sardinia, in
1892, which have tombs, inscriptions, paintings of Lazarus, Jonah, etc,
of the third and fourth centuries,
io8 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
builders had for generations been in the habit of
quarrying it by means of driftways {arenaria) carried

beneath the soil, wide enough for the passage of the
carts which conveyed the sand. Another stratum was
of Tufa litoide, which was hard and difficult to quarry.
'
A third stratum was of Tufa granolare^ not so hard

to excavate as the second, not so soft and crumbling
as the first ;
it could be easily worked, and yet was
firm enough not to crumble and fall in it was this ;
last stratum which was selected for the cemeteries.

Some of the cemeteries are now
entered by acci-
dental openings where the superincumbent soil has
fallen in from the surface, from the arenaria^ and other-
it seems probable that they all had originally
wise; but
one or more formal entrances, and these entrances
had probably some architectural approach a little —
building containing chambers above ground for the
celebration of funeral rites, and protecting the flight
of steps which led down to the subterranean galleries
and chambers or a descending driftway down to the
;
level of the chambers and galleries, with an archi-

tectural face to the scarped rock through which the
excavated chambers were entered.
Beyond this entrance the catacomb consists of a
narrow gallery (ambulacnim) cut through the rock, in
the sides of which are excavated a series of shelves
{locidi) like the berths of a ship's cabin, tier above
*
tier, each large enough to contain a single body ;
as each loculus was occupied, it was closed by three

* In
pagan and in Jewish cemeteries, and in that of Alexandria,
the loculus is sometimes at right angles to the corridor, so that the
bodies were placed in them feet first.

THE CATACOMBS. 109
tiles or a slab of marble embedded in mortar ;

some-
times a name was rudely painted along the front,
H
o
in
S
o
O
o
C
ci
c
<J
n3
C
rt
<j
o
6
<
with some brief words by way of epitaph, which we

shall have to read and comment upon hereafter or ;
I lo HIS TOR V OF EA RL V CHRIS TIAN ART.
a pictorial emblem of some kind alluding to the

deceased's religion or secular occupation. Every
here and there a larger niche is formed with an arched
head (called an arcosolimn), beneath which was an
excavation in the rock, like a stone coffin, sometimes
A loculus closed with slabs of stone.
A loculus partly opened.
,l.»î-'
vVIXlT.ANNOSXXX\^,
[BVS. JMKrilS
—'_
"(itCSiik-
A loculus closed, with an inscribed marble slab.
large enough to contain two bodies — e.g. man and

wife — side by Opening out from the ambulacra,
side.
like the chambers from the long passages of a modern
house, are small sepulchral chambers {cuhiculcs)

excavated out of the rock ; they afforded space for
THE CATACOMBS. in
sarcophagi on the floor, and arcosolia and loculi,

excavated in their walls, afforded other burial-places. ;
The earliest of these chambers are of small

dimensions, unprovided with shafts for air and light,
not adapted to any other purpose than that of family
burial-places. The later ctibiculcE, made about the

middle of the third century, are of larger size ;
and
those still later, of the latter half of the third and
early part of the fourth century, are spacious quad-

rangular chambers, double, triple, even quadruple
{i.e. one opening out of another), with other appen-
dages. In the Cemetery of S. Soteris, of still later
date, some of these chambers are polygonal, with

apses and vaulted roofs, like subterranean mausoleums.
be observed that the narrow passages and
It will
small chambers of the " ages of persecution " were not
capable of being used as abodes or places of worship,

and that it is not till persecution had long ceased
that we find these larger chambers, which, like the
tombs above ground, were no doubt used for com-
memorative services tombs of famous martyrs, at
;
their annual commemorations, would be attended by

considerable numbers of people, who would wish to
visit the sacred tomb, even if the service were held
in a more commodious building above ground. In

one case in the Cccineterium Ostrianum (commonly
known as that of St. Agnes) at Rome, a series of

chambers running at right angles to the generai
gallery is supposed by some to have been intended
for a small church. But this is very unlikely if a ;
church was wanted there, there was nothing to hinder

the excavation of a church of the usual plan. In

the catacomb at Naples is a church with three
arches supported by columns cut out of the tufa rock,
with an episcopal seat, and baptistery of stone.
altar,
The catacomb at Chiusi also has a small church.
As went on these subterranean passages
years
and chambers were extended to meet the growing
want of room for the dead, and were ramified in all
directions to keep them within the area of the estate
beneath which they were formed. Additional accom-

modation was gained by driving a stair down to a
lower level and constructing another story of galleries
and chambers there are examples of even three, four,
;
and one beneath the other, communicating

five stories
with one another by flights of steps. One cemetery

sometimes communicated with" neighbouring ceme-
and thus an intricate network of passages and
teries,
chambers spread under a very large area of ground.
The walls and roofs of some of the burial-
chambers and the arcosolia were often adorned with
paintings, the stone sarcophagi which were placed
in their recesses had their fronts carved with bas-
reliefs and these paintings and sculptures not only
;
affordexamples of Christian art, but throw light upon

the whole condition of the Christian Church of the
period. But before we enter upon these works of

painting and sculpture, there is still much which is
of great interest to be said upon the history of the
Christian catacombs of Rome.
the sixty catacombs known by name in the
Of
environs of Rome the greater number took their
THE CATACOMBS. 113
ancient name from the name

of the proprietor of
the land under which they were excavated or of
their founder. Others were designated by the name
of some well-known neighbouring landmark, as the
Cceineteriuvt ad Nymphas, ad dims law'as, ad Urswn
pileatmn, ad ad sixtutn Philippic etc.
septejn columnas,
That in which the bodies of the martyred Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul are said to have found a
temporary resting-place was known as the Coemeterium

ad Catacumbas, i.e. at the hollow and it is suggested
;
that,from the general familiarity of the Christian

world with this name, all the subterranean cemeteries
obtained the general name of catacombs. Some of
the cemeteries seem to have been known to Christians
from the first by the name of martyrs of the family
to which the cemetery belonged, as those of St. Agnes,
St. Priscilla, etc. In course of time the primitive
name of many cemeteries was superseded by that of
some famous saint subsequently buried there thus ;
the Cemetery of Domitilla became better known as

that of SS. Nereus, Achilleus, and Petronilla, that of
Balbinus by the name of St. Marcus, that of Callistus
by that of St. Sextus and St. Cecilia.
It seems highly probable that in the earliest
times of Christianity the wealthy converts who put

their houses at the disposal of the Church as places
of assembly for worship, also allowed the use of
their cemeteries as places of burial for the faithful.
We have seen that it was common for a great
family to allow the funeral urns of their servants
and dependents a place in the family columbarium,
and no doubt when the fashion changed they would

still be allowed a loculns in the family catacomb it ;
was not unusual also to allow a friend to make a

sepulchral chamber for himself and his within the area
of the cemetery of a great family ;
so that there would
be nothing very contrary to custom in permitting the
congregation to make for itself a special gallery in
the suburban catacomb belonging to the city house

where they were used to assemble, and whose clients
in a sense they were.
The principal cemeteries of the first century are
those of St. Peter on the Via Cornelia ;
of St. Paul
on the Via Ostiensis of Priscilla (one of the family
;
of Pudens) on the Via Salaria Nova Ostriaminiy ;
where St. Peter is said to have baptized, on the Via

Nomentana and of Domitilla on the Via Ardea-
;
tina, where were buried the martyrs Nereus and

Achilleus, near to Petronilla, all three disciples of
St. Peter.
The first has been destroyed by the excavations

for the foundations of the basilica of St. Peter ;
some
sarcophagi found in it have been preserved. The
same fate has overtaken the greater part of the
Catacomb of Lucina (or Commodilla, both names
occur in ancient records), in which St. Paul was buried,
and the rest is choked with earth and ruins. Two
inscriptions found here are dated respectively by the
consular years corresponding to 107 and no A.D.
The Cemetery of Priscilla is said to have been dug
in the property of the family of Pudens, converted
by the Apostle. In the middle of it is a chapel,

THE CATACOMBS. 115
clearly constructed before the system of excavation

had been devised. It is not simply a chamber hewn
out of the tufa, but is regularly built of bricks and
mortar. There are no graves in the walls ; it was
intended to sarcophagi only, of which
receive
numerous fragments have been found. It was beau-
tifully decorated with ornamental stucco-work worthy
of being compared with the best work of the kind of
pagan times, and also with frescoes different from the

subjects of Christian symbolism which afterwards
became so common.
The Cocnietermm Ostriammi is on a lower level than
that which is known as the Catacomb of St. Agnes,
It contains a chamber whose sides are honeycombed

with graves, and within it a stone chair said to be
that which in the ninth century was believed to be
"
the chair on which St. Peter first sat."
The Cemetery of Domitilla, the niece of Vespasian,
who was banished to Ponza on account of her
Christianity, is on the farm called Tor Marancia,
on the Via Ardeatina, and is identified by several
inscriptions found on the spot, which bear her name ;
in same neighbourhood is also a monument

the
-Sî^^f some member of the Flavian family who lived

and died in the days of Domitian. The original
entrance, which still remains, was in the side of the
hill. The scarped rock was faced with a front of
fine brickwork, with a cornice of terra-cotta and a
pediment. Some chambers were subsequently added
on each side of the entrance. The fragments of sar-
cophagi found here have no subjects carved on them,
1 1 6 HIS TOR V OF EA RL V CHRIS TIAN ART.
only ornamental figures of dolphins, sea-horses, etc.

Other sarcophagi of terra-cotta found buried beneath
the ground seem not to be later than the middle of
the second century. In the catacombs behind, the
first galleries and chambers are also of ancient date.
On a second level of excavation is a wide corridor
leading by an antechamber a large chamber,

to
whose walls are covered with the finest stuccoes
and then decorated with ornamental devices, bearing
so close a resemblance to the decorations of pagan
chambers of the same date, that the whole might be
mistaken for a pagan monument, were it not for the
figure of the Good Shepherd which occupies the
centre of the ceiling. The one original arcosolium
is decorated with a landscape painting. The roof
of the gallery is covered with graceful designs of
trailing vine branches, with birds and winged genii
among them there are also a landscape, two persons
;
sitting at a feast with bread and fish only on the
table, a man fishing, a sheep feeding near a tree,

Daniel in the lions' den. It might have been the
burial-place of the martyred consul Flavius Clemens

himself.
In the Cemetery of St. Priscilla, De Rossi found, in
1888, the family burial-place of a Christian branch of
the Acilian family.* In exploring that portion of
the Catacombs of Priscilla which lies under the
Monte delle Grove, near the entrance from the Via
Salaria, De Rossi observed that the labyrinth of the
galleries converged towards an original crypt shaped
* "
Pagan and Christian Rome," ii. 4.
THE CATACOMBS. 117
like the Greek letter gamma (r) and decorated

with frescoes. On a careful search amoncr the earth
which the place, a fragment of a marble coffin
filled
was discovered with a portion of an inscription to

Acilio Glabrioni Filio. Four other inscriptions were
found among the dlbris, namely to Manius Acilius
. . . and his wife Priscilla, Acilius Rufinus, Acilius
Quintianus, and Claudius Acilius Valerius, so that
there is no doubt as to the
ownership of the crypt,
and of the chapel which opens at end of the longer
arm of the This part of the cemetery resembled
P.
the most ancient part of that of Domitilla there ;
were no loculi in the but only spaces for

walls,
sarcophagi ;
the walls were covered with white plaster
and adorned with paintings.
In the Cemetery of Praetextatus De Rossi discovered
the tomb of
St. lanuarius, not merely hewn out of
the rock, but built with excellent yellow brickwork,

ornamented with pilasters of red brick and cornices
of terra-cotta, just like the pagan sepulchres on the
Latin or Appian Roads, and similar in construction
to many of the latter half of the second century. It
had originally been lined with marble the vault, ;
which is elliptical, terminates in a square light hole

at the top it is
elaborately painted in fresco on a
;
fine white plaster, in a style not inferior to the best

classical productions of the age, with flowers and
birds, reapers reaping corn, men gathering olives,

men gathering grapes, children gathering flowers ;
at the back of the arched recess for a

sarcophagus
is a rural scene, of which the central figure is the
Ii8 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
Good Shepherd. Inscriptions proved this to be

the burial-place of St. lanuarius, who was martyred
A.D. 162,
On the opposite side of the gallery was found a
crypt, which De Rossi assigned as the burial-place of

St. Quirinus, c. 130. The brickwork was mostly of
the time of Hadrian, the sarcophagus had no Christian
sculpture, the portrait bust which occupied the centre

wore the laticlave.
In another monument in the same gallery the arch
of the arcosolium the side of the gallery had

in
been closed with a slab of marble pierced in a

geometrical pattern, and on each side stood a por-
phyry pillar ; the opposite wall of the gallery had
been recessed into a semicircular apse, designed for
the accommodation of visitors to the tomb.

Messrs. Brownlow and Maitland sum up the
characteristics of these earliest catacombs in these
"
words :
Paintings in the most classical style, and
scarcely, if at all, inferior in execution to the best
specimens of contemporary pagan art a system of ;
ornamentation such as has not yet been

in fine stucco,
found in any other Christian subterranean work ;
crypts of peculiar shape and considerable dimensions,

not hewn out of the bare rock, but carefully and even
elegantly built with pilasters and cornices of brick
or terra-cotta no narrow galleries with shelf-like
;
graves thickly pierced in their walls, but spacious

ambulacra, with painted walls, and large recesses
provided only for the reception of sarcophagi whole ;
families of inscriptions with classical names and very

THE CATACOMBS. ng
few distinctly Christian forms of speech and, ; lastly,
actual dates of the first or second century."
Whenthe Church began to build public basilicas

it probably at or about the same time began to
possess public cemeteries. This could be effected
without much difficulty by help of burial clubs. The
pagan population generally was very solicitous to
obtain proper funeral rites, the absence of which
was supposed to entail disadvantages in the next
life the less wealthy classes provided friends to
;
per-
form the last offices, and money to defray the cost,
by
associating themselves in Collegia Funeraticia, i.e.
burial clubs, the members paying a monthly subscrip-

tion, all the members assisting at the funeral of one
of their number, and meeting for the ferialia, or
days of general sacrifice and feasting at the graves.
A building for the celebration of these funeral cere-
monies, called a Schola, was provided at the cemetery
by each Collegium for the use of its members. One
of these chambers still exists at Pompeii in the
"
street of Tombs. Close to the villa called the Villa
of Diomedes, is a small enclosure presenting to the
street a plain front about twenty feet in
length,
stuccoed and unornamented, except by a low
pediment and cornice. The door is remarkably low,
not more than five feet high. Entering we find our-
selves within a chamber open to the sky, the walls
cheerfully decorated with paintings of animals in the

centre of compartments bordered by flowers. Before
us is a stone triclinium with a massive pedestal in
the centre to receive the table, and a short round
pillar in advance of it. It is a funeral triclinium for
the celebration of feasts in honour of the dead ;

the
pillar probably supported the urn of him in whose

honour the feast was given, which it was the custom
to place in some conspicuous position, in view of the
guests at the funeral feast. The Funeral Association

provided all the necessaries for the feast, from the
table service to the festal garments, and they were
often kept on the spot,"
These clubs, permitted at first only in Rome, were
allowed by Septimus Severus throughout the empire,
and became common from the end of the second
century. It is obvious that the Christian community
of any locality might form itself into a burial club, and
thus secure legal possession of a cemetery, and the
protection of the law for its funeral ceremonies. The

public cemetery which belonged to the Roman
first
Church as a corporate body was a considerable area

on the Appian Way, obtained by Pope Zephyrinus
at the beginning of the third century. The law re-
quired that each Collegium should have an official
agent,who represented it in all legal business which
concerned the association. Zephyrinus, as was
natural, appointed his deacon, Callistus, to regulate
the use of the cemetery, and to transact the neces-
sary business with the legal authorities, and thus the
cemetery came to be called the Cemetery of Callistus.
One of the earliest sepulchral chambers of this ceme-
tery was thenceforward till 303 used as the ordinary
burial-place of the Roman bishops.
THE CATACOMBS. 121
The Christian public cemeteries were rapidly-
multiplied there is reason to believe that in the

;
time of Fabian (236-251) each tituliis {i.e. public

church) had a district of the city assigned to it, as
what we should call its parish, that each had its
suburban cemetery, and that the cemetery had its

fabrica, which was probably a chapel for the funeral
services and commemorations with other buildings
adjoining for the convenience of the officials and
mourners.
In 257 Valerian issued the first edict forbidding
the Christians to use their cemeteries. In the follow-
ing year, Pope Sixtus and his four deacons were

seized in the Cemetery of Praetextatus, and martyred.*
Under Numerian, a number of people who had
entered one of the cemeteries on the Salarian Way,
near the tombs of the martyrs Chrysanthus and
Daria (perhaps for worship in one of the chambers,
since they had with them the vasa sacra), were
blocked in, by the closing of the entrance with a
heap of stones and sand, and left to perish.
The decree of Diocletian, in 303, confiscated all
the buildings and property of the Church, including
the public cemeteries. It would seem that Pope
Marcellinus hereupon obtained permission to use the
cemetery of the family of Pudens, on the Salarian

Way, for the burial of the Christians of Rome, and
that he caused an extensive series of new galleries
and chambers to be made at a lower level than the
existing catacomb, and there they remain to this

* See
p. 146.
day, planned and executed with an unusual degree

of regularity, as if the work of one mind and
hand.
When Constantlne restored her property to the
Church, burial in the old public cemeteries was re-
sumed. Pope Melchiades recovered the body of his
predecessor, Euscbius, who had died in exile in
Cyprus (?), and buried him in the Cemetery of Cal-
listus— not in the old crypt of the bishops, which
was by this time filled, but in another chamber in
the same cemetery, which he had decorated anew :
"The roof was painted with a pattern of hexagons

and other geometrical figures, containing alternately
birds and flowers the vaulted roofs of the arcosolia
;
were covered with mosaics, and the white walls were

faced with various coloured marbles." Pope Mel-
chiades himself was buried in another crypt similarly
ornamented. His successors, Sylvester, Mark, and
Julius, vvêre all buried in small cellae, or tombs,
built near the entrances to the catacombs, but not
within them. Of Mark it is said that he was buried
in the Cemetery of Basilius in the Via Ardeatina,
in a basilica which he and which he constituted
built,
a cemetery ;
there can be little doubt that this
means that he attached a priest to it, and made it a
public cemetery of the church.

Excepting three new cemeteries made by Pope
Julius (336-347), it would seem that, from the end of
the third century to the end of the fifth, all that was
done in the old catacombs was to make accommoda-
tion for persons who had expressly desired to be
THE CATACOMBS. 123
buried in the catacombs, near the resting-places of

the martyrs. For this purpose, people made their
arrangements with the fossorcs, the professional
grave-diggers, and new loculi and arcosolia and

cubiculae were made, and sometimes crowded round
certain famous graves in a way which has caused
much defacement to the original features of the
catacombs.About the same period, by cutting away
whole blocks of rock with their loculi, space was
made for small basilicas, so arranged that the apse
should include, or immediately adjoin, the grave of
some martyr,* and much damage was thus done in
the older parts of the catacombs. This fashion,
however, did not last long, and after the date (410)
of the invasion of Rome by Alaric, there is scarcely
an example of it.
By the middle of the fourth century began the
important change of burial in brick graves, made in
the upper stratum of soil over the catacombs, around
the basilicas of the martyrs, and this fashion increased
when burial in the catacombs ceased before the year
A.D. 410.
When
the cemeteries ceased to be used as
burying-
places, they became the objects of a still more
reverential interest. In this and the following cen-
turies, much was done in repairing, decorating, and
•
The subterranean basilica of Petronilla, erected
by Siricius at the
end of the fourth century in the Cemetery of Domitilla, is an
example ;
and less perfect examples are the basilicas of S.
Agnese, S. Sebastian,
S. Lorenzo, and, outside
Rome, the basilicas at S. Generosa and Bolsena.
redecorating the chambers which had become objects

of special reverence.
Pope Damasus (366-385) took great interest in the

catacombs he faced the cubiculae of some of the more
;
ilkistrious martyrs with marble, widened the galleries
which led to them, and made new shafts for light

and air, put up inscriptions in Latin verse inscribed
in large and elegantly formed capital letters,* and
thus encouraged the devotional practice of paying
the martyrs' tombs.
visits to
The present condition of the catacombs gives an

impression of desolation which did not belong to
them originally. The long narrow galleries must
always have been dark, but the light of the lamp
which the visitor carried showed perfect walls, and
lighted up a constant succession on both sides, in
three or four of brief inscriptions and Christian
tiers,
symbols, with frequent points of special interest a

—
glass vessel half standing out from the concrete,
with its device on gold-foil, a coin im-
glittering
bedded in the concrete to mark a date here and ;
there an arched recess {arcosoliiini), with a longer in-
scription at the back of the niche, which the visitor

might pause to read at intervals a cubicuhim, into
;
which he would turn to examine with interest its

painted walls and ceiling, and the sculptured sarco*
phagi, which then suitably furnished the chamber of
the dead.
Jerome,t in a well-known passage, describes the

* All these
poetical inscriptions are on record, and fragments of the
in recent excavations.
original marbles have been discovered
t In Ezech, Ix.
THE CATACOMBS. 125
custom of visiting the tombs of the martyrs in his

time " When I was a boy being educated in Rome
:
[he went there about A.D. 364], I used every Sunday,

in company with other boys of my own age and
tastes, to
visit the tombs of the Apostles and
martyrs, and to go into the crypts excavated there

in the bowels of the earth. The walls on either side
as you enter are full of the bodies of the dead, and
the whole place is so dark that one seems almost to
'
see the fulfilment of those words of the prophet, Let
them go down alone into Hades.' Here and there,
a little light admitted from above suffices to give a
momentary relief to the horror of the darkness ;

but
as you go forward and immersed
find yourself again
in the utter blackness of night, the words of the
poet come spontaneously to your mind, 'The very

' "
silence fills the soul with dread 1
Prudentius, towards the close of the fourth century,

gives a description of the catacombs, and also of one
of the crypts which had been sumptuously decorated
in honour of the martyr Hippolytus, who was buried
"
in it. Not far from the city walls, among the
well-trimmed orchards, there lies a crypt buried in
darksome pits. Into its secret recesses a steep path
with winding stairs directs one, even though the
turnings shut out the light. The light of day indeed
comes in through the doorway, as far as the surface
of the opening, and illuminates the threshold of the

portico ;
and when, as you advance further, the dark-
ness as of night seems to get more and more obscure
throughout the mazes of the cavern, there occur at

intervals apertures cut in the roof, which convey the

bright rays of the sun into the cave. Although the
recesses, twisting at random this way and that, form
narrow chambers and darksome galleries, yet a con-
siderable quantity of light finds its way through the
pierced vaulting down into the hollow bowels of
the mountain. And thus throughout the subter-
ranean crypt it is possible to perceive the brightness
and enjoy the light of the absent sun. To such
secret placesis the body of Hippolytus
conveyed,
near to the spot where now stands the altar dedi-
cated to God. The same table {inensd) gives the
Sacrament and is the faithful guardian of its
martyr's bones, which keeps it

up laid there in
expectation of the Eternal Judge, while it feeds the

dwellers on the Tiber with holy food. Wondrous
is the sanctity of the place The altar is at hand
!
for those who pray, and it assists the hopes of men
by mercifully granting what they need. Here have

I, when sick with ills both of soul and body, often-
times prostrated myself in prayer and found relief.

Yes, Oglorious priest! I will tell with what
joy
I return to enjoy the privilege of embracing thee,
and that I know that I owe all this to Hippolytus,
to whom Christ our God has granted power to
obtain whatever any one asks of him. That little
chapel {(Bdicidd), which contains the case of garments

of his soul [his relics], is bright with solid silver.
Wealthy hands have put up tablets glistening with
a smooth surface [of silver] bright as a concave
mirror ; and, not content with overlaying the entrance
THE CATACOMBS. 127
with Parian marble, they have lavished large sums

of money on the ornamentation of the work." He
goes on to describe the crowds who visit the tomb
"
on the martyr's festal day No doubt the cavern,
:
wide though its mouth be stretched, is too narrow

for such crowds but hard by is another church
;
{templuni) enriched with royal magnificence which

the great gathering may visit," And then follows
the description of a basilica, which is supposed by
many to be the original basilica of San Lorenzo in
Agra Verano.
After the capture of Rome by Alaric (a.d. 410)
burial in the catacombs ceased, except in some
few special cases ; and none of these after A.D.
450. After the sack of Rome by Totila (560) burial
in the cemeteriesabove ground ceased. In a.d. 648
began the removal of relics of saints from the cata-
combs into the basilicas in the city in 756 Paul I. ;
removed more than a hundred and in 817 Paschal I.

;
removed thousands to Sta. Prassede. After this

period the cemeteries, deprived of that which had
formed their principal attraction, were soon deserted,
neglected, and almost forgotten. At the beginning
of the fifteenth century only that of the Catacumbas
remained open. It was not till the end of the sixteenth
century that the accidental rediscovery of one of them
attracted the attention of the students of Church
history and antiquities.

The catacombs at Naples are excavated in the
volcanic tufa, on the face of the hill of Capodimonte.
The only entrance now open is at the Church of
S. Gennaro de' Poveri. They form a long series of

corridors and chambers, arranged in three stories
communicating with one another by flights of steps.

In one place is a church with three arches, sup-
ported by columns cut out of the tufa rock, with

an altar, episcopal choir, and baptistery of stone in ;
another place the excavation has broached a fountain

which may, of course, have been used for baptisms.
Along the walls of the chambers are numerous lociili^
in some of which may still be seen skeletons, and
rude delineations of the olive-branch, dove, fish,
and other usual early Christian symbols, with here

and there a Greek inscription. These loculi were
firmly closed by slabs of marble, many fragments
of which, having inscriptions, form part of the pave-
ment of the Church of S. Gennaro. These catacombs
have not been fully explored ;
their extent is said
to be very great. Burial in these catacombs and
those of Sicily continued as late as the tenth century.
The Rev. Bellerman (1839) published good
C. F,
coloured plates of the fresco paintings of the Naples
catacombs with text* Their subjects include the
usual peacocks, doves, and flowers, anchors, dolphins,
a jewelled cross, another with A12, and figures of St.
Paul, St. Lawrence, St. Januarius, and oranti. There
is an Adam and Eve beautifully drawn ;
a picture of
"
three females building a wall, from the Shepherd of
Hermas;" a Christ with nimbus on one of the vaulted
ceilings. Some notice of the catacombs at Alex-
* See also " Storia della Arte Plates
Garucci, Christiana," vol. ii.
" Histoire de
93-101 ; D'Agincourt, I'Art," Plates 11, 9.
THE CATACOMBS. 129
andria* will be found at p. 185 ;

and of the cemetery
at S. Generosa in Garucci's great work mentioned in
the note.f At Cyrene are subterranean sepulchral
chambers with an architectural fagade like those of
the Scipios and the Nasos of Rome.
* In
December, 1S92, Professor Botti, in excavating near Pompey's
Pillar, penetrated into the catacombs and found several sarcophagi.
t See footnote, p. 128.
K
ri^f3jffiirPJr^m'4[^r^\^-ir^^\'^&f^v^r^r^r^^^r^r^rsJrîMii[^
^
rgj] rgjjcDTaj istsi [bJ fBJ raJ r
aJ r^J i"-is) raJ r^J rai rgJ pbj tsMfaJ raJ raJ rai raJ ilai
CHAPTER IX.
TOMBS AND MONUMENTS,

Tombs and monuments at Rome, Jerusalem, and elsewhere Christian —
—
tombs: of Constantia, Helena Syrian tombs at Kerbet Hass,
—
Hass, Kokanaya Subterranean chamber at Mondjeleia Twin
—
columns at Sermeda, Dana, Bechindelayah Pillar stones in —
Britain —Tombs used for funeral rites — Primitive regard for the
— —
dead Funeral feasts Confessio of the martyrs ; in the catacombs;
—
above ground Story of Theodotus of Ancyra Basilica of SS. —
—
John and Paul, Rome St. Alban, his tnartyrion Early tombs
—
represented in the paintings and sculptures of the Raising of
— —
Lazarus AbyssiniaA tomb Visits to tombs, and names scratched
—
on them Prayers to the saints.
EFORE we apply ourselves to the study

of the wall-paintings and the sculptured
sarcophagi which the catacombs have

preserved beneath the soil for all these
centuries, theresomething to be said about the

is
tombs and monuments and funeral buildings which

once studded the areas of the cemeteries above
ground, but of which very few remain.

Some tombs which immediately preceded the
Christian age ought to be mentioned because they
formed the model of those which the Christians
TOMBS AND MONUMENTS. 131
subsequently constructed for themselves. First, those

in the neighbourhood of Rome. The monument of
Caecilia Metella, the wife of the consul Crassus, is
the earliest of these tombs of ascertained date,

and is the largest example of a very numerous type
of these monuments. It consists of a square first
story, surmounted by a circular second story with

a frieze and cornice, and is supposed to have been
finished with a conical roof. We find the same
type at Pompeii, at Jerusalem, in North Africa, in
Gaul, and in Syria. The white marble pyramid
of Caius Cestius, containing a small chamber, the
sides and ceilings of which were covered with
arabesque example of another
pa'intings, is an
common type. The Tomb of Augustus was a repro- < .
duction of one of the most ancient and universal
types of the tomb of a great man, an earthen mound ;
but in this instance the lower part of the mound was

encased with a wall of white marble adorned with
columns which supported a cornice and frieze, the
upper part of the mound was planted with evergreens,
and it terminated in a bronze statue of the emperor.
At Madracen, in Algeria, is a mound surrounded by
a wall and Doric peristyle, like that of Augustus, and
probably imitated from it, by Juba, 'i\iQ protege of the
great emperor.* At Jerusalem, the so-called Tomb
of Zacharias is a mass of the native rock in situ, cut
into a cube, ornamented at the sides with Ionic
*
Luciaii, the satirist, alludes to these monuments and tombs in
the
" Oracles of the Devil " Tell
"
Menippus ; or, :
me, Menippus, they
who possess these costly and lofty tombs upon the earth, and monu-
mental slabs, and pictures and inscriptions," etc.
columns and and surmounted by a pyramid.

pilasters,
The Tomb of Absalom is formed in the same way
out of the native rock, adorned with Ionic columns
and pilasters carrying a frieze the upper part, built of
;
masonry, is with projecting cable mouldings,

circular,
and is finished with a concave-curved pyramid,
terminating in a of palm leaves.*

finial
Another very common type of monument is a

pillar, of which the columns of Trajan and Antoninus
are the noblest examples known to us. There are
three small tombs of this period still remaining in
Gaul —a pillar at Cussi, near Beaune, an obelisk at
Igel, near Treves,t and the elegant Tomb of St.
Remi.|:
There are similar monuments in North Africa, e.g.
at Kasrin, Tunisia,^ and at Thugga.
The Street of the Tombs at Pompeii outside the
Herculanean Gate gives the most complete existing
example of the custom. The tombs are in a con-
tinuous line on each side of the road, of various types :
the little temple with a portico of Corinthian columns,

the square base with round upper story, the cubical
cyphus the pillar, and the headstone.

; common A
form of headstone has the upper part rounded into
the outline of a head, and while the front is
nothing
but the flat surface of the stone the back is sculptured
in imitation of hair. It reminds us of the common
modern Turkish headstone whose top is carved into
*
Fergusson's "History of Architecture," vol. i.
p. 357.
t Ibid., p. 350. J Ibid., p. 349.
" Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects for
§
lb.<0," Plate XX. 41.
the representation of a turban, and suggests another
meaning for the name of headstone than the common

one that they are placed at the head of the grave.
Of Christian tombs the best known are those of
the daughter of Constantine, now the church of
Costanza, and the tomb of his mother, the Empress
Helena. The Tomb of the Empress Helena is now
The Tomb of the Empress Helena,
only a ruin of massive brickwork, with a central

chamber which are eight circular recesses it seems
in ;
to have been originally of the common type of a
square basement with around upper story, roofed with

a dome or conical cap. The Tomb of Constantia is
a circular building, 100 feet in external diameter :
within that a smaller circle (35 feet) of twenty- four
pillars, carry a domed roof In a square niche
opposite the door stood a costly sarcophagus of por-

phyry, which is now in the Vatican Museum. The
roof of the aisle is adorned with mosaics of the
vintage and scenes of rural life, like many of the
pagan tombs ;
the vine may or may not have been
^^g^^lEnjafiSi : :
...i^^
,p
Tomb at Hass, Central Syria
intended to have a Christian symbolism. There is a

small portico in front of the entrance.
The cemeteries attached to the deserted cities of
Central Syria contain a large number of monuments
and tombs, ranging from the third to the seventh
centuries, some like those we have seen elsewhere,
others supplying types which are otherwise lost.
TOMBS AND MONUÎENTS. 135
The illustration ("Syrie Centrale," Plate LXXII.)

is a tomb at Hass, restored from the existing remains
and by comparison with other tombs. It is of two
storiesthe ground floor is divided into two compart-
;
ments with recesses for sarcophagi. The upper stage

is constructed with great solidity, three recesses being
left in the solid masonry for sarcophagi. Enough
remains to restore the angle columns and the pediment,
but it is only a conjecture derived from similar tombs
that this was finished by a cupola. Another* at
Kerbet Hass has a fagade like a little temple.

Another at Hass, adorned with columns round its
sides,has an inscription in large Greek characters

in the hollow mouldings ; only fragments remain of
those of the upper story ;
the lower story still retains
part of a quotation from Ps. cxlviii. 26, 27 it has ;
also a Christian monogram on the door. De Vogiie

attributes it to the year A.D. 377.
There do not appear to be any'extensive catacombs
about these Syrian cities, but subterranean sepulchral
chambers are very common. The simplest form is
that of a grave dug down into the rock and enlarged
to right and left into a crypt which would contain
several bodies ; the opening of the grave being
covered by a massive stone ridged like a roof, with
antae at the corner, in imitation of the corner tiles
of a classical roof. The
idea clearly was that the
chamber was the last narrow house of the dead. The
same kind of ridged cover is used for the sarcophagus
lid, and was very common in the fourth, fifth, and sixth
* De " LXXXIV.
Vogue's Syrie Centrale," Plate
centuries. An example of it at Kokanaya is the

more interesting because has an inscription giving
it
the name of the person interred in it and the date of

his death —
+ 'Elcnfilai + XptffTtavtfi +
Aoâ irarpl Koi vTcji
/col ayico Tryevjj.oiTi
''Etov ^lU I^V^ ^'^0 K^'.
"To Euicbius, }. Christian. Glory be to the Father, and to

the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Year 417 the 27 loiis."
The era 417 of Antioch equal to A.D. 368-369is
There are whole cemeteries still crowded with stone

coffins with covers of this type. There is one near
Julia Concordia nel Veneto, of which a photograph is
"
given in De Rossi's Bullettino," 2nd series, anno 5 ;
*
in several places in Syria ;
and at Aries, in France;
and scattered examples are to be found on the sites
of Roman cities throughout the empire. They are
the types from which our Saxon and mediaeval
" "
stone coffins were derived.
Several of the Syrian sepulchres are constructed
in the same way as the tombs of the Nasos and
Scipios, and the earlier chambers of the Cemetery of

Domitilla, at Rome : a sloping road has been ex-
cavated down into the rocky soil until the scarped
rock in front was high for its purpose;
sufficiently
then a door has been cut through the front, and a
sepulchral chamber, or series of chambers, excavated
out of the hill beyond finally, the scarped front of
;
the rock has been faced with an architectural design.

The illustration (" Syrie Centrale," PI. LXXXVIII.)
*
De " Centrale."
Vogiie's Syrie
represents a sepulchral chamber at Mondejelia hewn

in the rock with three recesses for sarcophagi, ap-
proached by a sloping way, the entrance ornamented

by a portico partly formed of the rock, partly built
of stone projecting above the level of the rock. It is
probably of the fifth century.

Over or near to the sepulchral chamber was fre-
quently erected a monument, and these monuments
Subterranean Sepulchre at Mondjeleia, Central Syria.
arc of various types. One of the earliest, at Sermeda,

consists of two tall columns with Corinthian capitals,
united at the base by a common plinth, by a cornice
at the top, and by an ornamented stone at about
three-fifths of their height. Dc Vogue thinks it cer-
tain that they supported a statue we ; may suggest

further that an equestrian statute would alone
fill the cornice and be in due proportion to the
rest of the composition. It has an inscription, but un-
is legible except the artist's name

fortunately nothing
and the
date, which corresponds with April 6, A.D. 132.
At Dana there are two tall rectangular pillars
similarly coupled, which bear an inscription to one
Isidorus and the date October 9, A.D. 222, At
Bechindelayah is a single tall rectangular pillar, with
a panel towards the summit containing the bas-relief
of a man an inscription is cut in the face of the
;
pillar beneath this panel, commemorating Tiberius

Claudius Sosandros, who died A.D. 134. This pillar
adjoins and belongs to an underground sepulchral
chamber cut in the rock, with an architectural
facade.
The accompanying woodcut from Professor Ram-
"
say's Church in the Roman Empire," represents, as
"
the inscription declares, the " Memorion of Abirkios
(Avircius), son of Porphyrios, a deacon at Prymnessos,

in Phrygia, and Theuprepia his wife, and their
children. If the open declaration that Avircius was
a deacon did not point to a date after the Peace of
the Church, Professor Ramsay would, from the style
of art, assign it to the third, rather than the fourth
century. We venture to think that since the Church

built public churches and had its special cemeteries
in the third century, clergy were known to
and its
everybody, there was no reason why the sepulchral

inscriptions of its clergy should not record their
status. The central figure on the monument. Professor
Ramsay takes, with great probability, to represent
our Lord, and the heads to represent Avircius and
Theuprepia. In the latter head the Professor says
\y/,-//f'Mmv^fMW//mmw'Kvm'.'AV/VAV^^^^^^
ÂBIPKIO:
MP sa^"*;
noP4>YPioY
AlAKU NKA
TECKEYACA
TOKMOPION
EAYTWKAm
CYMBimoY
GEYnPL "IH
"EKN°iL
= ."a
,
A Christian monument at Prymnessos, Phrygia.

there an individuality which the engraving in-

is
adequately represents, and which carries with it the

conviction that a portrait and he can hardly
it is ;
imagine it to be the work of a fourth-century artist.

But it is certain that fourth-century sarcophagi not
infrequently have sculptured portraits of the deceased;
and on the whole we incline to assign this interesting
monument to that period.
Short unadorned pillar-stones with an inscription

arecommon everywhere. Of these we have some ex-
amples in the Celtic portions of our own island. At
St. Just, Penrith, is one inscribed with the monogram
XP and an inscription "SENILIS IC lACET." Two
others in Cornwall have the monogram XP, one at
St. Helen's Chapel, the other at Phillack. One in
Wales, Permachno Church, Carnarvonshire, has

in
an inscription, "CARAUSIUS HIC JACET IN hoc

CONGERIES LAPIDUM." In Scotland, in the old
burying-ground of Kirk-madrine in the parish of
Stoneykirk, are two stones inscribed with the mono-

gram XP and AO, and inscriptions on one, Hic — "
JACENT SCI ET PRyECIPII SACERDOTES ID EST VI-

VENTIUS ET MAVORIUS of the other inscription only
;
the name "sc FLORENTIUS" remains.

The idea that the tomb is the house of the deceased
is a very common one. Even cinerary urns are
commonly found in Central Italy, and elsewhere,
made in the shape of a house, and afford a curious
evidence of the general outline of the houses of the
period at which they were made. Many of these

early Christian tombs are like houses, and their
chambers are so commodious and so handsomely

as even to have sug-
painted, and look so habitable,
idea that they were
gested to a recent writer* the
actually inhabited. It is highly probable that the
clergy who fled to the catacombs for refuge in times of
in these habitable tombs,

persecution, really sojourned
and retreated into the mazes of the galleries with
which they communicated only in case of a hostile
visit to the tomb. Thus St. Cyprian, when his life
was first threatened, is said to have concealed himself
in the tomb of his family. The Acts of Paul and
Thekla, though apocryphal, may as be accepted

evidence of the customs of the early age of Chris-
tianity. It says that when the apostle was expelled
from Iconium, he and the family of Onesiphorus, with

whom he had been lodging in the city, spent many
days in a tomb on the road which leads to Daphne.
That the tombs were frequently visited is certain, and
the commodious chambers were intended for these
visitations. The heathen, we know, had elaborate
funeral rites and were very solicitous for their due
performance a striking witness to their instinctive

;
belief in a life after death. There was a funeral feast
on the occasion of the funeral, which took place in the

sepulchral chamber or
some chamber adjoining it.
The tomb was visited again on every anniversary of
death, and on the ferialia when everybody visited
the tombs of their relatives so that the visits paid

;
to a family tomb in the course of the year would be
In J. H. Parker's "Archaeology of Rome."

numerous enough to make it very desirable to have

a convenient chamber for these meetings.
Christians continued these ancestral customs with
clearer faith and a higher intention. The vague
instinctive belief of the heathen in a life after death
became in these early the profoundest
Christians
conviction of the continuity of life, and a more vivid
realization of the unseen world than is common even
with ourselves. The result was that the dead occupied
a larger space and were regarded with a
in religion,
somewhat different shade of feeling. The Church

then really knew no more than we do of the details
of the condition of the departed, but it drew larger
deductions from what it did know it was more ;
keenly alive to the truth that the faithful still militant
in this life, and the faithfuldeparted resting after

their labours in Paradise, were not beyond the reach
of one another's sympathies and prayers — that they
still formed one Church and had mystical communion
one with another in Christ. Christians therefore
regarded the bodies of their brethren with reverence,

and laid them in their tombs with abundant honours
and solemn services, and held a great funeral feast, at
which they entertained large numbers of the poor ;
and returned again to the tomb at the month's end,

and again on their anniversaries, with a firmer per-
suasion that they were keeping up a real com-
munion with the departed than the heathen could
possibly have, and than wc in these days commonly
possess.
Happily in our times a new impulse has been
to a more vivid realization of our abiding

given
relations with our loved ones who have gone before
to Paradise by the example of her Majesty Queen
Victoria, who, following the instincts of the religion

of the heart, has revived the celebration of annual
commemorative religious services. To her Majesty
also we owe the encouragement of those accessory
funeral services by means of which a whole nation
in all its churches may assist at the funeral honours
paid to great men, so that the funeral of a Colonial
its
Premier may be virtually celebrated in Westminister

Abbey.*
There is an example of the funeral feast in the
case of Pammachius the senator, the friend of Jerome.

When his wife Paulina died in 397, he caused it to be
proclaimed by sound of trumpet throughout Rome

that on the occasion of the funeral a funeral feast,
followed by a money, would be made

distribution of
to the poor in the Church of St. Peter. Crowds

assembled. Pammachius himself presided. The long
tables spread in the church v^êre filled again and
again with guests. As they departed Pammachius

gave to each a new robe and a considerable alms.
"
Jerome, in narrating the incident, remarks, Some
husbands assuage their grief by scattering upon the
tombs of their wives, roses, lilies, and purple flowers ;
Pammachius bedews this holy dust vi'ith the balm

of charity." Pammachius became a monk. It is a
of the times which is
\/
valuable illustration placed
before us when we are told that he took his place
* In the Lord Macdonald.
case of
in the senate in his brown monk's tunic amidst the
laughter of his pagan colleagues.
This reverence for the dead gave rise to a clasa

of buildings which became very common in the
cemeteries of the early Christians, chapels built in
honour of the saints and martyrs.
The ages of persecution we have left sixteen cen-
turies behind, and long perspective of history
in the
" "
the noble army of Martyrs seems to us to stand side
" "
by side with the glorious company of the Apostles
and " the goodly fellowship of the Prophets," three
bands of blessed ones, dimly perceived through the
halo of glory which surrounds them, far removed from
the experiences and sympathies of our daily life.
But in the three centuries of the Church's gradual
growth, through misrepresentation

contempt, and
through suspicion and opposition, through constant
danger of injustice and punishment, through liability
to local outbreaks of persecution involving torture
and death, through occasional general persecutions,
the martyrs and confessors of the Faith were very
real persons. They had relations and friends who
took a personal interest in their fate. Their relations
and friends in the flesh were proud of the dis-
tinguished position they had won in the great

crusade of Christ against the world their descendants
;
were proud of it, as we are of the fame of an ancestor

who won the nation's gratitude by some great deed
in which he lost life in maintaining his country's
cause. Many of these sufferers were the bishops and

clergy in whom their Churches felt a special interest.

Their constancy under torture and death were so
many victories of the faith, so many glorious testi-
monies to the ever-present succour of Him who was
"
seen by the first martyr standing at the right hand
of God."
The
Diocletian persecution especially, so general,
prolonged, and horrible, made a great impression on

the mind of the Church. The people perhaps hardly
realized the grandeur and glory of the strife while
they were engaged in it. It was only when the last
great effort of the emperors to crush the Christian
name out of existence had failed, and when the
greatest of the emperors had himself embraced the
Christian faith, that all men fully realized the magni-
tude and conclusiveness of the victory. Then the
martyrs shone forth as the heroes and champions of
the great campaign, who, like their Lord, had con-
quered by dying. The subject is curiously illus-

trated by a comparison between a monument which
Diocletian had erected in Spain with the inscription
"Religio Christianorum deleta," and the dying
"
exclamation of Julian, " O GALILEE, VICISTI !
The whole Christian community felt a personal

interest in these Illustrious members of the Church,
and delighted to do honour to their memories. Their
names were recorded in the diptychs and mentioned
at the celebration of the Holy Communion ; their
relics (as inthe case of Ignatius, c. A.D. 116) were
reverently treasured and the whole Church visited

;
their tombs, adorned them with evergreens and

L
flowers, and took part in the commemorative ser-'
vices on the anniversary of what, with a beautiful

^ euphemism, was called their birthday—
into the higher
in con-
life. Monumental chapels were constructed
nection with these visits. Sometimes, as we have

already seen (p. 123), a space was cleared away around
the burial-place of the saint by removing the neigh-
a miniature basilica was
bouring blocks of tufa, and
built in the catacomb itself. Sometimes a chapel
was built above ground, near the place
over or
where the body of the saint rested in the catacomb

beneath, and probably in such cases a communica-
tion existed orwas made between the chapel above
and the sepulchre below. Such a building
ground
V was called in Greek naprvpiov, and in Latin co7i-
fessio. Bishop Fabian (236-251) is said to have

erected a number of such buildings in the cemeteries
of Rome and certain little churches scattered ovei
;
the Campagna, which cover entrances to the cata-
combs, have recently attracted attention, and are now

believed to be examples of these chapels. Northcote
and Brownlow give woodcuts of two of these, one in
the Cemetery of St. Sixtus and St. Camellia,* the other
in that of St. Soter each is a rather lofty and very
;
in plan with an apse on each

plain building, square
of its three sides. The woodcut gives a plan of the
first showing the stairs by which it com-
of these,
municated with the catacomb beneath. It has an
interesting history. The decree of Valerian in the
^ middle of 258 ordered bishops, priests, and deacons

* Lanciani,
Compare
TOMBS AND MONUMENTS. H7
to be summarily executed persons of rank to loss of

;
dignity and goods, and on their refusal to renounce

Christianity, with death ; imperial officials to labour
in chains. Xystus or Sixtus was surprised by the
soldiers seated on his episcopal
chair, surrounded by his deacons

and others, in the
Cemetery of
Praitextatus onAppian the
Way, and, according to some
of the accounts, he was beheaded
on the spot, and the two deacons
Agapetus and Felicissimus and
others with him. The bishop
was taken for burial to the epis-
de'camclrr r
copal sepulchral chamber in the

t Z i ^ i
1-*«1
— —h-H— — —y—B—^—tn
1 I
6
( I \ {
t
Cemetery of Callistus, the others Plan of chapel in the ceme-

were buried in the Ardentian, in Via
cemetery in tery
Rome.
which they were slain. Lan-
ciani asserts that Sixtus and his flock were assembled
in this spot, which was then a schola

open to the air,
or sheltered by a wooden roof, and that the upper
walls and vaulted roof were added at a later period
when the building was converted into a chapel.
When De Rossi discovered it it was used as a wine
cellar. It has again become the property of the
Church, and divine service was recommenced in it
in April, 1891,
It is curious to see how ancient forms survive

in out-of-the-way places
unprogressive com-
among
munities : here is a modern Abyssinian tomb * of the
* Illustrated
Loudon NewSf March, 1893.
Abouna Kyrilos (Bishop Cyril) at Adowa, en the

model of the tombs of the fourth and fifth centuries.
There is a very interesting story in the " Acts of
*
Theodotus and the Seven Virgins," which illustrates
Tomb at Adowa, Abyssinia,
many features of the Christian life of the East in the
beginning of the fourth century, and among others

the existence and uses of these chapels.
In the beginning of the Diocletian persecution
Theodotus, fleeing from the persecution at Ancyra, the
capital of Galatia, retired to a place near the village
of Malus, about forty miles distant, and there found
some other fugitive Christians of Ancyra whom he
knew, living in a cave whence the river Halys flowed.
"
They reclined on the grass, for there was much grass
there, surrounded by both fruit-bearing and forest
trees, adorned with all kinds of sweet-smelling flowers,
enlivened by the chirping of cicadae and the song of
nightingales and of all various birds, and, in short,

supplied with everything with which Nature can
•
Ruinait's "Acta Primorum Martyrium," Amsterdam, p. 338.
adorn a solitude." repast Theodotus

During the
smilingly suggested to the priest of the neighbour-

ing village, Fronto by name, who had joined them
after he had said the office of the sixth hour, what
a charming place it was for the erection of a
martyrion, and asked why he did not set about it.
"
Do you supply mc," Fronto replied, " with an
occasion to set about such a work and you shall not
have to blame me for tardiness ;
it is necessary
first to have the relics, and then to think about
building an edifice." "It is my rejoined
affair,"
" the
Theodotus, or rather God's, to find you relics,
sacred house there-

yours diligently to prepare the ;
fore I pray you not further to delay the work, for as

soon as you have finished it the relics will speedily
"
come to you and, taking off a ring from his finger,
;
"
he gave it to the priest, saying, God be witness
between me and thee, that you shall shortly be
provided with relics." Theodotus returns to Ancyra,

and ultimately meets with a martyr's death. The
village priest, Fronto, happens to
come to the city
that day to sell the wine of his vineyard ;
he rescues
the body, carries it away secretly, and buries it in the
and a chapel is
spot which Theodotus had suggested,
ultimately erected over it. In the course of Theo-
dotus's adventures in the neighbourhood of Ancyra,

we read of his going by night to the Confession of
the Patriarchs to pray, but finding it blocked up
*
{pbstnictani) by the unbelievers, he prostrated him-
*
Probably with thorns. Gregory of Tours (ii. 25) says that Euric,
the Arian Visigothic king (<r.A.D. 6oo), blocked up the doors of the
self in prayer outside near the apse {jiixta concham),

and then went to the Confession of the Fathers and
found that also blocked up, and prayed there also.
There is a unique example of a basilica built within
the City of Rome over the tomb of a martyr, in the
Church of SS. John and Paul in Rome. John and
Paul were chamberlains of Constantia, the daughter
of Constantine the Great, who on the accession of
Julian were killed by his order, and buried in the
basement of their own house. Julian's successor

directed Pammachius (already mentioned at p. 143)
to build a basilica over the place of their martyrdom

and burial. The architect seems to have pulled
down the upper part of the house to the level of the
ground, filled in all the chambers except the scene

of the martyrdom, and built the basilica over the
site. The lower portions of the present church are
part of the work of Pammachius, and recent ex-
cavations have disclosed what remains of the house
of the chamberlains.
We have already had occasion to notice that some-
times a simple sepulchral chamber of a catacomb, in
which some popular saint had been buried, was
Catholic churches of Auvergne with thorns. St. Eligius (5S8-659) is
said to have threatened St. Columb to close the door of his church
with thorns so that no one should thenceforth come to render homage
to him (" Etudes Historiques," by C. Barthelemy, p. 380). Bishop
Ralph of Chichester, in the time of Henry I. ("Diocesan Histories,
Chichester," S.P.C.K.), closed the churches of his diocese, barring the
doorways with thorns. The custom is alluded to in the *' Ayenbite of
"
Inwit [c. A.D. 1340),"Stoppe thine earen mid thornes and nehyer not
the queade tongen," " thine ears with thorns and hearken not to
Stop
the evil tongue,"
TOMBS AND MONUMENTS. 15 1
enlarged into a subterranean chapel. Sometimes —

—
perhaps usually the ground was cut away so that
the walls of the buildin<^ should enclose the grave.
Such is the origin of the greatest sanctuaries of
Christian Rome the churches of St. Peter on the
;
Via Cornelia, St. Paul on the Via Ostiensis, St.

Sebastian on the Via Appia, St. Petronilla on the
Via Ardentina, St. Valentine on the Via Flaminia,
St. Hermas on the Via Salaria, St. Agnes on the Via
Nomentana, Lorenzo on the Via Tiburtina, and
St.
fifty others. When these graves were not very deep

the floor of the basilica was almost level with the
ground, as in the case of St. Peter's, St. Paul's, St.

Valentine's ;
in was sunk so deep in the
other cases it
heart of the hill that only the roof and upper tier of v^
windows were seen above the ground, as in the basilicas
of St. Lorenzo, St. Petronilla, etc. There are two
or three basilicas built, or rather excavated, entirely
underground the best specimen is that of St. Hermas

;
on the old Via Salaria. The damage done to the

catacombs by these sunken basilicas is incalculable.
The violation of the cemeteries of Rome by
the Lombards led the Popes, as we have seen,
to cause the bodies of the saints to be removed
into the city and placed in the churches. The
example was followed elsewhere ;
and this removal of
the bodies of martyrs and saints from the cemeteries
into the churches was the beginning of the fashion,
which in time became a law, that every church
should have the relics of a saint beneath its altar,
and of the desire to add sacredness to the church
by obtaining relics of as many saints as possible ;
and this led to the forgery of relics ;

and so threw
doubt upon the genuineness of any of them, and
ended in a natural revulsion of the educated Christian
mind against the whole system.
WeBritons have our one martyr of the Diocletian
persecution to boast in St. Alban, whose interesting

story is told by Bede. What concerns us is that
here, as in other countries, when the Church had

peace the Christians of Verulam built a martyrion or
basilica over the place of the martyrdom on the hill
outside the city. When

Germanus of Auxerre
St.
attended the Synod of the British Church at Verulam

A.D. 429, he visited the m.artyr's tomb, and enriched
it with of the apostles and other saints.*
relics A
later and less trustworthy, but still probable legend,
says that on the approach of the barbarians (Saxons)

the relics were placed in a wooden box and hidden
underground, Offa (A.D. 793) discovered the site
and the relics, and built a monastery there. The

Roman bricks and Saxon balluster shafts of the
present church are genuine monuments

of these most
ancient incidents in the history of our Church.
A very interesting illustration of these sepulchral
chapels isin the representations of the subject of

found
the raising of Lazarus, which are so very frequent in
the paintings in the catacombs, the sculptures on the
sarcophagi, the mosaics in churches, the gilded glsTss

• Constantius's "Life of St. Germanus."
vessels, the illuminations in manuscripts, and, in short,

in Christian art generally down to the end of the Middle
Ages. It must be borne in mind that in the
art of those
times there was no attempt at antiquarian accuracy in

the accessories of a subject for example, there was no
;
attempt to ascertain what kind of tomb Lazarus was

really buried in, or what was the tomb of his period :
but his tomb was represented by one of the period

at which the subject was executed. Only this other
principle of ancient design must also be borne in
mind, that the conventional representation of all

scriptural subjects tended to the retention of ancient
forms long after they had become obsolete. Bearing
these two principles in mind, we have no hesitation
in saying that the representations of the raising
of Lazarus in ancient art preserve to us illustrations
of the sepulchral chapels of primitive Christianity.
Lazarus is almost always represented, and the
examples are very numerous, as folded in grave-

clothesand swathed in bandages, almost like a
mummy, standing at the door of a little building.
This building is of two stories in height, with a
stair leading to the door of the upper story at which
Lazarus stands ;
the door is in the gabled end of
the building, and is often flanked by pillars with
ornamental capitals and bases ; frequently the
building has windows in the upper story, and,

rarely, in the lower story also. One of the most
perfect representations of this chapel which we have

observed is in an arcosolium in the Roman catacombs,
"
figured in vol. ii. Plate 57 of Garucci's Storia
"
dclla Arte Christiana another, equally interesting,
;
is in another arcosolium of the catacombs, figured

in the same volume at Plate ']6. Two other ex-
amples, from sarcophagi in the Lateran, are given
by Garucci, vol. v. Plate 313; two still more clearly

defined examples at Plate 339, from a sarcophagus
from the sepulchral chapel of the counts of Tolosa at
the cathedral of that place, and there is one equally
defined from a tomb at Lucq-de-Bearn, photographed
"
in Le Blant's Sarcophages de la Gaul," Plate ly.
The raising of Lazarus. From a painting of an arcosolium.
They might be rough sketches of some of the actually

existing buildings figured in De Vogue's "Syrie
"
Centrale they clearly are sketches from memory
;
of the sepulchral chapels with which the artists of

the paintings and sculptures were familiar.
There are some rare but interesting and Instruc-
tive varieties in the treatment. In the representation
of the subject in the valuable manuscript at Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge, of the end of the sixth
century, which is probably one of the manuscripts

TOMBS AND MONUMENTS, 155
which Gregory the Great sent to Augustine of Can-

terbury, the tomb is of two stories, the lower story
square and the upper circular, covered with a dome,
like the Tomb of Helena and other earliest types
of Christian tombs. In the Church of S. Celso

at Milan the tomb of our Lord represented as is
circular, with a conical roof, a reminiscence of the
holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.* In the mosaics in the

Tomb of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, is an example in
which, within the sepulchral chapel, a sarcophagus is
seen, out of which Lazarus has risen.

We have seen how it became the custom to remove
the relics of a saint from the suburban cemeteries
to the great church in the neighbouring city ;
and
how at length no church was considered to be fully
V'
furnished unless some relics were treasured beneath
its altar. We see the permanent influence of these
early institutions in the customs of the Church for
many centuries afterwards. The remarkable crypts

at Ripon and Hexham, which are of Saxon date, and
in probability the work of Wilfrid, resem.ble a
all
cubicula with the adjoining galleries of a catacomb,

and were very possibly copied from the chamber in
the Cemetery of Callistus, in which the bodies of St.
Peter and St. Paul were at that time visited by
pilgrims. The crypt under the original church at

Canterbury is expressly said by Edwin the Chanter
(quoted by Gervase in his account of the fire which
partially destroyed the church in A.D. 1067) to have
been copied from the Confession of St. Peter, "ad
* Plate 315.'
Garucci, vol. v.
instar confessionis Sti. Petri fabrlcata." The crypts

under our great churches generally are probably a
reminiscence of the catacombs and the little chapels
;
attached to their aisles are the descendants of the
martyrions and family tombs of which we have been

speaking. Saints' days we still keep at least in our—
calendars and the Welsh have retained the ancient
;
custom of visiting the graves of their departed and
decorating their tombs once a year on All Souls*

Day.
St. Jerome has recorded how the burial-places of
the saints in the catacombs became places of pious
pilgrimage, which attracted visitors numerous in pro-

portion to the celebrity of the saint. These visitors
have left their own historical record in the scribblings
{"graffiti") which abound upon the walls in the neigh-
bourhood of all the famous graves in the catacombs.
These pilgrimages were not mere results of that

natural sentiment of interest with which we visit the
birthplaces, the haunts, the graves of celebrated
people and the names which the pilgrims scratched

;
on the rock are not mere records of their visit.

There were religious motives for the visit, and for
the record of it. The first motive of the visit was
to do honour to the saint, and the second was to
ask his or her intercession ;

the name written near
the tomb was not only an historical record, but
was intended to keep the writer under the notice
of the saint. The illustration is from a wall painting
near the tomb of St. Cornelius, who was buried by
Lucina in the Cemetery of the Cornelii on the
Appian Way in 253. The painting is of much later
date, almost Byzantine in style. It is given to
illustrate \hc graffiti of the pilgrims to his tomb. In

the majority of cases
the name alone was
held sufficient, like
leaving a visitmg
card in some cases
;
the intention was ex-

pressed at full length
by the addition of
"
the words pray for
me." We are not de-
fending the practice,

but it is our busi-
ness to record and
appreciate it. Very

likely their eschato-
logy was not very
differentfrom ours,
but whereas we have
learnt by the expe-
rience of the past
the danger of allow-
\r\cr sentiment and
\YalI-pa;ntlng of St. Cornelius, Bishop
conjecture to run of Rome. From the Cemetery of
into superstition and Callistus, Rome, with the names of
pilgrims scribbled over it.
abuse, they frankly

indulged sentiment and acted upon mere conjecture.
Nobody knows whether the departed have any
really
knowledge of what passes in this life or not. We,
because no one can prove it, refuse to act upon the

possibility that they have ; they, since nobody had
thought of denying it, assumed it to be true, and
acted upon it. i
In after times the practice developed into strange

superstitions as when King Chilperic laid a letter
;
to St. Martin on his tomb at Tours with a blank

sheet of paper for the saint's answer ;
or when, to
this day, Italians —and probably others — write letters
and place them on the saints' tombs, especially on
their commemoration day, stating their wishes and
asking for the saints' intercession.

CHAPTER X.
PAINTINGS.
Classical paintings at —
Rome and Pompeii Christian paintings in tlie
sepulchral chambers and catacombs
— —
In churches Wider range
—
of Scripture subjects introduced in the fourth century Canons of
Illiberis — Churches at Nola — Pictures of martyrdoms —
St. Nilus —
Painting in English churches : at Wearmouth and Jarrow Scrip-
—
ture subjects in the decoration of houses ; testimony of Asterius,
Palace of Constantine ; House of SS. John and Paul, Rome —
Subjects of paintings at different periods: Symbolical, historical,
apocalyptic, Passion subjects. Madonnas
—
Style of the early
Christian school of painting ; of the Byzantine school Repetition
—
of a narrow cycle of subjects —
Originated in the East The IX0T2
— ;
—
the XP ; the Afl The origin of the emblems lamb, dove, etc.:
—
—
Conventional treatment of subjects The " Guide to Painting" —
Came from the East — Clement of Alexandria — The Apostolical
Constitutions — St. Ephrem ; St. Gregory of Nyssa ; St. Cyril
—
Paintings in North Africa ; in Alexandria.
HE catacombs are interesting in themselves,

with their labyrinths of passages, and
their sepulchral chambers and chapels,
but their interest and value is increased
a hundredfold by the treasures which they contained
— fresco paintings on the walls, sculptures on the sar-
cophagi in the chambers, inscriptions on the graves,

and utensils and ornaments of many kinds.
i6o HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
We consider first in this chapter the fresco
paintings.
Of the paintings of classical art, none have
come
down to us, except a few which were by accident
buried in the earth, and so preserved from the wear

and tear of time, and again by accident discovered
in recent times. The best known examples are
the wall-paintings of the so-called house of Livia,

which was a part of the palace of the Caesars,
of the houses of Pompeii, of the Baths of Titus,
and of some of the early sepulchral chambers at
Rome.
" "
There are among these no great serious high-art
" "
pictures they are all merely decorative paintings.
;
But they are of a very high class of decorative design,

clearly belonging to a time
of great refinement and
appreciation of art. Slight and elegant in style, they

the decorative effect which was their motive,
produce
with a of expenditure of labour. The walls
minimum
and ceilings are divided into panels and spaces with
wonderful ingenuity, and an inexhaustible and grace-
ful fancy panels and spaces afford the
;
these
ground for little sketches of landscapes, pastoral

scenes, and subjects from the poets well drawn, ;
charmingly coloured, subdued They givein tone.
the impression of being the work of a school of art

which had produced much grander things, and per-
haps was still capable of producing grander things
when they were called for, but which had, at the call
of patrons, bestowed great powers upon mere

its
decoration. The walls and ceilings of some of the

PAINTINGS. i6i
earliest chambers of the catacombs * of Rome are

ornamented in this school of decoration, and some
in
cases are good examples of the school. The wood-
Painted ceiling of one of the chambers of the Cemetery of St. Callistus.
cut represents the ceiling of one of the chambers of

the catacomb of St. Callistus. In the middle is the v
Orpheus symbol of our Lord ;
this is surrounded by
* For a
description of the paintings of some of the pagan sepulchral
chambers, see p. 265.
M
l62 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
eight panels containing Scripture subjects alternately

with pastoral scenes the subjects are the striking
;
the Rock, Daniel, the raising of Lazarus, and (perhaps)

David with his sling. The
angles of the ceiling are
filled in with doves bearing olive branches. In this
early period there was also a richer method of wall
decoration in use, in which the ornamental forms are

executed in low relief in stucco and then coloured.
Some examples of it exist in the paintedtombs in
theAppian Way, and there are also some examples
in the earliest chambers of the Cemetery of Domitilla.
But by far the larger number of the fresco paintings
in the catacombs are of later date, and in a very
inferior style. We
cannot compare these with con-
temporary secular work, because all other paintings
from the second century down to the eighth have
perished the impression which they make is partly
;
that the art of painting had deteriorated, but
especially that we have here only the work

of inferior
artists.* These rude frescoes have nevertheless a
great interest for us, because of the light which they
throw upon the history of the early Church.
The principal part of the painting of the sepulchral
chambers now to be found is on the ceiling, which is
usually divided by circles and other geometrical lines
into panels of various shapes, and these panels are
• Thepaintings discovered in the Baths of Constantine (erected
A.D. 326), which consist of some historical subjects in the portico
and a ceiling, are in a better style of art than any work of the same
the vine-
period in the catacombs ; the figure-drawing is very good,
branches with their cupids are elegant, but no doubt the best artists of
the time were engaged upon the work (D'Agincourt, "Painting,"
Plate IV.).
PAINTINGS. 163
occupied by symbols and Scripture subjects it will ;
be convenient to describe some of these ceilings

more fully when we endeavour to systematize and
explain their subjects. It seems probable from the
analogy of domestic painting that the walls of the
chamber would be divided into a dado below, and
Ceiling. From the catacombs (Bottari, Plate III. 23).
panels above ;
but we do not find any complete
examples of such an arrangement. The arcosolla
gave occasion for special decorative treatment.
Subjects are often painted on the lunette, the semi-

circular space at the back of the recess, on the soffit,
the underside of the arch of the recess, and less
1 64 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
frequently on the wall space around at the sides and

in front of the arcosolium. There is sometimes a
painted frame around a loculus, and sometimes an
ornament or symbol on the slab which closes it.
Other subjects are placed irregularly on the walls.
The first conclusion to which we are led by a
general survey of the series of paintings before us, is
\r that the early Church had no theological objection to
painting, whether used for decoration, or for the re-

presentation of scriptural subjects and religious ideas.
We are so used to the bare walls of our churches, that
we are almost unconscious of their cold and unfinished
effect ;
but with the early Christians it was not so.
The Christian congregations were accustomed, in the
Upper chambers or the Atria of well-to-do con-

verts inwhich they assembled for worship, to arcades
of marble columns with gilded capitals, painted walls
and and tesselated pavements and in passing
ceilings, ;
"
through the sepulchral chambers of the same princes
"
of the congregation to the narrower galleries beyond,
they were accustomed to see them decorated, like the
rooms of a house, in the elegant taste of the time.

When they built basilicas of their own for their
worship, and when they prepared sepulchral chambers

for their own dead, it was natural that they should
continue to use the fashions to which they were
accustomed only, from the first, subjects which were
;
morally objectionable, or belonged to the heathen

mythology, were excluded. People were not indeed
in the latter respect puritanically precise ;
and they
made no scruple to continue the use of certain sub-
PAINTIXGS. 165
jectswhich had come to have a merely symbolical

meaning. They introduced Oceanus and the Tritons
to indicate the sea, and gods to indicate rivers,
river
the bow of Iris, winged genii, and perhaps other like

conventions of pagan art.
The
question at what period paintings of Scripture
subjects and sacred persons were first used in
churches has been much discussed, and is not free
from difficulty. The Council of Illiberis, in Spain
(A.D. 301), made
a canon which appears to forbid the
of pictures into churches "
introduction Pictures :
ought not to be placed in churches, nor that which

we worship or adore to be painted on the walls,"
from which we do not necessarily conclude that the
walls and ceilings of churches before that time were
not painted with the common decorations which we
find in the chambers of the catacombs, or the usual
cycle of symbols and symbolical pictures ;

but that
there was an objection to the introduction of the
figure of our Lord or the saints in any way which
would be likely to attract a superstitious reverence.
The free introduction of these symbolical subjects
in the catacombs leads to the confident conclusion

that they were not forbidden in the churches ;
while
the objection to the introduction into churches of
the figure of our Lord, in such a way as to attract
devotion to it, is illustrated by the way in which such
representations are avoided in the catacombs. The
earliest notice of the introduction of a wider cycle
of Scripture historical subjects is in the description

which PauHnus, Bishop of Nola {circa 395), gives of

the paintings with which he had adorned his new
church over the tomb of St. Fehx, and the old
basilica of the town, and the basilica at Funda.
Among the subjects in the first were the creation,

the offering of Isaac, the continence of Joseph, the
overthrow of Pharaoh, the separation of Ruth and
Orpah, In the second he introduced "the two
Testaments;" the apse of the third he placed
in
the symbol of the Passion in the form of a white

Lamb crowned beneath a red cross. He explains
that his reason for this unusual practice {raro more)
was to interest and instruct the rude multitudes who
came to the saint's festival.
Pictures of martyrdoms were not infrequent,
especially no doubt the chapels and basilicas

in
erected over the graves and dedicated to the memory

of the martyrs. Gregory of Nyssa {circa 400) describes
a picture of the martyrdom of Theodorus, one of the
victims of the Diocletian persecution, which seems to
have been painted on the wall of the church which
contained the saint's relics. The artist, he says, had
depicted in glowing colours the heroic acts of the
martyr, his struggles, his pains, the brutal forms of
his persecutors, their insults, the flaming furnace, the
blessed consummation of the soldier of Christ. A
painting, he adds, though silent can speak upon the
wall and greatly profit.* Olympiodorus {circa 430)
* Other
examples are the martyrdom of St. Cassian (Prudentius
Perist., ix. 5); of St. Hippolytus (ibid., xi. 126) ; of St. Felix (Paul-
linius, Poem xxv. 20); St. Euphemia (Asterius, ep. 7, Syn. Act. 4,
p. 617).
PAINTINGS. 167
consulted St. Nilus about the decoration of a church

erected in honour of the martyrs he contemplated ;
covering the walls with hunting scenes and the like.

Nilus advised him to place one single cross at the
east of the temple, and to fill the holy sanctuary
(rov vaov rov (iyiov) with histories of the Old and

New Testaments by the hand of a skilful artist, in
order that those who are unable to read the Divine
Scriptures may, by looking at the paintings, call to
mind the courage of men who have served the true

God, and be stirred to emulation of their heroic
exploits. Augustine bears witness to the custom
"
of painting Christ and His Apostles" on the church
walls in his time, and remarks on the existence of the
growing abuse of paying veneration to them.

There are for four or five centuries no pictures of X.
the Passion, no picture of the sacrifice of the cross,
no picture of the cross itself; the Christ to be
adored is only hinted at by the Good Shepherd, or
the Lamb standing on the mount, or later by the
cross enthroned.* mind of the primitive
In short, the
Church seems to have been the same as the mind of
the English Church at this day, that the representation
of sacred subjects and sacred persons in church is
lawful and may be usefully introduced, but that out-
ward reverence to these representations is unlawful,
and is to be guarded against.
There an interesting notice of paintings in the

is
**
early English Church in Bede's Lives of the Holy
See p. 201.
Abbots." He relates that when Benedict Biscop

returned from his third voyage to Rome in A.D. 675,
"
He brought with him pictures of sacred repre-
sentations to adorn the Church of St. Peter which
he had Monkwearmouth), viz. pictures of
built (at
the Virgin Mary and of the Twelve Apostles, with

which he intended to adorn the central nave, on
boarding placed from one wall to the other also ;
some figures from Gospel history to adorn the south

wall others from the Revelation of St. John for the
;
north wall ;
so that every one who entered the
Church even if they could not read, wherever they
turned their eyes might have before them the loving
countenance of Christ and his Saints, though it were
but in a picture, and with watchful minds might
meditate upon the benefits of the Lord's Incarnation,
and having before their eyes the perils of the Last
Judgment, might examine their hearts more strictly
on that account."
On a fifth journey, about A.D. 685, Benedict
brought back, for the church dedicated to the Virgin
Mary (in addition to the great church dedicated to
St. Peter) in the monastery in Wearmouth, pictures
enough of the Divine history to go round the

church. For the church of St. Paul at Jarrow he
brought pictures arranged in type and antitype, viz.
one pair of Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice
and of our Lord carrying His cross; another pair of
the brazen serpent and of our Lord on the cross.
Another interesting question is as to the use of

PAINTINGS. 169
Scripture subjects in domestic decoration. know We

that the pagan people of those early times used paint-
ing very largely in the decoration of the walls and
ceilings of their rooms, and that besides ornamental
patterns, landscapes, pastoral scenes, and the like,
they also introduced subjects from their poets, and

historical and mythological subjects.
We may be quite sure
people did not
that
altogether cease to have their rooms decorated with

paintings when they became Christian; the question is
whether they did or did not introduce Christian sub-

Now, the pagan sepulchral
jects into their paintings.
chambers of the age were commonly painted with the
same subjects as the chambers of their houses. The
early Christians probably followed the same fashion.
Since then we find Christian sepulchral chambers
painted with the old kind of ornamental patterns,
only with Christian symbols and symbolical pictures
in place of the old figure-subjects, we should infer that
the rooms of their houses were painted on the same
principles, with the usual ornamental patterns and

Christian emblems, and symbolical pictures. Again,
from the fact that the early Christians used Christian
symbols and pictures on their garments and all kinds
of utensils and objects of personal and domestic use,
as we shall see in future chapters, we should conclude
that they would use the same class of subjects in the
painting of their houses.

The conjecture is not entirely unsupported by
positive evidence.* Over the grand entrance to the
* See
quotation from Asterius, p. 327.
Imperial Palace at Constantinople, Constantino

caused to be painted, in encaustic iDainting (a method
used by the ancients, in which the pigments were
mixed with wax to enable them to resist the rain), an
allegorical picture, half religious, half political, which
Eusebius describes and explains in detail. Constan-
tino himself was represented, surrounded by his
children, as a kind of St. Michael, with the cross over
his head, and beneath his feet the enemy of mankind,
"who, through the agency of impious tyrants, had
assailed the Church of Christ, in the figure of a
serpent, pierced through with darts and drowned in

the depth of the sea ; pointing out in this manner
the Emperor's victory over the enemies of Christ and
His Church as duo to the force and potency of that
salutary trophy which was placed above his head."
The paintings in the newly discovered house of
SS. John and Paul, under the basilica of that name
in Rome, confirm the conjecture that in the decora-
tionof Christian houses the subjects usual in the
chambers of the catacombs were adopted in place
of the old mythological subjects. We have seen, at
p. 150, that Pammachius took down the house to a

certain level and built the basilica upon it, leaving
the bodies of the saints in the chamber where they
were, which thus became their confessio. Some of
the original rooms of the lower portion of the house
remain, apparently in their original condition, with
the ornamental painting still upon walls and ceiling.
The walls of the tablinum have a dado, painted in
imitation of marble, and, above that, a frieze of bold
PAINTINGS.
scroll-work the spandrels of the vaulting

;
with sprays of vines, and the ceiling of the

converging panels, which make frames for some of
the usual early cycle of subjects: Moses taking ofif
his shoes, sheep and goats, etc. Similar symbolical
subjects are on the remaining wall of the atrium, and

in other parts of the house.*
When we analyze the subjects of Christian art in

the catacombs and basilicas, we find that they may
be divided, according to the order of time, into three
classes, which reveal the prevalence of different
phases of thought and feeling at different periods of

the Church's history.
1. In the first period, extending from the earliest
paintings in the catacombs down to the end of the
classical tradition of art, the same narrow cycle of
subjects is in general use. The central figure of the
cycle is the Saviour ;

at first in the character of the
Good Shepherd, and later as the Healer of the sick
and Raiser of the dead, and still later as the Head
of the Church, sitting on the mount whence the rivers
of Paradise flow, surrounded by His Apostles.
2. It was probably about the beginning of the
fifth century that a new fashion arose in the choice
of subjects for mural pictures the cycle of sym- ;
bolical Scripture subjects gave way to a new cycle

of historical Scripture subjects, intended to put
before the eyes of the people the principal events
of sacred history and the principal facts of our re-
* The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Neivhery Hotis: Magazine, i, 175.
demption. St. PauHnus of Nola {circa 400) is always

quoted as having been among the earliest to intro-
duce pictures into his Church of St. Felix, with
the motive, which he himself declares, of giving the
ignorant people subjects for instruction and medita-

tion during vigils and festivals, when no special
service was going on in church.
3. Contemporary with the introduction of Byzan-

tine art, comes in a new choice of subjects. The
usual subject of the mosaics which adorn the semi-
dome of the apse of the churches of this style is a
colossal figure of the Lord seated on a throne, sur-
rounded by a rainbow, accompanied by the four
Living Creatures, the four and twenty Elders, and
all the grand symbolism of St. John's vision in
Patmos. It may be that the mind of the Church

was then of the triumphs of Christ
full His triumph —
over the classical heathenism, over the philosophies
which succeeded it in the minds of the better classes,
over the rude paganism of the barbarian races which
—
had conquered the West of the vast extension of
the Church over the further East beyond the bounds
of the empire, in Armenia and Persia, into India and
China. Later the widely spread opinion that the
world would end with the tenth century had set men
to the study of St. John's prophecies, and saturated
their minds with the mysterious imagery of his lan-
guage. And these things together may have led to
the predominance of the representation of these
apocalyptic subjects.
Though it carries us for a moment beyond the
PAINTINGS. in
limits of our present plan, it is worth while briefly to
complete this view of the characteristics of Christian

art by a later period the subjects
stating that in
of the Passion of the Lord were the characteristic
subjects. Christ upon the cross was the central
figure of its pictorial representations. Was it that
^
the idea of the Divine self-sacrifice, as the noblest
feature of the life of the Son of man, had taken hold
of the mind of the Church } In this period also the
walls of the church are covered with historical
subjects from the Old and New Testaments, and

legendary subjects from the lives of saints ;
and a
terrifying dramatic representation of the Doom — the
last Judgment — is painted on a large scale, in some
conspicuous situation.
About the fifteenth century the Madonna became y^
the favourite subject of Christian art — the representa-
tion of the mystery of the Incarnation of Deity.
In all these phases of the Church's thought and
feeling, it is foremost and uppermost

Christ who is
in the mind and heart of the Church. Whichever
symbol was for the time predominant, it included all

the others. The Good Shepherd, of a higher order of
being than the sheep, is the Incarnate Son of God,

who laid down His life for the sheep ;
and it was
because He was thus obedient to death, even the
death of the cross, that God had given Him a Name
which is above every name, and had very highly
exalted Him. Thus the Incarnation, the Passion, the s^'
Majesty, are all included in the idea of the Good

The eternal Sonship might be sym-
Shepherd.
bolized by the beardless youth of the representation ;
the lannb upon His shoulders symbolized at the same

time the lost human race which He redeemed, the
Fresco painting. From the Cemetery of Callistus,
Church which was peculiarly His own, and the indi-

vidual soul of every sheep of His flock.
To
return to the study of the paintings of the
catacombs. The sentiment of the subjects of the
PAINTINGS. 175
earliest is peaceful and serene. Vines and flowers,

with children and genii sporting among them, land-
scapes and pastoral subjects, harvest scenes of corn
and vine and olive, all of which, though continuations
of the old decorative subjects, are now perhaps used
as symbolical of great truths. In the figure-subjects
the faces are calm and expressionless, the attitudes
are simple and natural, without vehement life or
movement ;
no attempt to affect the senses
there is
by impressive representation, no endeavour to idealize

the persons represented. The subjects are treated
\
with a view to their symbolical meaning rather than
with an aim at dramatic representation of the history.
As we get down to the beginning of the new
school of Christian art which succeeded this classical
style, we do begin to find that the artists endeavour

to elaborate facial expression, to idealize the faces of ,
sacred persons, to give distinguishing individual cha-

racter to Apostles, to impress the senses by a skilful
use of the resources of art. The characteristics of
the two schools are illustrated by the difference be-

tween the simple expressionless figure of a Good
Shepherd on a ceiling of the catacombs, and the
grand, awful, colossal representation of the Lord in
Glory, in the semi-dome of a Byzantine basilica.
Two facts in regard to the selection of the subjects
and their representation will at once be apparent to

every one who
glances through the subjects of this
early art. narrowA cycle of subjects is repeated
over and over again, all over Christendom the ;
subjects are always represented in so strictly con-

ventional a manner that the rudest sketch is
sufficient to identify the subject; even a fragment
isenough to enable one who has studied them to
pronounce with certainty to which of the subjects
it belongs. First as to the selection of subjects.
In the selection of subjects from the Old and New
Testaments, the first thing which strikes us is that
out of the immense number of subjects which were
open to the painter's choice, and which find a place
in the art of later ages, very few are selected and ;
that those which are selected are not those which

we should have been disposed to expect. The sub-
jects of Moses striking the rock, Daniel in the

lions'
den, Jonah, and the raising of Lazarus, are repeated

with great frequency then, but at a considerable
;
distance, Noah in the ark, the sacrifice of Isaac, the

three children in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, and the
healing of the paralytic. It may be said of all
the rest that they are comparatively rare.*

Wesubmit that the origin of the whole series of
y- subjects is to be sought in the East. And first as
to the mere emblems. Clement of Alexandria men-
tions the fish, anchor, lyre, ship, and recommends
them for use as Christian symbols. But perhaps
the most conclusive evidence that their symbolism
originated in the East is to be found in the two which

were the most frequently used, the fish and the XP
monogram.
The significance of the fish is very largely due to
* Brownlow Maitland.
PAINTINGS. 177
the fact that the Greek word which signifies "fish"

(IXGYS) forms the anagram of the words IHSOYS
XPISTOS. GHOY YIOS, 212THP, "Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, the Saviour." The allusion in the fish
to the waters of baptism materially assisted the
symbolical significance, but it may be doubted
whether that was sufficiently striking to have made
the symbol so popular among people who only knew
it by its Latin name of Piscis. When Greek ceased to
be the ecclesiastical language of the Roman Church,
the fish symbol disappeared from its monum.ents.
Northcote and Brownlow observe that it is by no
means improbable that the schools of Alexandria
originated this symbol. The Church of that city was
gathered largely out of the Jews, who formed so large
and important a portion of its population it was a ;
very common practice for the Jews to coin names for

their great men by means of a combination of names
or by the initials of a legend or a motto which had
reference to them. The name of Judas Maccabaeus,
for example, is made up of the initials of the Hebrew
" Who
text, is like unto Thee among the strong,
"
O Lord ?
The monogram XP also is Greek ;

it consists ot
the first two letters of the name of Christ (XPISTOS).
Its appearance on the labarum under which Con-
stantine conquered, gave it great acceptance through-
out the whole world, and it has been used in
all the Churches ever since but it was a known
;
symbol in the Church before Constantine adopted it,

and it is necessarily of Greek origin.
N
The AO emblem, taken from our Lord's words

chapter of the Revelation, may properly
in the first
be mentioned here, as implying a general familiarity

with Greek culture in the early Churches to which
the book was addressed.
Who made the selection of the symbolical Scrip-
ture subjects; and how did it commend
general itself to
acceptance already existed at the date of the

? It
earliest literary notices in the East and of the earliest
monuments in the West. In the absence of any

direct evidence, we hazard
the conjecture that it grew
gradually in the earliest years of Christianity, and

was crystallized by the frequent use of certain sym-
bols and subjects as illustrative commonplaces by
the popular teachers of the second century.
John the Baptist began it by making "the Lamb

"
of God the emblem
of the sacrificial aspect of Christ's
work for our redemption. The Baptism of our Lord
fixed for ever the emblem of the Holy
Dove as the
Spirit's descent upon mankind. Our Lord Himself

established the Good Shepherd as the type of His
His Church, and pointed to Jonah as the
relation to
type of His resurrection. St. Paul's metaphor had
made an Anchor the emblem of faith. St. Peter had

quoted Noah as a type of the safety of those who
would be in the Ark of the Church at the end of the
world. Justin Martyr (a native of Palestine, circa
A.D. 139) adduced the Ship with its mast and sails as
an emblem of the Cross.* And so very possibly one
* names other emblems of the Cross, as a spade, the figure
Justin
of a man with ©utstretched arras (Holman Hunt's "Shadow of the
PAINTINGS. 179
emblem was added after another, and one Scripture

subject was suggested and then another and the most ;
authoritative and the most striking were at length
selected, grouped, systematized, generally adopted

into the popular teaching, and so accepted by the
artists as the subjects of their art.
Next, as to the conventional treatment of the
subjects.
This conventional treatment of subjects is one of
the characteristics of all ancient art. To limit our-
selves to Greek art, from which Christian art was

derived. The art of Greece had from an early period
settled types of the paintings and statues of its
deities, and its conventional representation of the
principal subjects of its mythology. Quintilian says

"
of Parrhasius he was called the Lawgiver,
that
because the types which he had handed down of

gods and heroes were followed of necessity by all
other artists." We
recognize a statue of Jupiter,
Mercury, Apollo, Hercules, as if they were portraits ;
a fragment of them is often enough to a proverb —

iex pede Herciilem)
— for their identification. The
general composition of the great subjects of mytho-
logical story was equally traditional ; it is a curious
illustration of this that the discovery of an
fact
ancient gem engraved with the group of the Laocoon

afforded an authority for the restoration of the
missing portions of the famous marble group in the
Cross "), the face of a man with its nose and brows ; an illustration of
the way in which the imagination of the time was seeking for such
emblems.
I So HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
Vatican which had baffled some of the greatest

modern sculptors and critics.
It is not meant that artists slavishly copied made —
—
mere replicas of the works of their predecessors ;
they adhered to established types of god or hero,

followed the conventional composition of a mytho-
logical group, but treated them with

a certain
freedom. "The artists of those times," says Goethe,*
"
considered themselves as original enough when they
felt themselves possessed of sufficient power and
dexterity to grasp the original thought of another,
and to reproduce it again after their own version."
From time to time an artist of more originality
would introduce a new passage in the conventional
treatment, and if it met with general approval it was
followed. At intervals of centuries some great genius
would introduce a totally new treatment, with the
result that the progressive half of the artistic world
would adopt the new
type, while the conservative
half would adhere to the old ways.
-
This is the history of the conventionalism of
Christian art also. At a very early period, earlier
than any of the works which have come down to us,
the types of the Good Shepherd, the Daniel in the

lions' den, the Moses striking the rock, the raising
of Lazarus, the healing of the paralytic, and the rest

of the usual subjects, had been established ; and they
were adhered with a certain freedom of treatment,
to,
and occasional bold variations, down to the end of

the period of classical art with which we have espe-
•
Quoted by Rev. C. King, "Antique Gems and Rings."
PAINTINGS. i8i
daily to do then the Byzantine artists introduced

;
new subjects and new treatment but a school of ;
artists in the Eastern Church continued to reproduce

^
the old types down to the present day.*
Who —
was the Parrhasius the art lawgiver of —
these Christian types we do not know, but we submit
that this Christian art began in the East. The fact
that the vast majority of the examples known to
us are in the West, and especially in Rome, is calcu-
lated to mislead us into the conclusion that this art
had its origin in Rome. The Churches of Palestine,
Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece

had been
founded before St. Paul and St. Peter had settled the
organization of the Church in Rome and when the ;
Church was planted in Rome it was

for a couple of
centuries not an indigenous Church, racy of the soil,

but a Greek-speaking colony, deriving its religious
ideas from the East. North Africa was the true
source of Latin Christianity.
It is true that we have no actual remaining ex-
amples of Christian art in the East earlier than those
which the catacombs have preserved for us in the
West, but there is literary evidence that the usual
* M. Didron found in actual use at Mount Athos a sixteenth-
" Guide to
century manuscript copy of a Tainting," supposed to 'have
been compiled from an original compiled by Dionisius the monlc, who
had studied the famous paintings of Pauselinos. Additions have been
made to it from time to time, and it is still in use as a manual of fresco-
painting in the churches of Greece.
M. Didron published it under
" Manuel
the title of d'Iconographie Chretienne Greque et Latin." It
contains descriptions how the usual subjects are to be treated, and how
but does
they are to be distributed in the difterent parts of the church,
not give sketches of the subjects. Some such traditional unwritten
guide to painting must have existed from a very early age.
i82 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART,
cycle of Christian subjects was early known in the

East, and that the subjects were treated in the con-
"
ventional way which we know so well ;
and without
"
controversy in all the early history of Christianity,
the East did not derive its religious ideas from the
West, but the West from the East.
St. Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 192),* in a passage
which will be more conveniently quoted in connection

with another branch of the subject,! is the earliest
authority on the use of Christian emblems he ;
recommends a usage already existing in the second
century.
The "Apostolical Constitutions," a book which,
the Chevalier de Bunsen said, places us in the midst
of the (Eastern) Church life of the second and third
centuries, has a passage grouping together a number

of subjects in a way which indicates that the Eastern
cycle of subjects was the same as that which we find
in the West.
"
V. 7. He that made Adam out of the earth will
raiseup the bodies of the rest, etc. . . . Besides these
arguments we believe there is to be a resurrection

also from the resurrection of our Lord. For it is He
that raised Lazarus when he had been in the grave
four days, and Jairus' daughter, and the widow's son.
It is He that raised Himself by the command of the
Father in the space of three days, who is the pledge

of our resurrection. For, says He, I am the Resur-
*
Egypt belonged to the Eastern Church, as North Africa did to the
Western.
t See p. 344.
PAINTINGS. 183
rection and the Life. Now He that brought Jonas in

the space of three days alive and unhurt out of the
belly of the whale, and the three children out of the

furnace of Babylon, and Daniel out of the mouth of
the lions, does not want power to raise us up also. . . .
He that raised Himself from the dead will also raise
again all that are laid down. He who raises wheat

out of the ground with many stalks from one grain.
He who makes the tree that is cut down send forth
branches, He that made Aaron's dry rod put forth
buds, will raise us up in glory He that raised him
;
up that had the palsy whole, and healed him that

had the withered hand, He that supplied a defective
part to him that was born blind from clay and spittle,
will raise us up He that satisfied five thousand men
;
with five loaves and two fishes, and caused a remainder

of twelve baskets, and out of water made wine, and
sent a piece of money out of a fish's mouth by one
Peter to those that demanded tribute, will raise the
dead."
St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the middle of the fourth
century, describes the conventional treatment of the
"
sacrifice of Isaac with great clearness Often have :
I seen in paintings the representation of the sacrifice
of Isaac, and I could not contemplate it without

tears, so truthfully did art present the scene. Isaac
is placed beneath his father near the altar, he is
kneeling and his hands are tied behind him. Behind,
Abraham upon the side of his son,
places his foot
with his hand he turns back the head of Isaac
left
and hangs over his countenance, which regards him

with an expression full of sadness. The right hand

is armed with the knife he is about to strike, and
;
the point of the steel already touches the flesh, when

the Divine voice is heard which arrests the stroke." *
St. Cyril, in the early part of the fifth century,
also describes show the various
paintings which
"
scenes of this same history in one picture Here :
Abraham seated on the ass and leading his son and

followed by the servants ;
there the ass remains
below with the servants, Abraham carrying the knife
and the fire, lays the wood upon Isaac in another ;
place is Abraham laying hold of his son and preparing

to strike." f
The earliest painting known to us still existing in
/the East is in Cyrenaica.^ It is a Good Shepherd of
the usual type the Shepherd is young and beardless,
/ :
/ / clad in a short tunic without sleeves, tied

by a girdle,
|/
with naked legs, and feet in sandals. He carries a
jf sheep on his shoulders, holding its feet with both

hands he holds a short staff
;
in the left hand.
There are six sheep about him and trees indicate the
country. There is one feature which differs from the
—
ordinary type the head wears a garland of leaves.
Around the subject are seven large and carefully
diawn fishes.
In the same region, near Aphrodisias, is a sepulchral

chamber with a fresco painting of less ancient date
* St. " De
Gregory of Nyssa, Deitate, Fil. et Sp, Sanct.," vol. iii.
p.
572 (Migne),
"
t St. Cyril's letter to Acacius, Labbe, Concilia," vii. p, 204.
" Relation d'un
X Pacho, voyage dans la Marmique, la Cyrenaique,"
etc., 1827, 1S29. Garucci quotes it, vol. vi. 105^.
PAINTINGS. 185
than the above. It is a branch of a vine loaded with
grapes, with geometrical ornaments, one medallion

encloses a fish, another a cross on another a serpent
;
twined around a cross recalls without doubt the

brazen serpent.
The paintings in the catacomb at Alexandria in-
clude the miracle of Cana and the miracle of the
loaves united in one design and treated more freely
than usual,
[B|iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii|i|iiiiiii|ii i|iii|i|i|i|i|i|iTrîiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiTrjTTr]iii|i|i|i|i|iii|iM
?r|T|T | rrTjr, rp-|T[T7i|i]r7rf, r-i|iii|i|iiiM|ri

r
|T|i7TniM"nT]Ti7|T[i|i|r7i,r|TjiyTTiT mir|T;i[T]T7[ir|Vi ,.|Ty^.^
CHAPTER XL
THE LIKENESSES OF CHRIST AND IIIS APOSTLES.
The earliest representations conventional The statuary group at —

Paneas ; the likenesses by St. Luke the Veronica legend ; Eusebius
;
on the subject ; Publius Lentulus's description The two types of —

likeness, the classical and the Byzantine St. Peter and St. Paul — —
The four evangelists.
OME of our readers will probably wish to

learn what is known on the subject of
authentic early likenesses of our Lord and
of the Apostles and it may be a disap- ;
pointment to learn that no such likenesses exist.
The earliest representations of our Lord

— and they
are very numerous in these centuries with which we
painting and
are in fresco -
specially concerned,
sculpture
— are entirely conventional, there is no
attempt at portraiture, or at the invention of an ideal
face. The statues of the Good Shepherd, for
example, offered a special opportunity for portraiture,

or at least for the attempt to idealize, but a glance
at them is enough to convince the spectator that
CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. 187
there was no such intention in the sculptor's mind.*

And the same thing may be said of the many repre-
sentations which occur in the gospel scenes introduced
into the ornamentation of the sarcophagi.
The first allusion to the existence of such like-
nesses seems to be of the fourth century. When the
Empress Helena sent to Eusebius of Caesarea to
send her a likeness (ajcwv) of Christ, we may con-

clude that she had heard of their existence. Eusebius
replied, that she meant an image of the frail and
if
mortal flesh which He bore before His Ascension,

such images are forbidden in the Mosaic Law; they
are nowhere to be found in churches, and it is
notorious that with us alone they are forbidden,

"Some poor woman," he goes on to say, "brought
me two painted figures, like philosophers, and
ventured to say that they represented Paul and the
Saviour I do not know on what ground. But, to
;
save her and others from offence, I took them from

her and kept them by me, not thinking it right in
any case that she should exhibit them further, that

we may not seem like idolaters to carry our God
about in an image." The bishop's answer implies
that credulity was beginning
pious to invent
apocryphal likenesses of Christ and His Apostles,

but that no authentic likenesses were known to
exist.
The story that the woman who was healed of her

by touching
infirmity the hem of our Lord's garment
was a wealthy person, and that she caused a bronze
* See
frontispiece.
group of the subject to be made as a memorial of her

gratitude, and erected at Paneas, where she lived, is
probably a mere story invented to explain a group
of statuary existing at that place in the time of
Eusebius ;
it is an ingenious conjecture that the
monument may have commemorated the gratitude of
a province or town to its governor, represented as a
suppliant female kneeling at his feet.

The story of the likeness which St. Luke sent to
Abgarus, the King of Edessa, is one of a family of

stories of likenesses by St. Luke, the painter, and
they are all alike unsupported by evidence.

The legend of St. Veronica — that when our Lord
was on His way to Calvary she lent Him her head-
veil with which to wipe the sweat of suffering from
His face, and that when He returned it to her a
portrait of the sacred features was found to have been
miraculously impressed upon it — is very beautiful, but

entirely without foundation. It gave rise to, or it
arose out of, the existence of a number of faces
painted upon linen or similar material, of which ex-

amples remain at the Vatican, at Genoa, and else-
still
where, which seem to be of the period of art which

was tending towards the Byzantine school. Copies
of some of them may be found Mr. Heaphy's " The
in
Likeness of Christ," Plates H., HI., IV., V.*

There is a famous description of the personal
* For further information on the subject the reader is referred to
" Likeness of Christ." We mention Mr.
Mrs. Jameson's Heaphy's
" The Likeness of Christ " to show that it has not been overlooked ;
only
it worth consulting for copies of pictures in Rome and elsewhere,
is
which are not otherwise accessible to the student.

CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES, 189
appearance of our Lord, which professes to have been

writtenby PubHus Lentulus, a friend of Pilate, which
"
runs thus At this time appeared a man who lives
:
till now, a man endowed with great powers. Men

call him a great Prophet his own disciples call him
;
the Son of God. His name is Jesus Christ. He

restores the dead to life, and cures the sick of all
manner of diseases. This man is of noble and well-
proportioned stature, with a face full of kindness and

yet firmness, so that the beholders both love and fear
him. the colour of wine [probably yellow]
His hair is
—
and golden at the root straight, and without lustre,
but from the level of the ears curling and glossy, and
divided down the middle after the fashion of the
Nazarenes \i.e. Nazarites]. His forehead is even and
smooth, without blemish, and enhanced by a
his face
tempered bloom. His countenance ingenuous and

kind. Nose and mouth no w-ay faulty. His beard is
full, of the same colour as his hair, and forked in
form ;eyes blue and extremely brilliant.

his In
rebuke and reproof he is formidable in exhortation ;
and teaching, gentle and amiable of tongue. None

have seen him to laugh, but many, on the contrary,
to weep. His person is tall, his hands beautiful and
straight. In speaking he is deliberate and grave and
given to loquacity.
little In beauty surpassing most
men." It is probable that this was written about the
beginning of the fourth century, just when there was
arising a general interest on the subject of our Lord's
personal appearance, and when artists were beginning
to aim at an ideal representation of the Great Subject
It is, in short, one of the fancy portraits of the period

done words instead of pigments.
in
There is one striking fact in the early representa-

tions, namely, that there are two conventional types
to be found in them. One is a youthful, unbearded,
cheerful face, with crisp curled hair, the conventional
classical face of a young man, which is the earlier
type ; the othera long, grave, mature, bearded face,

is
which appears in monuments of later date. The two

are illustrations of two lines of conjecture, when men
began to interest themselves in trying to form an

ideal of the sacred countenance.
One school based their ideal upon the consideration
that our Lord, being the Perfect Man, must have been
the type of human beauty in person and feature as
well as in mind and soul. They found support for
"
their theory in such Scripture texts as, Thou art
fairer than the children of men full of grace are Thy
;
lips, because God hath Thee for ever " (Ps.

blessed
"
xlv. 2) My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest
;
among ten thousand ... he is altogether lovely"

(Cant. V, 10, 16); "Thine eyes shall see the King
"
in His beauty (Isa. xxxiii. 17).
The other school based their ascetic ideal upon the
consideration of the suffering Messiah, and supported
"
itby such texts as, He hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that
we should desire Him. He was despised, and
. . .
we esteemed Him not" (Isa. liii. 2, 3).*

* Consult a note at
p. 253 of the translation of Tertullian, in the
Oxford Library of the Fathers, for a collection of passages from the
Fathers on the personal appearance of our Lord.
CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. 191
It was not, as we have already had

occasion to say,*
until the fifth century or later that artists began to
give individual character to the chief persons of the

Scripture histories which it was their business to
portray. The face in the Cemetery of SS. Nereus
and Achilleus, of the beginning of the fourth century,
which De Rossi quotes as an early fresco of Christ,
is considered be a portrait of the
by Roller to
deceased person there buried. The other famous

"portraits of Christ" in the Cemetery of St. Pontianus
and the crypt of Sta. Caecilia are the one of the
seventh to ninth century and the other of the ninth
century at the earliest. The Byzantine artists at
length developed an ideal Christ which appears in
most of the mosaic pictures a grave, solemn, awful —
face,with dark hair and beard, which partook more
of the ascetic than of the lovely type, and which
continued to be the accepted type of the Christ of
art for many centuries.
We may add briefly, in order to complete the
subject, that the Italian painters of the Renaissance
introduced a new type, in which'they endeavoured to
add to the perfect Humanity some shadowing forth
of the Divinity within. They adopted the fair
type, which is not the prevalent type of Eastern

physiognomy, but which is highly valued when it
does appear among them. David was of this excep-

" "
tional type, ruddy and of a beautiful countenance f
" "
and fair of eyes
(marginal reading), that is, with
fair complexion, golden hair, and blue eyes.
* Sam.
Page 175. t See l xvi. 12, 18; xvii. 42.
The Lord holding a book with

illustration of our
a basket of volumes on each side of Him, is from

"
Bosio's Roma Sotteranea," p. 475 ;
the painting is
not earlier than the fifth century.

There was an early tradition about the personal
characteristics of St. Peter and St. Paul, which the
artists adopted when they began to endeavour to
give individual character to their subjects. It is
V seen especially in some of the gilded glass vessels,
and in the bronzes, which are described herein-
after. St. Peter is represented by tradition, and in
the art which follows it, as an elderly man of robust

form, with strong, sensible features, crisp curling
hair, bald at the crown St. Paul as a slight person,
;
with a thin eager face, bald from the forehead back-

wards. Of
the personal appearance of the other
Apostles there were no traditions, except that St.

John was the youngest of the Twelve. The artists
of the earlier centuries represented them by conven-
tional figures. The artists of the Renaissance showed
their skill in inventing various types of feature, such
as might be supposed to have belonged to the various
types of character of those whom the Lord chose
as the foundation stones of a world-wide Church.
Perhaps this skill of the Christian artist reached

its highest point in Leonardo's "Last Supper," at
Milan.
The FourEvangelists are represented in the early
classical school of art symbolically, by the four rivers
;
of Paradise which flow forth from the mount on which

stands the sacred Lamb ; personally, by conventional
i^
.s
Q
o
J3
1)
3
o
19+ HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
(frequently half-length) figures in classical costume

accompanied by one or other of the four living
creatures of Ezekiel and the Revelation which were
taken to be their symbols ;
the angel for St. Matthew,
the lion for St. Mark, the ox for St. Luke, and the
*
eagle for St.
John the mosaics of Byzantine
;
in
art the four living creatures of the Revelation are
depicted on a large scale surrounding our Lord in

glory.
* The symbolical creatures are not invariably thus assigned.
CHAPTER XII.
SYMBOLISM.
"
Emblems: the the crucifix; the "Graffito Blasfemo the
—cross;
;
monogram Symbolical subjects : the shepherd ; the lamb ; the

fish ; a fisherman ; the ship ; anchor ; amphora ; vine ; olive ;
palm ; doves ; sheep ; goats ; peacock ; phoenix ; Orpheus ; ox

and ass ; mount with four streams ; stag drinking ; hand ; nimbus ;
aureole —
Symbolical subjects from the Old and New Testaments :
their meaning ; Daniel ; the Three Children Jonah Lazarus ; ; ;
Noah ; sacrifice of Isaac ; healing

the paralytic ; the infirm woman ;
the blind man ;
the passage of the Red Sea ; giving the Law the ;
burning bush ; gathering manna (?) ; seizure of Moses (?) ; striking

the rock ; Job ; creation of* Eve ;
fall of man ;
Adam and Eve
clothed Abel and Cain ;
translation of Elijah ; baptism of Christ ;
;
entry into Jerusalem ;

arrest of Christ —
Eucharistic symbols :
feeding the multitude miracle of Cana ; manna table with fish

;
—
and bread ; fish and bread List of subjects on sarcophagi in the
;
—
Lateran and Vatican collections Groups of subjects on ceilings, :
gilded glass, arcosolia.
OR the purpose of a detailed consideration

of the subjects of early Christian art it
will be convenient to include both the
paintings and sculptures in one view, to

divide them into various classes irrespective of their
date, and to introduce as may be convenient the few

observations which may be needed on their chronology.
We may divide the subjects into the following classes:
I. Pure emblems, as the anchor, lyre, etc. 2. Sym-

bolical subjects, as the
Orpheus, harts
Shepherd,
drinking at a stream, birds drinking from a fountain,
etc. 3. Subjects from the Old Testament history ;
and from the Gospel Representations of

history. 4.
the deceased. 5. Personal symbols. Each of these

classes requires separate consideration.
I. Emblems.
The CROSS was in constant use by the early Chris-
tians as a manual sign. Tertullian (" De Corona," § 3)
" In all our travels and
says, movements, in all our
coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at
the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying
down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies
us, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross ;"
and St. Ambrose* says that it was still the custom
"
in his time :
Christians, at every act, sign the cross
on their foreheads." They were quick to see the
sacred symbol. Justin Martyr sees it in a ship's
mast and a plough, a spade, a man
sail, with out-
stretched arms, in the nose and brows of the human
face, in the banners and trophies of the armies, in the
statues of the emperors and gods (whose models were

of clay built up on a stake and crossbar), in the four
quarters of the heavens (Apol. 55). Tertullian also

in birds with outstretched wings.f
symbol was used

St. Cyril explains at length that the
as a memorial of the mercies and duties of the cross.|

* De
I Apol. 12 and 16; and Orat. xi. 28.
t Migne's edit. vol. iii. 327.
\ De Cor. c, 3 ; Ad. Uxor, ii, 5.
SVA/BOLIS.ir, 197
was not used upon their monuments until a late

It
period t^^he_pagan mind the cross was associated

;
jDnly with ideas of ignominy, as the gallows is with

"
us it was
;
unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and
Wall-palnting, from the Cemetery of Pontlanus, Rome.
to Gentiles foolishness," and to exhibit it as a religious

emblem was to provoke ridicule and insult.
It first appears, in the form of a plain Greek cross,

in an epitaph on the monumental stone of Xene, the
wife of Basileo, in St. Lawrence's, Verona (a.d. 407).
In later sarcophagi * and mosaics it appears, as an

emblem of Christ's Person, in a central position,
gemmed, crowned, surrounded by a laurel wreath,
placed upon a throne. Similar gemmed and foliated
crosses are painted in the catacombs. The accom-

panying woodcuts represent one on the wall over the
Wall-painting, from the Churcli of the Nativity, Bethlehem.
baptistery in the Catacomb of St. Callistus, mentioned

at p. 92, and another somewhat similar from the
Church 6f the Nativity at Bethlehem. f
A
representation of the actual cross of Calvary
appears first on the sarcophagus of Anicius Probus
(A.D. 395), p. 271, and the historical subject of Christ
led to execution on a sarcophagus of the fourth or
fifth century in the Lateran Museum, engraved on
p. 273. On the late sarcophagi, where SS. Peter and
Paul stand on either side of our Lord, Peter is often
represented carrying a cross over his shoulder similar
* See De "
p. 274. t Vogiie, Eglises de la Terre Sainte," p. 72.
SYMBOLISM. 199
to that above mentioned ;

it is, perhaps, an allusion
to the fact that Peter
"
glorified God " by crucifixion.
A lamb standing
cross, is
in front of a cross, or
the earliest adumbration of the Crucifixion.

bearing a
V
The earliest representation of the Crucifixion is in
the curious caricature here given. It is one of a
number of rude scribblings recently disclosed on an
^B'No
Scribbling on the wall, Palatine Hill, Rome.
ancient wall adjoining the palace of the Caesars on

the Palatine Hill at Rome.
The habit of scratching writings and caricatures on
the plaster of walls was exceedingly common in
those early times, and these graffiti often afford very
valuable insight into manners and customs. In the
year 1857 some of the walls of the ancient palace

on the Palatine Hill, called the Domtts Gelotiana, were
uncovered and a number of graffiti were brought to
light, which introduce us into the intimacy of court

servants of the higher class. It appears from them
that after the murder of Caligula the house of
Gelotius, which had belonged to that emperor, was
used as a residence and training-school for court
pages, and the pages practised the usual amusement
of scribbling on the walls. One of the rough sketches
represents adonkey turning a mill, and the schoolboy

"
legend says, Work, little donkey, as I have worked,
"
and you will profit from it Labora ASELLE
:
QUOMODO EGO LABORAVI ET PRODERIT. The

caricature represents a man with the hand lifted in
adoration of a crucified figure with an ass's head ;* the
inscription explains it: AAEXAMENOS SEBETE

GEON (Alexamenos worships his God). Alexa-
menos was doubtless one of these court pages,
whose Christian faith is thus ridiculed by his com-
panions.f The name " Alexamenos the Faithful " is
repeated thrice, showing that the Christianity of
* Tertullian
(l Apol. xvi., 198 A.D.) mentions a picture put forth by
a certain apostate Jew, with the title "The God of the Christians
"
conceived of an ass ; which represented "a creature with ass's ears,
with a hoof on one foot, carrying a book, and wearing a gown."
Tertullian himself explains the origin of this strange notion. Tacitus, he
says, in the fifth of his Histories, had related that the Jews
in the wilder-
ness of .Sinai were saved from dying of thirst by following certain wild
asses to the springs which they frequented, for which service they con-
" and
secrated the image of the ass ; so, I suppose, it was thence
presumed that we, as bordering on the Jewish religion, were thought to
worship such a figure."

t It is photographed by Garucci and Lanciani.
SYMBOLISM. 201
Alexamenos was a favourite subject for jesting.

Among other names, that of LiBANius occurs, and
beneath it, another hand, EPISCOPUS, a jest, per-
in
haps, on another Christian page whom his comrades

"
had nicknamed the Bishop."
/~ The full representation of the sacred subject was
'/
very slowly approached. Injthe first foui:,î)r perhaps ^
fivCj^ centuries, there is absolutely nothing to indicate
that the crucifix was_everus£d. On one of the oil-
vessels sent by Gregory to Theodelinda (590-604)
there are all the usual accessories of the Crucifixion —
the sun and moon
above, two angels at the sides, St.
Mary and St. John below but the principal figure
;
is entirely left to the beholder's imagination. The

picture on p. 202, from the Syriac Gospels of Rabula
(a.d. 586),
is usually quoted as the earliest complete
representation of the scene. The lower part of the
picture contains three subjects in the centre the :
glory of the rising Lord strikes the Roman soldiers

to the ground on the left the angel appears at the
;
tomb to the holy women on the right the Lord ;
appears to the women. Pope John VII., at the be- i^

ginning of jt he eight h^cerituJiy,^ first represented the
Crucifixion in a church, viz. in the mosaics of the
ancient basilica of St. Paul at In the earlyRome.
Crucifixions Christ is clothed, and stands with arms/
horizontally extended, without any attempt at

naturalistic representation.
The MONOGRAM XP, formed out of the first letters
of the word XPISTOS, is one of the most common of
the Christian emblems in the fourth and following
centuries, and has continued in use to the present
day. It was the vision of Constantine, and his adop-

tion of the emblem on the standards of his legions
Miniature painting, from the MS. Syrian Gospels, by Rabula.
and the helmets of his soldiers at the decisive battle
of the Milvian Bridge, which gave it a world-wide
popularity. It is probable that it was in use among
Christians before Constantine's adoption of it, but

SYMBOLISM. 203
in spite of diligent search, only a few and ambiguous

traces of it can be found.* A
coin of Decius, in
which it is used in an ambiguous manner, is noticed
^t p. 337. There isa sepulchral stone at Sivaux, in
Gaul, on which it appears, together with an epitaph,
Monumental inscription in the

Monumental Roman catacombs. " Roma
inscription at
Sivaux, France. Sotteranea," ii.
p. 323.
which De Rossi thinks to be of the date A.D. 298 ;
but Le Blant, the great epigraphist of Gaul, assigns

it to the fifth century.
The A of the magnificent declaration,
12 I am
A and O, the Beginning and the Ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
"
and which is come, the Almighty
to
(Rev. i.
18), was a favourite emblem. It
was used generally together with other
emblems, especially with the cross for ;
example, the two letters were frequently suspended

by chains from the arms of the gemmed and foliated
cross of the sixth and later centuries.
•
Justin Martyr qii^tes Plato, where he says in the Timoeus that
God placed His Son in the universe after the manner of the letter X.
"Apol.,"lix.,lx.
2. Of Symbolical Subjects.
The Shepherd occurs, probably, twice as often as
any other subject, and occurs most frequently in the
earliest times ;
in marble statues, on the most skilful
of the wall-paintings sepulchralof in chambers,

bas-reliefs on the sarcophagi, and in rude outlines
and mere scratchings on the humbler graves. It is
beyond doubt that the most popular idea of the Lord

Jesus Christ in the early Church, that which had
touched most deeply the souls of the converts from
Judaism and heathenism, was that presentation which
the Lord gave of Himself to His disciples as the
Good Shepherd. In the earliest representations of
the subject He is represented as carrying on His
shoulders the sheep which had been lost, which He
had come down from heaven into the wilderness of
this world to find, and bring back to the fold amidst
the rejoicings of the angels. Sometimes the Shepherd

is represented with His sheep standing around Him ;
sometimes as a single figure, with staff and scrip and
pipes, without any attempt to idealize its rustic
simplicity.
Another allegorical representation of our Lord
is as the Lamb, sometimes standing on a mount
and surrounded by twelve other lambs, representing

the Apostles but this occurs seldom, and in later
;
times, when
the mystic imagery of the Revelation
was beginning to take hold of the mind of the
Church. There is a remarkable instance of this
symbol on the tomb of Junius Bassus (p. 269), where

SYMBOLISM. 20S
a lamb is represented as performing the miracles of

the Old Testament and of the New.
The Quini-Sext Council, A.D. 691, decreed that
whereas the traditional manner of representing our
Lord was under the figure of a lamb, for the future
the Lamb which took away the sins of the world
should be represented in the human figure which He
wore in the flesh, in order that the people might
have their thoughts turned to His passion and saving

death, and through His humiliation might learn
His glory.
Of this class of emblems the most remarkable and,
perhaps, the most frequently used in one form or
other, is the Fisn. And it has a double meaning.
First it means the Christian people. When the Lord
called His earliest Apostles, He promised them that
they should become fishers of men in the two ;
miracles in which He bids them cast their nets, He

showed them that they should fill the net of the
Church. The symbol conveyed an allusion to
Baptism, in whose waters men become the fish of the î^
Church. Secondly, it was a very recondite symbol

of Christ Himself. It was a sign, understood only by
the instructed, of a sacred acrostic for the Greek word
;
LX9Y2 (" fish ") is made up of the initial letters of the

words IH20YS XPISTOS, GEOY YIOS, SQTHP,
*
"Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour." The
fish is found less frequently after the first two cen-
turies ;
even in the first half of the third century it is
* Tertullian
(about A.D. 196) says, "We
poor fishes, following after
one IX0T2, Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor are we safe except
"
by abiding in the water (" De Baptismo," c. i).
2o6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
noticeably going out of use, and is extremely rare by

the middle of the fourth century. The dolphin occurs
frequently after the third century.

Very often, instead of a fish naturally drawn, was
substituted a hieroglyphic, a pointed oval,
mere
which was supposed to be the shape of the bladder
of a fish {vesica piscis), and this vesica became a sym-
bolical form in art, widely used and continued to the
present day.
A
multitude of little fish have been found in
the catacombs, in
crystal, ivory, mother-of-pearl,
enamel, and precious stones, some of them pierced

with holes so that they might be worn by a cord
round the neck.
A FISHERMAN is an emblem of our Lord. The
oldest of uninspired Christian hymns, the ^Tofxiov
all
"
TTioXiov aSawv, Bridle of the steeds untamed," attached
to the Pa;dagogiie of Clement of Alexandria (a.d.
170-220), speaks of our Lord as the Shepherd and

also as the Fisher of Souls. It may also represent an
Apostle according to our Lord's saying (Matt. iv. 19).
The SHIP is very frequently found painted on

the walls, scratched on sepulchral stones, or sculptured
on sarcophagi. Justin Martyr (A.D. 139) adduces
it as a Christian em.blem, on the ground that its
mast and sailyard make a figure of the cross. But
the ship is usually the emblem of the Church. The
meaning is derived partly from the ship of Noah, in
which mankind was saved from the first great
destruction of the ungodly, and partly from the ship
* Ecclesiastical and
episcopal seals are usually in this form.
SYMBOLISM. 207
which so often contained Christ and His Apostles

sailing over the Sea of Galilee. In this sense it is
mentioned by St. Clement, in the passage already
alluded to.* Ambrose speaks of a bishop as sitting
at the stern of the ship and steering; indeed, it is one
of the commonplaces of the Christian writers.f On
a sarcophagus is a ship with a figure kneeling in
prayer, and a hand stretching down from above which

represents the protecting providence of God. The
ship of Jonah, which is so frequently represented, very
probably conveyed this general symbolical meaning.
An ANCHOR was a very common symbol, painted
on graves, engraved on rings, moulded on lamps,
V
etc. Its stock, or cross-piece, gave it an obscure
likeness to a cross and it is ; remarkable that it
was the only exhibition of the cross which appears
for almost three centuries, though Christians were
continually using the manual sign of the cross on

all sorts of occasions. The symbol was probably
derived from "the anchor of the soul, sure and
steadfast, which entereth into that within the veil,"
and symbolized the Christian's hope fastened upon
the immutable promise (Heb. vi. 19).
An AMPHORA is often incised beside the insci-iption
upon a gravestone. It may mean, perhaps, the body

out of which the soul has departed, and be equivalent
to the epitaph, " Here lies the mortal
part of So-and-
so his soul has departed."
;
The VINE, which so frequently occurs, and

might
pass as a mere ornament, was no doubt intended
*
See p. 345. t See Eusebius's " Sermon at Tyre," p. 44.
2oS HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART,
to be significant, first of Christ the true Vine, and

then of the Sacrament. There are often figures like
little genii or cupids among its branches, and birds
pecking at its clusters these may represent Christian
;
people, with a sacramental allusion. The branches,

with their leaves and fruit spreading over a ceiling or
the wall of a sepulchral chamber, may represent the
*
bliss of Paradise in this case the genii and birds will
;
mean the departed who now enjoy rest and peace.

The OLIVE appears on the walls of a chamber in
the Crypt of St. Janarius in a series of harvest

scenes, the others representing vintage and the
wheat harvest. We can only suggest that there
is an allusion to the ingathering of ripe souls.
The PALM BRANCH, borrowed from classical sym-

bolism, is of frequent
occurrence, probably
with the classical
meaning of victory.
When found upon a
loculus it does not
necessarily indicate
the grave of a martyr,
^, jj J but of a Christian
, 1,
embeddea m
.u
•
mortar ofr .
Cilass vessel the
a loculus, with palm branch (" Bol- whosC death — like
detti,"p. 149). u-
his
T\/r
Master s 4- '
— is a
victory over sin and death. Palm trees occur often
as adjuncts to Scripture subjects, and sometimes on
I
* "The Church
Cyprian says (Ep. Ixxiii. 9), expressing the like-
ness of Paradise, encloses within her walls fruit-bearing trees, which
she waters with four rivers," etc.
SYMBOLISM. 209
each side of a single figure of Christ, or an Apostle,

or an orante, where they may be emblematic of
victory or of Paradise.
Birds, probably intended for DOVES, are frequently
introduced, as above, pecking at the clusters of the
growing vine or at baskets of grape-clusters. Two
birds perched on opposite sides of a fountain, or
cup,
and drinking from its contents, is an ancient classical \
device, adopted by Christian Art with the symbolical
meaning of believers partaking of the water of life or
of the wine of the Sacrament. "
Cyprian, On the
Unity of the Church," v. 8, alludes to the " doves of
Christ" meaning Christian people. These doves
seem sometimes to represent the departed souls of
"
Christians the names of two or three [departed]
;
Christians so often stand in juxtaposition with the

same number of lambs or doves, that it cannot be
doubted that the one was intended to stand for the
"
other (Brownlow Maitland).
Sheep frequently occur, especially in conjunction
with the Shepherd, and obviously represent " the
sheep of His pasture."

Goats sometimes occur where we should rather ex-
pect sheep, apparently not with any sinister meaning.
The PEACOCK was borrowed from pagan symbol-
ism. It was let loose from the funeral pyre of an
empress, and signified her apotheosis, and so came

to be a symbol of immortality.
The PHCENIX was also a pagan symbol of renewed
life. St. Clement, in the first century,* mentions the
* first
Epistle, ch. xxv.
P
2IO HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
phoenix as an emblem of the resurrection, and tells

is more fully given below.
the story which Tertullian
also gives it,* and others of the Fathers. A passage
in the Apostolical Constitutions, on the subject of the
resurrection of the dead, tells the curious myth thus :
"
The heathen can show a resemblance of the resur-
rection they say that there is a bird, single in its
;
for
kind, which they say is without a mate, and the only

one in creation. They call it a phoenix, and relate
that every four hundred years it comes into Egypt, to
that which is and brings
called the altar of the sun.f
with it a great quantity of cinnamon and cassia and
balsam-wood, and, standing towards the east, as they
say, and praying to the sun, of its own accord is
burnt and becomes dust ;
but that a worm arises
again out of those ashes, and that when the same is

warmed it is formed into a new phoenix and when ;
it is able to fly it goes to Arabia, which is beyond the

Egyptian countries."
The Orpheus occurs very early in the ornamental
ceiling of a chamber in the Cemetery of Domitilla.|

It occurs in three other paintings in the catacombs,
on two sarcophagi and on a gem. Lanciani ("Pagan

and Christian Rome," ii. 23) gives an engraving of
the painting most recently found in 1888 in the
catacombs of Priscilla. He is on a rock,
seated
playing the lyre, surrounded by wild beasts and

* " De '
Resurrectione," § 13.
t On, Heliopolis, perhaps is where Joseph dwelt, and
the city
where Joseph and Mary and the Divine Child are said by tradition to
have sojourned.
X See p. 49.
SYMBOLISM. 211
The special points of his histqry which

serpents.
made him regarded as a type of Christ are pro- ^/^
bably his taming the wild beasts, and moving the
very rocks and trees with the music of his lyre an —
obvious allegory of Christ taming, the passions and
moving the rugged hearts of men ;

his alleged abode
Orpheus. From the Cemetery of Domitilla, Rome.
in Thrace, where he civilized and gave religion and law

to its wild inhabitants ;
and especially his descent to
and return from Hades. It a curious adoption
is
into Christian use of a Greek myth but the story of

;
Orpheus was very popular, and we know that this

Christian application of it was familiar, because it is
alluded to by several of the early writers of the Church.

The introduction of the OX AND THE ASS in the rare
and late representations of the Nativity is not merely a
picturesque accessory in the artist's conception of the
"
subject. It arose out of Isaiah i.
3, The ox knoweth
his owner and the ass his master's crib," and still
more directly out of Hab. iii. 2, which in the Septua-

"
gint ran, Between two living creatures (or two lives,
according to the accentuation of ^wwv) thou shalt be

"
made known ;
and in the old italic version was
"
rendered, Between two animals thou shalt be
recognized." The
strong feeling the early ages ,of
that everything which had been foretold of Christ in

the Old Testament had been fulfilled, induced a
tendency to amplify the details of the gospel narrative

so as to include every supposed prophecy. So we
find the pseudo-Gospel of St. Matthew (ch. xiv.)
"
stating that Mary laid the Child in the manger, and
the ass and ox adored Him."
A MOUNT WITH FOUR STREAMS issuing from it
represents Paradise with its four rivers it is a very ;
usual subject in the later sarcophagi and the mosaics.
Frequently our Lord stands upon the mount or is

seated on a throne which placed upon it, or a
is
lamb stands upon it, or a cross stands or is throned
upon it, and the Apostles are ranged on each side.

It isperhaps not possible to determine whether this
was intended to symbolize the paradise of the re-
deemed in the intermediate state, where the saints
are "with Christ, which is far better" (Phil. i.
3) ;
or
the heaven to which Christ has ascended, and of
"
which He said, I will that they whom Thou hast
given Me be with Me where I am, that they may

behold My glory" (John xvii. 24).
The STAG DRINKING at a river is an allegory no

"
doubt derived from the forty-first Psalm, Like as
the hart desireth the water-brooks," and conveyed
to the instructed beholder the idea of the spiritual
SYMBOLISM.
hungering and thirsting after God, on which the Lord

pronounced His benediction on the mount: "they
shall be filled." It is late and rare.
A HAND isan emblem of power (Exod. xv. i6;

Ps. xvii. 7 ;
xx. 6 xl. 3 Acts iv. 28, 30 John x.
; ; ;
28, 29, etc.), and is used as a symbol of God, e.g. in
the subject of Moses at the burning bush, and

reaching down from heaven at the baptism of our
Lord, and later at the Crucifixion. In later times the
hand is surrounded by a nimbus.
The NIMBUS is a halo of light, usually round the
head of a figure ;
it is represented by a circular disc,
or by a line which issupposed to define the margin of
the halo ;
in later paintings the line and the disc are
of gold. In pagan pictures the heads of deities are
sometimes surrounded by a halo, as in wall-paintings
at Pompeii. Christian artists did not begin to dis-
tinguish their sacred figures with the nimbus until
the fifth century, and it is not universally used as the
symbol of a till the eleventh century.

saint
In the ninth century a rectangular nimbus is some-
times used about the head of a living person of great
distinction, as in the case of Pope Leo and Charles
the Great in the Vatican mosaic ;
of Pope Pascal in
the mosaic at St. Caecilia, Rome ;
of Gregory IV. in
the mosaic at St. Mark. Divine Persons are dis-
tinguished by a cruciferous nimbus; since the Second
Person is far the most frequently represented, it gives
the false impression that this form of nimbus is
exclusively appropriated to Christ. The First Person

sometimes is distinguished by a triangular nimbus.
'Ai HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
The AUREOLE, a large nimbus of pointed oval
shape, enclosing not the head only, but the whole
figure, was introduced later than the

nimbus it is ;
especially used about our Lord in pictures of

the
Ascension,* and of our Lord in glory. Roller (Plate
LXXXIV.) gives a plate of representations of Christ

distinguished by a nimbus, probably none of them
earlier than the fifth century ;
but there is no
example in the catacombs, either in fresco or sculp-
ture, of a Virgin Mary with the nimbus.
3. Symbolical Subjects from the Old and

New Testaments.
Subjects are taken about equally from the Old and
the New Testaments, indicating an equal familiarity
with their contents. In three or four cases out of
many hundreds a subject is taken from apocryphal

books of the Old Testament, and in two or three
cases a treatment of a subject is suggested by an
apocryphal Gospel. We very soon recognize that

the subjects of the Old Testament are not presented
as historical incidents, but only in their symbolical
meaning and the absence of the great subjects of the

;
gospel history leads us to realize still more strongly

that even the New Testament subjects which occur
are only given as symbols of truths, and must be
regarded in that light if we desire to understand
their meaning in this early period of Christian art.
Just as the shepherd, the vine, the fish, the Orpheus,

the peacock, and the phoenix are used for the purpose
* See
p. 315.
SYMBOLISM. 215
of representing certain ideas, so the Moses striking

the rock, the raising of Lazarus, the paralytic carry-
ing his bed, and the rest are used, not for their own
sake, but entirely for their allusive meaning.
Every inquiring mind at once eagerly undertakes
the task of studying the exact symbolical meaning
with which the oft-recurring subjects are used, and
of interpreting the meaning, as a whole, of the con-
nected groups of subjects which so frequently occur,
for example, on the painted ceiling of a catacomb
chamber or on the sculptured front of a sarcophagus.
Unhappily, the meaning of many of the subjects is so
recondite that the numerous archaeologists who have
applied their minds to the study of them fail to agree

as to the meaning of the definite symbols, and equally
fail to show that the groups of subjects are the ex-
pression of a definite and connected line of thought.

Unhindered by the general failure, every one who
undertakes to treat at all of this subject of early
Christian art seemsbound to attempt the explana-
tion of its
teaching and we
;
shall venture to make
some remarks upon it.
The first step to be taken seems to be to get a
well-reasoned meaning for each of the individual
subjects, and then to study them in their groupings.
We shall only trouble the reader with our attempt to

assign meanings to those subjects which most fre-
quently occur, and those which are combined in
several of the groups.
Daniel in the lions* den, nearly always in the
attitude of prayer. When we call to mind that he
2i6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
was cast into the lions' den for persisting in praying

to his God in violation of the law, we can hardly err
in thinking that the subject used as a type ofis
providential deliverance in persecution. In some of

the later representations is introduced an incident
from the apocryphal book of Bel and the Dragon,
which says that an angel lifted Habakkuk the prophet
by the and transported him to the den to convey
hair,
food to Daniel in which we suggest that there
;
may be an allusion to the well-known practice of

the Christians to convey food and comfort to the
confessors in prison.
In the representations of the Three Children in
the fiery furnace we see a similar meaning. In some

cases the history is given in two scenes. In the
first, Hebrew youths are refusing to worship the
the
golden image. The image is represented by a bust

set upon a short column and we suggest that it may
;
be a reminiscence of the image of Caesar, before

which the martyrs and confessors were required to
burn incense. ^
The history of JONAH Is of very frequent occur-

rence. It is usually given in several scenes.* We
call to mind that our Lord twice gave it as a sign of
His own Resurrection, which might suffice to account
for its being a favourite subject. But a little further
consideration brings to mind that Jonah was in other
particulars a type of Christ. The incident of the

disgorging upon the dry land is the type of the
Resurrection, but the incident of the casting into
• See
p. 275.
SYMBOLISM. 217
the sea a type of Christ voluntarily giving Himself

Is
to death for the salvation of those who were in the
ship (read Jonah ii. 11, 12); the incident of his re-
clining under the shade of the gourd, which is so
frequently added that it is plain it formed an im-
portant part of the symbolism, we take to be a type
of the repose of Paradise. What was intended by
the introduction of the incident of the withering of
the gourd we are unable to conjecture. The form
of the sea-monster is often borrowed from the classical
representations of the deliverance of Andromeda, the

scene of which fable is laid at Joppa,* the port from
which Jonah sailed.
The RAISING OF Lazarus (there are only one or
two examples of the raising of Jairus's daughter or
of the widow's son) must be a type of our resur-
rection. Two brief extracts from St. John's narrative
"
indicate the depth of its teaching :
Thy brother shall
"
live again," for I am the Resurrection and the Life,
saith the Lord." Lazarus is always represented as
standing, wrapped in grave-clothes, at the door of a
tomb, which gives us a very interesting representa-
tion of a common type of tomb of the first centuries.!
Noah in the ark, with the dove bearing the
olive branch, is a complex symbol. Justin Martyr
"
saySjJ For Christ, being the Firstborn of every
creature, was made again the beginning of a new

race, which is regenerated by Him through water and
• St. " whale of death."

Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of the
t See p. 154.
"Dial, cum Trypho," c. 138.
2iS HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
faith TertulHan says,* " As after the

and word."
waters of the Deluge, in which the old iniquity was
purged away, as after that baptism (so to call it) of

the old world, a dove sent out of the ark and return-
ing with an olive branch, was the herald to announce

to the world peace and the cessation of the wrath of
Heaven ;
so by a similar disposition, with reference
to matters spiritual, the dove of the Holy Spirit sent
forth from heaven flies to the earth, i.e. to our flesh,
as comes out of the bath of regeneration after its
it
old sins, and brings to us the peace of God where ;
the Church is prefigured by the ark." So Noah in

the ark is a type of Christ, the beginning of a new race
of redeemed mankind, and of the water of Baptism,
and of the ark of the Church, and the dove of the Holy
Spirit, bringing the olive branch of peace to those
who are in the Church. St. Cyprian says, " The ark
of Noah was a sacrament of the Church of Christ." f
St Ambrose caused this subject to be painted in his
church at Milan, and beneath it these verses —
" Area Noe nostri typus est, et Spiritus ales,
Qui pacem populis ramo prsetendit olivse."
It is remarkable that the ark is always represented,

not as a ship or boat of any kind, but as a square
chest with a lid, within which stands the single figure
of Noah, or the two figures of Noah and his wife. A
coin of the city of Apamea, on the Euphrates, of the
reign of Septimus Severus (see p. 337), has^the head

of the emperor on the obverse ; and on the reverse,
• "De Ixxv. 16.
Baptismo," vii. f Ep.
SYMBOLISM. 2T9
just such a square chest, with a single standing-

figure, and on the front of the chest the letters Nw,
i.e. Noah. There was a local tradition that the ark
had rested at this city. It would be obvious to con-

clude that the Christian representation of the subject
was taken from this coin, but that De Rossi maintains
that the paintings of the subject in the catacombs
{e.g. in that of Domitilla) extend back to a period a
hundred years before the date of the coin. This

curious form of the ark remains to be accounted for.
The sacrifice of Isaac is so striking a type of

the love of the Father in giving His only begotten
Son, and of the Son in voluntarily submitting Him-
"
self a Sacrifice for sin, that whosoever believeth on
Him should not perish, but should have everlasting
life," that we can only account for its infrequency by
the general reticence of early art on the subjects of
the Passion.
Among the many miracles of healing, three are
specially selected
— the healing of the paralytic, of the
woman who touched the hem of our Lord's garment,
and of the blind. The frequency of the use of the
HEALING OF THE PARALYTIC is probably explained
by being the symbol of the great doctrine of the
its
forgiveness of sin. The man is usually represented

as carrying away his bed, which directs us to the
words of the Gospel, that it was in order that they
might know that the Son of man hath power on
earth to forgive sins, that He said to the sick of the
"
palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine
"
house (Matt. ix. 6). His carrying away his couch
was the visible expression of the article of the

"
Creed, I believe in the forgiveness of sins,"
The special significance of the HEALING OF THE
INFIRM WOMAN was by touch-
lies in the fact that it
ing the hem of His garment that "virtue went out

"
of Him," and she was made whole. Now, His
raiment is His Church," says St. Augustine, in con-
"
nection with this miracle ;
and in a garment, the
border the last and lowest part." * And again, in
is
"
another place, -|- the absence of His body and presence
"
of His power is illustrated in the miracle. And St.
"
Ephrem, the Syrian, says, Thy garment, Lord, is a
fountain of medicine ;
in Thy visible vesture there
dvvelleth a hidden
power." | gather that the We
miracle was adopted as a symbol that though Christ
is absent, His power dwells in His Church, and that
those who come to Christ by faith, in the Church and

its ordinances, will find His grace in them,
i
The BLIND MANprobably the one whose eyes
is
our Lord anointed with clay, and then bade him " go
"
to the Pool of Siloam and wash (John ix. 7) and ;
it perhaps a symbol of Baptism, which was in

is
primitive times known by the name of Illumination,

"
I am the Light of the world."
'
Moses appears both in the paintings and bas-

reliefs in several scenes. The incident of striking the
rock appears on almost all the sarcophagi of Italy
and Gaul other scenes appear more rarely, and
;
perhaps only in the later examples, as the passage
* " Serm.," xxviii.

"
78^. t Serm.," xii. 62^5.
"
X Rhythm," X.
SYMBOLISM. 221
of theRed Sea, the giving of the Law, the gathering

of the manna, and a doubtful seizure of Moses by
the rebels.
The PASSAGE OF THE Red Sea we have St.
Paul'sauthority (i Cor. x. i, 2) for

taking a as
symbol of Baptism. When we observe in some of

the bas-reliefs that the destruction of the Egyptians
is rendered with considerable force and detail, we are
led to conjecture that it may also have been intended

as a symbol of God's deliverance of His people from
oppression, and the destruction of the oppressors ;
and we are reminded of the tremendous effect which
the deaths of the imperial persecutors and the mis-
fortunes of their families, at the end of the third and
commencement of the fourth centuries, had upon
the minds both of Christians and heathens, as is set
" "
forth at length in the De Mortibus Persecutorum
of Lactantius.
In the GIVING OF THE Law Moses is an obvious
type of Christ, the Giver of the New Dispensation.
In the incident of the BURNING BUSH, God is
sometimes represented in human form, sometimes as

a hand. In all cases, Moses is in the attitude of re-
moving his shoes. We

might take it as an allusion
to our Lord's mission from the Father but several ;
e.g. Gregory Nazianzen and

of the ancient writers,
Augustine, assuming the Rock-scene to allude to

Baptism, take this as alluding to the renunciations
preceding Baptism, the putting away of sins.
The GATHERING OF THE MANNA. There are

several subjects in which a figure points with a rod.
or touches with a rod, a number of baskets before

him, which are filled with what at first sight appear to
be round loaves, and the scene has been usually taken
to be a representation of the miracle of the loaves but ;
ithas been suggested that it really represents Moses
pointing to the manna, and in that case it might be

taken as one of the symbols of the Eucharist.
The SEIZURE OF Moses by the rebels is a
doubtful explanation of a scene which is frequently
represented in connection with the striking of the rock.

Two men, sometimes wearing a peculiar flat-topped
cap, hold a man between them by the arms, as if in the
act of arresting him and these two men, identified
;
by the peculiar cap, in the subsequent scene, are
eagerly drinking at the stream of water as it gushes

from the rock. It is difficult to recognize in it any
scene in the sacred narrative, and equally difficult to
conjecture its meaning. See below on the arrest of

Christ.
The STRIKING OF THE ROCK at first sight seems
easy of interpretation, but we confess ourselves
baffled in the endeavour to arrive at a satisfactory
explanation of what the Christians of those days
understood it to symbolize. Its introduction as a
single subject in the paintings, and in

nearly every
group of bas-reliefs on the sarcophagi, shows that
it was a very favourite symbol and one of the greatest
importance. In considering jt, it is necessary to
bear in mind that in some of the later examples
Peter is represented as the agent in the miracle ;
in one instance, on a gilded glass vessel, his name

SYMBOLISM. 223
PETRVS is written over his head. We must also

bear in mind that in the great
majority of examples
this subject is closely associated with the raising of
Lazarus. Another curious version of the subject is on

the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (p. 269), where Christ,
represented as a lamb, is not only performing several

miracles of the New Testament, e.g. raising Lazarus,
multiplying the loaves, but also, as the prototype
of Moses, receiving the Law and striking the rock.
What was it intended to represent 1 call to We
mind our Lord's words, in connection with this
"
miracle, at the Feast of Tabernacles : If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. . . . This
spake He
of the Spirit, which they that believe on
Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not
yet given ;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified "
(John vii. 37, 38). Again, we have St. Paul's Eucha-
"
ristic They all drank of that spiritual
interpretation :
Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ "
:
(l Cor. X. 4). And we cannot overlook its striking

symbolism of the piercing of our Lord's side upon the
cross, whence flowed blood and water (John xix. 34).
On the whole we are disposed to regard the subject
most popular symbol of Baptism *
as the .? Then the
* Teitullian De viii. 9),
"
If Christ be the Rock, the
says (" Bapt.,"
water in the Rock is Christ,and therein we see that baptism is blest."
Cyprian says, "The Rock is Christ, and the water from it symbolizes
baptism" (Ep. Ixiii. 5). Jerome says (on Isa. xlviii.), "There is no
peace for the wicked who have not merited to drink of the Rock,
whose side, wounded with the lance, flowed with water and blood,
declaring to us baptism and martyrdom." Against its meaning Baptism
all the baptisteries,
is the fact that in including that in the Catacomb
of Pontianus, the Baptism of our Lord is always adopted as the
appropriate symbol.
introduction of Peter as the agent would allude to his

"
bidding the first converts among the Jews to repent
and be baptized" (Acts ii. 38), and to his being the
"
first to admit the Gentiles to Baptism Can any man :
"
forbid water, that these should not be baptized ?
(Acts X. 47, 48).

Job represented in paintings in the cemeteries
is
of Domitilla, Callistus, and others, on the Tomb of
Junius Bassus, and on several Gallic sarcophagi.

Martigny says that it is because he was the prophet
of the Resurrection — "
I know that my Redeemer
25)— and notes that his pro-
liveth," etc. (Job xix.
phecy occurs in the most ancient manuscripts of the
Antiphonary of Gregory the Great, on the Tomb of
Bishop Flavian (c. 550), and in inscriptions at Naples

and Rimini.*
Other subjects which are not so difficult of inter-
pretation are
—
The CREATION OF EvE out of the side of Adam,
a symbol of the creation of the Church out of the
side of Christ.
The FALL OF MAN represented by a tree with a
serpent coiled round it (often with a human head),
with Adam and Eve standing on each side.
The new covenant with man is typified by Adam
and Eve being clothed with the skins of the first
sacrifices, and therefore reconciled to God in Christ
Jesus. Adam often represented holding a spade,

is
and Eve a spindle, symbolical of the new life of

labour to which they were sentenced.
• "
Martigny, "Dictionaire des Antlqiiit^s Chretiennes :
Job,
SYMBOLISM. 225
The SACRIFICE OF Abel AND Cain, a type of

the sacrifice of Christ ;
and a symbol of the worship
of the Church and of the heathen.
The TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH, a type of Christ's
Ascension.
The BAPTISM OF OUR LoRD is a common subject,
and its meaning obvious
the one subject repre-
;
it is
sented in painting or mosaic in all the baptisteries,

and the dedication of all the baptisteries is to St.
John of the Fonts.
The TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM is not
infrequently found, the symbol of Christ's entry into X
heaven with all His saints after the judgment.
The Arrest of Christ. The subject of two
men holding a third between them by the wrists as
if arresting him, has already been noticed as occur-
ring in connection with Moses striking the rock.
It is also found on some sarcophagi in connection
with the denial of Peter, and in Leofric's Missal at
Rouen, in connection with the betrayal of Judas.
This plainly indicates that the subject is the arrest
of Christ in the garden and this identification is
;
confirmed by a picture in the Book of Kells, which

illustrates Matt. xxvi. 30.
We remark the absence from this list of the sub-
jects of our Lord's Passion, and we do not know

how to account for it. The narrative of them fills a
very large space in all the Gospels, and their pictorial
representation occupies the prominent place which

seems natural to us in the ecclesiastical art of a later
period ;
but in the art of these early ages these sub-
jects are "conspicuous by their absence." We call to
mind that in the preaching of the Apostles, recorded

in the Acts of the Apostles, there is a similar reserve ;
the subjects of those preachings are the Resurrection

and Ascension of the Lord and the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and the fulfilment in these great events of

ancient type and prophecy and in the Epistles,
;
which are addressed to Christian people, though

there are many allusions to our Lord's Passion and
is no detailed
death, there presentation of the moving
incidents so fully described in the Gospels, by way of
appeal to their affections. This unemotional preach-

ing of the early ages is in harmony with the fact
which we have noted in the cycle of subjects treated
in early Christian art. Neither do the historical

series of the events of our Lord's life — except the
Adoration of the Magi — find
the place we should
expect in early art : the Nativity, the Baptism, Christ

before Pilate, are rarely found and on late sarcophagi.
There are numerous symbols of the Eucharist,
and they are of very frequent occurrence. The most
common are the miraculous bread and fish of the
FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND, and the mira-
culous wine of the marriage feast at Cana.
Another, which seldom occurs, is the Old Testament
miracle of the MANNA. There are one or two other

may be Eucharistic A small THREE-
subjects which :
LEGGED TABLE WITH FISH AND BREAD upon it in ;
one example a man stands on one side the table as

if blessing the bread, and a female in the attitude
of prayer on the other side. A FISII BEARING A
SYMBOLISM. 1127
BASKET OF BREAD Oil his back, and De Rossi says

that in the middle of the basket is an indication of
a glass vessel of red
wine. A phrase of
Jerome affords a curi-

ous illustration of the
picture ; speaking of
Exuperius, Bishop of Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Calllstus,
rr. 1
ioulouse, he observes,
,1 Rome.
"Nothing can be richer than one who carries the

Body of Christ in a basket made of twigs, and the
Blood of Christ in a chalice of glass."
The late Dean Burgon, in his interesting letters

from Rome, took the pains to compile a list of the
subjects which appear on the sarcophagi in the
Lateran Museum, and to record the number of times
they appear. Professor Westwood has added the
number of times the same subjects appear on those in
the Vatican collection. The
following list gives both
these enumerations in the order of their frequency :
—
1. History of Jonah, various incidents, 23 in Lateran,
II Bosio.*
2. Moses, occasionally Peter [?], striking the rock,
21, 16.
3. The miracle of loaves and fishes, 20, 14.
4. Apprehension of St. Peter [.?

of Moses], 20, 14 ;
soldiers or Jews in peculiar flat caps.
5. The cure of the blind, 19, 11.

* Bosio's
plates, as given by Northcote and Brownlow, are from
Forty-eight sarcophagi, thirty of which were found in the crypts of the
Vatican.
6. Miracle of Cana, 16, 8.
7. RaisingofLazarus
— a mummy-like figure, "bound
hand and foot in grave-clothes," standing at the door
of an ^dicula or chapel-tomb, 16, 14.
8. Christ with the cock [and St. Peter, the warning
of Peter], 14, 8.
9. Daniel in the lions' den,sometimes with Habakkuk

bringing food (Bel and the Dragon), 14, 7.
10. Cure of the paralytic, generally bearing a kind
of sofa-bed, 12, 7.
11. Creation of Eve, 11, 2.
12. Sacrifice of Isaac, 11, 9.
13. Adoration of the Magi, 11, 8.

14. The temptation and fall, often a tree and ser-
pent, often Adam with a sheaf of wheat and Eve with

a fleece (" When Adam delved and Eve span "), 10, 14.
15. The woman with the bloody flux, 8, 9.

16. The Good Shepherd, 6, 9.
17. The entry into Jerusalem.
18. Noah in his square chest, or area, with the
dove, 5, 6.
19. Our Lord before Pilate, the latter generally

washing his hands ;
second figure
a is sometimes
present who may be Herod.
20. Adam and Eve receiving the wheat-sheaf and
lamb from (?) the Second Person of the Trinity, 4.
See also No. 14 in this list.
21. Moses receiving the Law, 4, 6.

" "
22. The Three Children with Phrygian caps, 4, 3.
23. Christ bearing His cross. Three times in the
Lateran.
SYMBOLISM. 229
24. Moses at the burning bush, 2, 2.
25. Translation of Elijah, 2, 3.

26. The Nativity, with ox and ass, i, 4,
Other rarely represented or highly interesting

subjects are
—
a. Our Lord on the holy mount, whence issues the
four rivers of Paradise, attended by His disciples.

Not infrequent.
"
b. Thou
shalt go on the lion and adder." Youthful
Christ on a sarcophagus, at St. Niccolo, Ravenna.

c. A feast
—
semicircular table, with crossed cakes
of bread ; (?) an allusion to the Holy Eucharist, or
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, or a funeral feast.
Parker's photos, 2928, 2930.
d. The vision of Ezekiel on two or three photos,
2921. The Saviour standing in the act of raising

small (apparently shrivelled) dead figures.
e. Daniel and the dragon (Parker's photo, 2920).
f. Susannah and the elders doubtful. —

g. Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea (photo
2933)-
//.
Offerings of Cain and Abel (photos 2908,
2910).
/. The woman of Samaria (Bottari, pi. 137 ; Arlnghi,
1.
297 Dagincourt Sculpt., Plate VHI. Fig. 9).
;
j. The Baptism of our Lord (Parker, 2677, 2919;

Bottari, Plate 193).
k. The daughter of Jairus raised from a sarcophagus
(Parker, 2919, 2920 Bottari, Plate 193). ;
Our next task is to study these individual subjects

in their groupings, and to endeavour to discover
some scheme of symbolism, some connected lines
of thought, in the various groups.

One of the most elaborate of these groupings of
Old Testament symbols is in the painted ceiling
of a chamber in the Cemetery of St. Callistus, of the
third or fourth century. It is geometrically divided
by a combination of circle and octagon, into many
panels, which form concentric circles. In the centre
is a Good Shepherd. The first circle of subjects is
an ornamental row of couples of birds pecking grapes

out of eight baskets the next circle consists of Old
;
and New Testament subjects which surround the

Good Shepherd. They are : The paralytic carry-
ing his bed ;
the miracle at Cana ;
the raising of
Lazarus ;
Daniel in the lions' den ; Jonah swallowed
by the sea-monster ; Jonah cast ashore by the
monster ;
Moses striking the rock ;
Noah in the
Ark, with the dove.

Why this cycle of subjects ? why these eight out
of all the Old and New Testaments ? Why in this
order ,'' As
the order, since they are arranged
to
in a circle, any one may be first in the series, except

that the two incidents in the history of Jonah must
be taken in historical sequence.
There are Old Testament subjects and only
five
three New Testament, and we find nothing like the
juxtaposition of type and antitype of which the

artists were so fond in a later age. If we take them
in the order in which we should read the inscription

of a medal, beginning at the bottom and going round
by the left hand we get Jonah (our Lord's Resur-

SYMBOLISM. 231
rection) ;
the stricken rock (Baptism) ;
Noah (the
Church) ;
the Paralytic (forgiveness of sins) ;
Cana
(the Eucharist) ;
Lazarus (the resurrection of the
dead) Daniel (deliverance in persecution). There

;
does not appear to be any natural sequence of

—
thought in this or any other order.
—
In another circular ceiling given by Garucci (ii. 24),
of a cubiculum in the Cemetery of St, Caecilia, Christ
sits in the centre, with five Apostles, a casket of manu-
script Vohimina at His feet. Around this centre are
five larger and smaller radiating panels.

five The
larger panels contain these subjects The stricken :
rock; Moses pointing to the Manna; sacrifice of

Isaac Three Children in the furnace Noah in the
; ;
Ark. On the smaller panels, elegant foliage, with
peacocks. Again we fail to see any scheme of

selection or grouping.
Some of the gilded glass vessels found in the
catacombs,* have their ornamentation arranged in a-
manner which resembles the designs of some of these
ceilings, and afford additional groups for study.
One in the private collection of Mr, Wilshere has in
the centre the portrait of a man and his wife, with the
usual inscription PIE, ZHSES ("Drink, long life"),
surrounded by the following Scripture subjects :
Adam and Eve (creation) ;

sacrifice of Isaac (redemp-
tion) Paralytic (forgiveness) ; Lazarus (resurrection).

;
Another in the same collection has St. Peter and

St. Paul in the centre, surrounded by the following
subjects in six radiating compartments : The Three
*
Page 309,
J32 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
Children ;
a man
standing in front of a symbolic
a woman in the
figure of the sun (Isa. Ix. 20) ;
attitude of prayer Isaiah being sawn in two

;
the ;
brazen serpent the stricken rock.

;
The arcosolia present numerous examples of smaller

the back
groups of subjects arranged in the lunette at
of the recess, on the soffit of the arch of the reces?,
and on the wall beneath, which is really the front of

the tomb itself Perhaps the motive of the selection
of the subjects in these groups may, in some cases at
least, be more easily conjectured. We briefly indicate
the subjects of several of the groups, and their ar^
rangement.
1. In the lunette, a portrait of the deceased ;
on
the soffit, three subjects— a Good Shepherd in the
middle, between Daniel and the stricken Rock.

2. In the lunette, Jonah reclining under the gourd ;
on the soffit, a Good Shepherd between two oranti.
3. In the lunette, three figures

— man, woman,
and child — probably representations of the deceased
buried there ;
the soffit divided into three com-
partments
— in the centre a Good Shepherd between
the usual four scenes of the Jonah subject, on the left

the Three Children refusing to worship the golden
of the Magi.
image, on the right the Adoration
In the lunette, the Good Shepherd on the soffit,
4. ;
an orante between Jonah and the stricken Rock.

In the lunette, Jonah disgorged; on the soffit,
5.
the stricken rock, between Jonah sitting under the

under the gourd.
gourd, and Jonah reclining
6. In the lunette, an inscription on the soffit, the ;
SYMBOLISM. 233
Good Shepherd, between Daniel and the Three

Children.
7. The lunette is divided into three vertical com-
partments
— in the middle an orante, on the left a feast
with five persons present, on the right the five Wise
Virgins on the soffit, the Good Shepherd between
;
Adam and Eve and Daniel. The front of this tomb

is also painted in three vertical compartments— in the
middle an orante, between the Three Children and
Jonah in three scenes —swallowed, disgorged, and
reclining.
8. Is a very elaborate arrangement. The lunette
is divided into three vertical compartments by two
trees — in the middle a Good Shepherd with two
figures (probably the deceased) kneeling at His feet,
between Lazarus and an orante. The soffit is divided

into five compartments
— in the centre Daniel, at the
ends the three Magi before Herod and a male orante ;
the intermediate compartments have a subject within

—
a subject in one, the paralytic between Adam and
Eve in the other, Noah between two sitting figures.
;
These may suffice as examples ;

it is only in the
simplest groups that we can venture to hope that we
understand the motive for the selection of the subjects.
There the same difficulty in understanding the
is
grouping of the subjects sculptured on the sarcophagi,

but it will be more convenient to reserve the few
additional sentences which we have to say about
them until we have the subjects more immediately
before us in a later chapter.
ImijriJJiTimiJiumiJniJTUmiin^
jliunufniJTiiJTiinunTiJTii'T^^
CHAPTER XIII.
SYiMBOLISM —contimted.
The representation of individual persons
— Representations of deceased ;
oranti; oranti with saints The — so-calledMadonna of the

Cemetery of Priscilla the so-called Madonna of St. Agnes —
Funeral feasts — Personal
;
emblems : fossors sculptor painter,

etc. —
Punning emblems : a dragon for Dracontius,
;
etc.
;
—Instru-
ments of martyrdom (?).
HE Representation of Individual
Persons is the fourth class into which
we have divided these subjects of early
Christian art. Some are conventional
figures of the men, women, and children there buried,

who are sometimes identified by the inscription of
their names. Some of the later figures seem to make
an attempt at portraiture.
In these representations of deceased persons there
is a remarkable omission, considering the actual life
of the Church during those ages, of all allusion to the
sufferings of the faithful at the hands of the perse-

cutors. We know from other sources of information
that the Church took the profoundest interest in the
SYMBOLISM. 255
conflictsand triumphs of its martyrs and confessors.

At a very early period the acta of the martyrs were
carefully recorded in the fullest detail the relics of ;
martyrs were eagerly collected and treasured their ;
burial-places were honoured their memory was kept

;
fresh in the mind of the Church by the record of their

names in the diptychs, and by annual celebrations of
their birthdays, i.e. the days of their birth into the
nev/ life ;
we
find no attempt to represent their
but
martyrdoms on their graves,* no record of them in
inscriptions. Was the omission in the same spirit in
which St. Peter, speaking to Jews (Acts iii. 17), apolo-
gized for the acts of their rulers who killed the Prince
of Life: "I wot that
through ignorance ye did
it, as did also your rulers,"
and omitted all allusior
to the agency of Pilate in
his address to the Roman
Cornelius and his friends ?
In this class we have no

hesitation placing the
in
vast majority of figures

standing with outstretched
arms, to which the Roman wall-painting, Cemetery of St.
antiquaries have given the
Marcellinus. An orante clad
convenient
, ,
title of oranti
.
— in chasuble.
praying people. They are found in great numbers

painted on the walls of the catacombs, sculptured on
* The common Three Children in Nebuchadnezzar's
subjects of the
furnace and of Daniel in the lions' den may be allusions to them.
the sarcophagi, in mosaics as at Salonica, on the gilded
glass vessels lastly, on every page of the Menologia ;

;
and have been the subject of much controversy.

c^ •;
^v^>^
^n^lONYSAS
INP/^CE
'«!«««««« irm
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Soter, Rome.
The example on p. 235 is a male orante of

early
date clad in the chasuble, which afterwards, when it
Inscription on marble.
went out of lay use, was retained as a clerical vest-

ment. It is from a
wall-painting in the Cemetery of
St. Marcellinus.*
*
Bosio, p. 377.
SYMBOLISM. m
The next, from the Cemetery of St. Soter, Rome, is
one of four persons in a garden full of flowers and
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Cxcilia, Rome.
fruits, in the midst of which are birds of various kinds,
representing Paradise. It is of the third century.*
The third is an interesting design on a marble

.
slab published by Boldetti, p. 329.

• De " Roma
Rossi, Sottcfanca," ii.
9.
The fourth is a wall-pahiting of Byzantine style,

from the Cemetery of St. Cascilia, Rome,
The attitude was that of prayer among Jews and
Gentiles.* The early Christians continued to use
"
the same attitude. Tertullian describes it, looking
up, with hands spread open, and head uncovered,"
and further remarks that the position of the praying
Christian represents upon the cross.f The
Christ
attitude among the early Christians was as univer-
sally the posture of prayer as kneeling Vv'ith
joined
hands is among ourselves.^
We find male and female oranti, separately, to-
gether as man and

wife, and sometimes children
associated with them in a family group not infre- ;
quently their names are inscribed over their heads or

by their sides. § Thus on the lunette of an arcosolium
at a half-length male orante between two
Naples is
candlesticks with lighted candles, and the inscription

" "
HIC REQVIESET PROCVLUS ; |1
and a group of man,
"
woman, and child, inscribed ILARIS VIX AN.XLV.
THEOTECNVS VIX AN.L. NONNOSA VIX AN.II.MX," in
the lunette of an arcosolium in the Upper Cemetery of
San Gennaro, at Naples.Tf There can be no doubt that
* The hands of Moses were extended in
prayer during the battle of
Amalek (Exod. xvii. 12). See Ps. xxviii. 2; xliv. 20; cxliii. 6.
^(Eneas is described by Virgil, Dnplices tcndens ad sidera palinas.

t I Apol., XXX.
X It has been suggested that the puzzling word wepiaaaTe at the
commencement of the anaphora in the AiSaK-fi is a direction to the
faithful to spread out their arms in this striking attitude ;
it is im-
mediately followed by the further direction, "Lift up your hearts."
§ Roller, Plate XLVIII.
II Garucci, vol. i. Plate loi.
IT Appell, "Monuments of Early Christian Art," p. 67.
SYMBOLISM. 239
in these cases we have representations of deceased

persons in the attitude of prayer, just as in the case
of the mediaeval effigies lying with joined hands
Painting from the Upper Cemetery of St. Gennaro, Naples.
upon their altar-tombs, or, at a later period, kneeling

at a prayer-desk.
Figures in this attitude of prayer are not uncommon

in early Celtic art. See curious examples at Llan-
hamllech, and at Llanfrynach, Brecknockshire,*
Some of the female oranti are represented in such
a way as to have given ground for the theory that
they represent the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the
Church.
In the Chapel of Sta. Felicitas, at the Baths of Titus,
is —
a colossal female figure f with hands outstretched
over smaller figures on each side of her, and over her
a head of Christ amid clouds —which certainly looks
*
Engraved in "Early Christian Symbolism," J. Romillv Allen,
p. 128.
"
t Garucci, Storia della Arte," vol. iii. Plate 154.
240 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART
very much like a Blessed Virgin interceding with the

Divine Son for the votaries around her but the in- ;
scription shows that the figure is intended for Sta.

Felicitas, in whose name the chapel is dedicated, and
the smaller figures are contemporary saints, whose
names are inscribed over their heads.
There are several examples of a female figure
occupying the central place in the sculptured front of
a sarcophagus, with Apostles on each side of her,
or standing between St. Peter and St. Paul. That
this not the Virgin Mary, but a figure of the
is
deceased person whose remains were laid in the

sarcophagus, is established by two pieces of evidence.
In some cases the name of the orante is inscribed
over her head, as "FLORA" between SS. Peter and Paul
*
on a Spanish sarcophagus, figured by Roller ;
in
other cases,t the face of the orante has been left
unfinished, exactly as in the case of the medallion

portraits mentioned at p. 264, and for the same reason
— that the portrait of the deceased might be added
after the purchase of the sarcophagus.
This fashion of placing the effigy of a deceased
person among saints or between two Apostles is
easily explained. The effigy was not so much a
portrait of the person during lifetime, as a representa-
tion of the spirit after death. To sculpture it in the
midst of the saints was a striking way of conveying,
in the language of art, the common epitaph, aun
"
Sanctis, So-and-so is with the saints." To place this
departed spirit between SS. Peter and Paul was to
* "Catacombes de Rome," vol. ii. Plate XLI. t Ibid.
SYMBOLISM. 241
represent the Princes of the Apostles as introducing

it into Paradise, just as in the mosaics at SS. Cosmas
and Damian and other churches, SS. Peter and Paul

are presenting the founder of the church, or the donor
of the mosaic, to our Lord in glory. That the dis-
embodied spirit was represented in early art by a
human figure is shown in the martyrdom of St.
Stephen in the sculptures of the great doorway at
Aries, and in that of St. Lawrence, on the medal at
p. 343, where the dying martyr is
breathing forth his
spirit in this form. So in mediaeval pictures of the
Crucifixion, the painters often represented the souls of

the dying robbers. This idea of the apotheosis of a
departed Christian is found in mediaeval times in the

modified form of two angels bearing upward the
soul — in the form of a small nude human figure — in
the hollow lap of a long sheet.
Among the gilded glass medallions are some in

which there is a female orante between two men,
and all three have their names inscribed over them —
" "
PETER, MARIA, PAVLVS but that does not imply
;
any peculiar distinction of the Blessed Virgin Mary

over all other saints, since there are similar groups on
other medallions, inscribed " peter, PAUL, AGNES,"
" "
and CHRISTOS, AGNES, LAWRENCE on another ;
medallion are two female saints, inscribed " anne

(= AGNES), MARIA;" there are several of Agnes
alone.
In short, there is not In the art of the first five
centuriesan example of a representation of the
Virgin Mary, except as a necessary figure in the
representation of the Annunciation, the Nativity, and

the Adoration of the Magi. She is never put forward
prominently, as the Apostles, for example, are con-

stantly put forward, as persons of special distinction in
the Church. Still less is she put forward as concentrat-
ing the spectator's attention upon her personality, and

implying some special cult. There are many indica-
tions that in the fourth century St. Agnes, the virgin
martyr of the Diocletian persecution, was the popular

saint —her name is still retained in our English
Prayer-book the real claims of the Blessed Virgin
;
to special reverence were hardly recognized until the

discussions which terminated in the decision of the
Council of Ephesus (a.d. 431) called attention to
them.
There are two or three examples which seem to
contradict the assertion in the preceding sentence.
In the Cemetery of Priscilla, in an inconspicuous
position among other subjects, over an arcosolium,*

there a picture of the Virgin holding the Child in
is
her arms ;
in front of her is a male figure, pointing
to a star above and between them ; De Rossi suggests

that a pictorial allusion to tTie prophecies of the
it is
Nativity. In De Rossi's " Bulletino di Archaeologia

Christiana" for 1844-45, ^'s a photographic repre-
sentation of a recently discovered fragment of a
sculptural group, with woodcuts of Dc Rossi's con-
jectural restoration of it. The principal portion of

the subject is a female figure, seated with a child on
—
her lap, facing to the (spectator's) left no doubt, the
* XV.
Roller, Plate
SYMBOLISM. 243
Blessed Virgin and the Divine Child. There are plain

hidications on the (spectator's) left of an angel looking
towards the Virgin. On the right, behind the Virgin,
are indistinct traces of a standing figure and above ;
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Callistus, Rome.
the Virgin's head is a hand pointing upwards : De

Rossi's conjectural restoration combines these into a
male figure pointing to a star. The sculptured subject
may be fairly compared with the wall-painting
noticed above, and may be interpreted as an alle-
gorical representation which combines the conven-
tional "Annunciation" with the conventional allusion
"
to the prophecy of the Star," presented in the wall-
" "
painting. The so-called Madonna of St. Agnes is
an orante and her child painted in the lunette of an

arcosolium.* In the Cemetery of St. Valentine, on the
" "
Flaminian Way, there is an undoubted Madonna
* Sec Roller, Plate LXXV.
of the mediaeval type ; both the Virgin and the Child

are nimbed, and there is an inscription, " SAC DEI
GENETRix," but it is of late date.* In the famous
P-C-
Oi'ante and child, the so-called Madonna of the Cemetery

of St. Agnes.
Rabula manuscript f is a representation of an

Ascension (see p. 315), in which a female figure |
occupies the centre, with an angel on each side of her,
each addressing a group of six Apostles, who fill up the
picture. In the same manuscript is a representation
of the of Pentecost, in which again the Virgin
Day
occupies a central and conspicuous place and this ;
rendering of the two subjects continued in use

throughout the Middle Ages. One of the earliest
representations of the Madonna is in the Early
Church (crypt) of St. Clement at Rome, where is also
an assumption of the Blessed Virgin, but these
decorations are of the eighth century.
In the mosaics in St. Agnes in Rome, Is the
earliest {circa A.D. 630) instance of the patron saint
occupying the central place in the apse instead of

that of our Lord and in the Church of St. Maria in
;
* Plate 84, i. Plates 139, 140.

Garucci, vol. ii. t Ibid., vol. iii.
X In the West the Blessed Virgin Mary was seldom represented in

the attitude of an orante ; in the East she was, and is, frequently.
SYMBOLISM. 245
Dominica (a.d. 820), for the first time the Blessed

Virgin occupies this prominent position.
The suggestion that some of these oranti represent
the Church has, perhaps, still less evidence in its
favour. It is not till we come to the fifth century
that we find, in the basilica of Sta. Sabina, at
Rome, an undoubted example of this symbolical
representation of the Church there are two female
;
"
figures, each holding a book, one inscribed Ecclesia
ex Circumcisione," and the other " Ecclesia ex Genti-
bus." Eve, and Sarah (Gal. iv. 22-end), and the
Bride of Rev.ix. i, are obvious types of the Church,
but the idea does not seem to have been included

in the cycle of the early symbolism.
Another subject which occurs very frequently in

the wall-paintings of the catacombs is A GROUP OF
PERSONS SITTING OR RECLINING AT TABLE, which
is usually of horseshoe shape, and upon it are a fish
Wall-painting, Cemetery of St. Callistus, Rome.
lying in a dish, and a few round loaves, which are

usually marked with a cross. Three suggestions have
been made as to the meaning of this subject: (i)
That it represents the Last Supper ; (2) the funeral
feast ; (3) the happiness of Paradise.
We incline to think that these pictures in the first

instance represent the Funeral Feast. It needs some
acquaintance with ancient manners to appreciate the

importance of these funeral feasts. From very early-
"
times, we know from the Iliad," the holding of a
festival at the tomb was an indispensable part of the
obsequies, and the custom continued in full force at

the period of the introduction of the Christian
religion ;
and Christians, while adopting burial in
place of cremation, made little other alteration in the
funeral customs of their time.
We have seen (p. 119) that the common existence
of burial guilds afforded the Church facilities for
obtaining and managing its cemeteries under sanction

of the law. One of the customs of these funeral
guilds was that all the members assisted at the

funeral of a member, and attended the funeral feast,
met again at his tomb at the expiration of a month,
and held an annual commemoration of his death, the
meeting always concluding with a feast. In the
series of chambers of the most ancient part of
the Cemetery of Lucina, this subject is repeated,
with some minor variations of treatment, because
(we suggest) those chambers were used for funeral
feasts, and therefore the subject was an appro-
priate one for the decoration of their walls. In
some examples of this subject the names of
the guests at the feast are painted over their
heads, leaving beyond question that the paint-
it
ing is a record of an actual funeral feast of some

person buried in the chamber on the wall of
SYMBOLISM. 247
which the painting appears, or in the neighbouring

gallery.
The festivals celebrated in honour of the saints
enrolled in the calendar are funeral commemorations

on a large scale, Sidonius describes the festival of
latter part of
Justus, the popular Gallic saint in the
the fifth century. These funeral feasts were often
" know
abused. St. Augustine says, In North Africa I
many who hold luxurious drinking-bouts over the

dead, and, setting dainty meats before corpses, bury
themselves [in intoxication] above the buried, and
make their own voracity and drunkenness a matter of
religious observance." St. Ambrose
Milan speaks in
of "drunken revels in the crypts," and exclaims
against the folly of men who thought

drunkenness
could be a part of sacrifice. Canons were made to
restrain the licence of the assemblies at the vigils
and festivals of the saints. The custom continued
throughout the subsequent ages, and has not even
yet disappeared. The large attendance
of relations
and friends at a funeral in the northern counties ;

the
attendance of the members of a benefit society at the

funeral of one of their fellow-members ;
the custom
of returning to the house after a funeral and partaking
of refreshments ;
—
are survivals of the customs which
we trace back to the prehistoric ages.
very possible that this subject had also, in the
It is
minds of people who were so accustomed to sym-

bolism as the early Christians, a symbolical meaning,
but we doubt whether that meaning was directly and
primarily Eucharistic. The fish and loaves on the
table are in accordance with such a meaning, but in

mediaeval representations of feasts of all kinds fish
and bread are very often found as the only viands
upon the table. There is in these pictures no hint
of a central person distributing the food to those on
each side of him. Eucharistic symbols abound, and
we have noticed some of them, but these are not
of them.
We accept a representation of the Last
commonly
Supper as having a Eucharistic meaning, but it is
doubtful whether it was used in early and mediaeval
art with that intention. The Ccena Domini of the
Middle Ages meant primarily the marriage supper
of the king's son, i.e. the happiness of heaven.* At
the close of the Nicenc Council, when the assembled
bishops, representatives of the whole Church, dined

with Constantino, Eusebius says it was like an image
of the kingdom of Christ. In the seventh-century
Gospels of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is a

representation of our Lord and eight of His Apostles
"
sitting at table, and the picture is inscribed CCENA
Dni." The paintings of "The Last Supper" by
Leonard da Vinci and others are not on the reredos
of the altar of the church, but on the wall behind the
high table in the refectory. No doubt every Christian

meal, consecrated with prayer, is quasi-sacramental,
or at least symbolic of the Sacrament ;
and very pos-
*
The lunette of an arcosolium (figured by Roller, ii. Plate LXXXIII.)
is painted with a representation of the subject of the Parable of the
Ten Virgins. Our Lord stands in the middle ; on His left are the five
foolish virgins at the closed door ; on Ilis right the five wise virgins
seated at a banquet at a semicircular table in the conventional manner.
SYMBOLISM. iî:^
sibly to minds so trained to see the mystic meaning

of all things, the funeral feast suggested not only the
feast of fat things, of wines on the lees, well refined,
which the Lord will make in His holy mountain when
He has swallowed up death in victory (Isa, xxv. 6),
but also that anticipation and foretaste of it which
He gives to His people here at His holy table but ;
we think the primary intention of these paintings in

the catacombs was to represent the funeral feast.
5. Personal Emblems.
The use of the characteristic instruments of a
man's occupation as a symbol of the man must
necessarily go back to primitive times and be of
universal adoption ;
it is a kind of natural hiero-
glyphic language, and it

largely survives among
unlettered populations. be found specially
It is to
in two applications —
as a sign outside a man's door
to direct those who need his services, and means,
here lives a baker, a blacksmith, or whatever he
may be ;
and on his gravestone to mark his resting-
—
place here a baker, or blacksmith, or what
lies
not, whose work is done. The sign of the Chequers

indicated a house of public entertainment in Pompeii
in the first century, just as it does now in Ports-
mouth in the nineteenth ; it was the mechanical
help to cast up the reckoning. One of the most

curious monuments of Rome is that of Eurysaces
the Baker, which is partly built of the stone mortars
in which bread was kneaded, and has a frieze of
bas-reliefs representing the operations of the baker,
from the carrying of corn to the mill to the final
weighing and distribution of the bread.

So among the expedients adopted for identifying
a particular loculus among the many which presented

themselves along the walls of the galleries of the
catacombs, numerous trade signs appear. Among
the most interesting, perhaps, are those v/hich relate
to the catacombs themselves. In several of the
catacombs are several paintings of fossorcs* mem-
bers of the guild of artisans whose business was
the excavation of the catacombs the effigy of the ;
fossor surrounded by the implements of his calling

is
— the picks with which he worked at the rock, and

the lamp by whose light he worked.
At Urbino is a sarcophagus f which represents a
sculptor and his studio. It has an inscription AFIOG :
eEOCEBEC EYTPOniOC EN IPHNH (The holy

pious Eutropius in peace). His men are represented
at work upon a sarcophagus, and one of the methods
of the ancient sculptor is shown in the use of the
drill worked by a cord and bow. On another
sarcophagus, on a panel between dolphins, is inscribed
his own name EYTPOniOS. We recognize that the
sculptor had designed his own tomb and had it
executed in his lifetime, and had emphasized its
memento mori by causing his name to be carved on

the pictorial sarcophagus, EYTPOIIIOS.
In another catacomb | is a painting which com-
memorates one of the decorative artists who painted
•
Roller, Plate VI. t Garucci, vol. vi. Plate 488, fig. 25.
X Ibid., fig. 19.
SYMBOLISM. 2Si
the walls and ceilings of the sepulchral chambers,
representing him as actually engaged in laying out

the geometrical pattern of the ceiling of a chamber.
The fossor lies at last in the gallery which he
excavated, and the sculptor in the sarcophagus which
he sculptured, and the painter under the ceiling
which he himself designed.*
The emblems on the loculus of a painter are a pair
of compasses, a crayon, and two paint-brushes. The
forceps of a dentist are found on another, A case
of surgical instruments (engraved by De Rossi,
"Bulletino," 1864, p. 36) indicates a professor of the
healing art. Among others are found the pincers and
hammer which symbolize a blacksmith ;
a leather
apron (a skin) is inscribed on the tomb of another

who is described as FABER, a blacksmith ;
the saw,
adze, and chisel of a carpenter, the comb and shears
of a wool-comber, the carpenter's adze and the mason's
plumb-line, occur on sarcophagi at Aries.
It is maintained that in some cases these tools
are the instruments of martyrdom inscribed on the

loculi of martyrs. Martigni, after reciting some of
them, says,
"
haveWe
not full confidence, sometimes
in their authenticity, sometimes in the interpretation
put upon them, but enough remains to establish the

fact that it was customary to represent the instruments
of their torture and death upon the tombs of martyrs

"
in the primitive Church ; but this is very doubtful.
Another curious class of symbols of which a
few examples occur are punning symbols, like the
* " Plate 48S.
Garucci, Storia," etc., vol. vi.
mediaeval "canting heraldry." The tomb of one

Dracontius has a dragon that of Onager, an ass
; ;
that of one Leo, a lion of Doliens, a cask {dolmni)

; ;
of Porcella, a pig ;
of Caprioles, a goat ;
of Jugas, a
yoke.
There are evidences of representations of martyr-
doms at the tombs of the martyrs. For example,
the painting of the martyrdom of St. Theodorus
mentioned by St. Gregory of Nyssa, and a sculptured
representation of the beheading of St. Nereus found
near his tomb * but these were works of a later date
;
when the tombs had become places of pilgrimage.

* See
p. 1 66,
o;ciro:yyr^C i.^/.S?rfn??:'>T^'?? !'^t ^«' '^ tOt0*^'!i:^ -j»^^ SJ
CHAPTER XIV.
SCULPTURE.
Classical sculpture— Christian statuary the Good Shepherd, at Rome,

—
:
Constantinople, and Athens ; the St. Hippolytus ; the St. Peter

Sarcophagi Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman, Christian ; kept ready
:
—
made The subjects sculptured on them Sarcophagi of Empress—
Helena ; Constantia ; Petronius Probus ; Junius Bassus ; Anicius
Probus, etc.
—
Sarcophagi in Gaul, Spain, etc. Pagan sarcophagi —
—
used for burial of Christians English examples Survivals of —
style and subjects in stone crosses and fonts.
HE art of sculpture had, at the beginning

of the Christian era, decHned from that
height of perfection to which the great

Greek artists had attained in the time
of Phidias and Praxiteles years before but Greece ;
and all the countries to which the Greek civiHzation

had extended were still full of noble examples of it.
The Romans could appreciate these treasures, and

victorious generals and plundering proconsuls
brought great numbers to adorn the
them in
temples and public places and palaces of Rome ;
and it is probable that replicas of favourite ex-

amples were executed by Greek sculptors for Roman

patrons.
In the time of Augustus there were sculptors,
both Greek and Roman, capable of executing grand
and noble designs but after that splendid age the
;
decline of the art set in. Its works seem soon to

have been limited, as with us at the present day,
to the execution of portrait statues and busts
and the decoration of buildings. There was a
temporary revival of the art in the period of the
Antonines ;
after that no great works were executed
— at least, none have come down to us. For seven or
eight hundred years the represented by the bas-
art is
reliefs ofthe sarcophagi, ivory carv-
ings, and a few bronze articles of

furniture and ornament. In the
thirteenth century the art revived
and grew until it reached another
climax of excellence at the Renais-
sance.
Of works in the round which we
can claim as belonging to early
Christian art, the number is lament-
ably small, and they are not of any
great account as works of art. The
The Good Shepherd, earliest and best of them is a small
Statue in the La-
marble figure
° of the Good Shepherd,
'
teran Museum. '
now in the Lateran Museum, pro-

bably of the second or early part of the third century,
of which a photograph is given in the frontispiece.
It is a standing figure, clad in a short tunic fastened
SCULPTURE. 25 s
round the waist, the legs below the knees in cross-

banded stockings and boots, a scrip suspended from
the right shoulder. The head is uncovered, the face
youthful; there is no attempt to idealize it. The sheep
lies on his shoulders, and its legs are held in front
with both hands.* We only recognize it as a symbolical
figure of the Good Shepherd from its likeness to the
figures which are so frequent in the wall-paintings

of the catacombs, and from the absence of any such
subject in pagan art. Some writers, indeed, allude

to mythological sheep and goat-bearing figures f as
if they might have been the type from which the
Christian symbolical figure was derived, but a glance

at them is enough to show that the two have no
relation to one another.
A naked
Good Shepherd, which looks as if it had
been suggested by one of these classic examples,
occurs on a late Gallic sarcophagus,J at Vienne.
The heads are all conventional ;
so much so that
in glancingthrough the hundreds of them which exist
on the sarcophagi, a head with any "character" at
once attracts attention. For example. Roller gives
a photogravure of a finely designed sarcophagus § in
which are several heads of our Lord strikingly like
the modern type ; but on inquiry it turns out that
all these heads are the work of modern restoration.
*
Engraved in Perkins's "Tuscan Sculptures," vol. i. Plate XLTTT.,
and photographed in Parker's Series, 2901.
t The statue by Calamis, or of his time, called Hermes Criophorus,
or the Ram-bearer. See it engraved in Seaman's " Gotter und Heroen,"
sub nomine.
*
Le Blant, p. 23. § Plate LXXXI. fig. 3.
A second ancient statue of the Good Shepherd, of
inferior workmanship, two feet high, is also in the
Lateran Museum. The figure is young and beardless,

clad in a short tunic girded round the waist, loose
knitted stockings, and short boots. His left hand
supports a long staff, and his right

hand grasps the
four feet of a sheep, which he bears on his shoulders.
A third statue of the same subject, of poor
workmanship, is in the Kircherian Museum of the
Collegio Romano.
Another, with the legs broken off short, of the
end of the third or beginning of the fourth century,
has been recently found near the Ostian Gate of
"
Rome, and is photographed in De Rossi's Bulletino"
for 1887.
There is still another small example of the same
subject at Seville, which

is probably of the fourth
century.
*
mentions a damaged statuette in the
M. Bayet
Museum of St. Irene, at Constantinople, which is of
the usual type of the Good Shepherd, and, he thinks,
of about the third century. Also at Athens, among
the fragments of sculpture in the museum of Patissia,
is a portion of a marble statuette of the Good Shep-
herd, of inferior workmanship, which is not later than
the fourth century. The resemblance between these
two is striking. A bas-relief at Athens, which seems

to be earlier than the fourth century, represents a
but has a
shepherd of the type described above,
it
* C. " Recherches servir a I'histoire de la peintv.re et

Bayet, pour
de la sculpture."
SCULPTURE. !57
nimbus round the head which docs not occur on

Christian monuments till later, and which docs
appear on pagan monuments of earliar date, e.g. in

the paintings at Pompeii ; behind, a second person,
From a sarcophagus in the cathedral, Tortona. Fourth century.
bent towards the earth, holds a sheep in his arms ;
beside him is a tree with a serpent coiled round it.
Among the sculptures with which Constantine adorned

the public places of his new capital Eusebius mentions
the Good Shepherd and Daniel with the lions, which

were of bronze covered with plates of gold.
On the preceding page is a woodcut of a Good
Shepherd in low from the end of a sarcophagus
relief
of the fourth century in Tortona Cathedral.

A portion of a marble bust, with locks of hair
hanging down on each shoulder, probably intended
for our Lord, found in
1888, engraved in the
is
"
Melanges de I'Ecole Fran-
âise do Rome" (1888),
Plate IX. It seems to be a
work of the fourth century.
A life-size marble figure
of St. Hippolytus seated in
his episcopal chair, in the
Lateran Museum, is a fairly
good work of art. It is
identified as that of Hippo-

lytus by the fact that the
" "
Pascal Canon of which
„ ,
,. ,,,,.«.
he was the author is in-
Statue of St. Hippolytus, Latcmn scribcd on one side of the
Museum.
^^^^j^^ ^^^^ ^ jj^^ ^^ j^j^
works on the other. The saintly bishop lived in
the third century, and the chair and the lower part
of the figure may be of that date, but the upper
part of the figure is said to be a restoration of the

sixth century. Roller suggests that an earlier work
representing some philosopher has been appropriated

and converted into a St. Hippolytus.
SCULPTURE. 259
The famous bronze seated figure of St. Peter in

St. Rome, with the right hand raised in
Peter's at
blessing, while the other holds the symbolical keys,

is an imitation of the
antique portrait statues. It
is
by some to be a statue of Jupiter taken
believed
from the Capitoline Temple furnished with a new head
and hands. There is a tradition that Pope Leo I.
had the Capitoline Jupiter recast into a St. Peter ;
this would make it a work of the middle of the

fifth century. Signer Lanciani, who has had special
opportunities of examining it, says with great decision
that it is a complete and unaltered casting [Mr. J. H.
Parker says "
in bell-metal], that the head and hands
are essential and genuine details of the original
composition. The difficulty, and it is a great one,
"
consists in stating its age ;
the keys, he says, are
of comparatively modern form. Roller's judgment
is that, far from being an ex-Jupiter of the best
is a stifi" and
period, it
misshapen product of the
seventh or eighth century.
The sculptured sarcophagi are by far the most

numerous examples of the sculpture of these early
centuries, and they are of the greater importance in
the history of art because they are the only
existing
works, either pagan or Christian, which represent the
art of sculpture for several centuries.
Some two hundred of them have been preserved,

chiefly in Italy, the south of France, and Spain. By
far the largest collection is that in the Vatican and the
Lateran, of those found in the neighbourhood of Rome.

The custom of preserving the dead bodies of

illustrious persons in sarcophagi is coeval with the
earliest civilization. We are all familiar with the
grand granite sarcophagi of the Egyptians, with their

sides sculptured with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and
the calm, solemn ^'i^%y of the deceased in high relief
on the massive cover. The custom
passed, together
with the Egyptian civilization, into Eastern Europe.
The Etruscans, whose power was dominant in North
and Central Italy before the might of Rome sup-
planted them, used sarcophagi of stone and terra

cotta,and placed them in sepulchral chambers hewn
out of the rock and adorned with paintings. The
Romans, or at least certain families of them of
Etruscan descent, continued these ancestral usages.
From the beginning of the third century pagan Rome
began to disuse the practice of cremation, and by the

end of the fourth it had almost entirely ceased ; and
as a consequence sarcophagi became more numerous.
Christians from the first buried their dead unmuti-
lated ;
but it was only Christians of wealth and
station who used the costly sarcophagus, and con-
sequently sarcophagi known to be Christian in the

first three centuries are rare ;
indeed there is not
one of the second century and hardly any of the
third. Unless, indeed, some
early Christians, like
some of later times, were buried in pagan sarcophagi.
This idea finds support in the fact that some sar-
cophagi have a strange mixture of pagan and Chris-
tian subjects. Martigny mentions one in the Villa
Medici with a Cupid and Psyche and a Jonah; the
SCULPTURE, 261
Psyche may be used as an emblem of the soul.

Another in the Vatican, figured by Cancellari, has
a Bacchanalian scene with a Christian inscription.
Some of those which have only a central bust and
strigillated panels may be the tombs of Christians.

The larger number of sarcophagi sculptured with
belong to the fourth

bas-reliefs of Christian subjects
and fifth centuries,
though they continued in use to
the seventh century after that the stone coffin was

;
retained throughout the Middle Ages, but its shape

and ornamentation were modified.
The mostusual type of sarcophagus of the early
centuries of our era is a rectangular stone chest, of
not superfluous dimensions, covered with a single
block of the same stone, which was usually ridged
like the roof of a house.
The ornamentation was most commonly limited
to the front of the cofifin, but frequently extended
to the ends, to the back, and to the lid. The
most simple design was a medallion in the middle
of the front, in which was sculptured the portrait of
the deceased, while the rest of the front was covered
with a strigillated pattern, ie. a series of shallow
parallel channels, diagonal in their general direction,

with an O.G. curve ; forming altogether a simple but
elefjant decoration. In some the front is divided
into panels by shafts bearing round or straight-sided
arches, each arch containing a figure or a subject.
In others the subjects are all in one long panel
without any division. But perhaps the most common
design is that in which the front is divided by a
horizontal line, and contains two series of subjects

without any divisions between them.
It is well known that both the Greeks and Romans
effect of sculpture by the
sought to accentuate the
application of colour and there are indications that
;
some of the sarcophagi have been thus treated.*

The artistic merit of the sculpture on these monu-
ments varies greatly. The majority of them have
thisadvantage that, having been hidden and preserved
from the wear and tear of time and accident for so
many centuries, they have come down to us in a
perfect state of preservation,

and represent the art of
their time more fairly than the contemporary faded,
battered, and sometimes restored frescoes. The great

mass of those which are ornamented with Scripture
subjects are not without merit ;
the general effect of
the front covered with bas-reliefs is rich and pleasing ;
in the several subjects the story is told with naivete,
but with effect. One common defect is that the heads
of the figures are disproportionately large it arises ;
lowness of the
probably from the comparative panel
into which a large number of figures had to be
crowded, leading the artist to sacrifice the proportion

of his figures to bringing out of his heads. In the sub-
sequent style of art, by a natural reaction, the ten-
dency is to make the figures disproportionately tall.

Some of the bas-reliefs are of very creditable work-
manship, some even astonish us with unexpected

excellence. On the next page are two subjects from
the tomb of Junius Bassus, A.D. 359, carefully drawn
* Roller.
SCULPTURE. 263
(f ij'iiiii'i^Vs'iti,,
00
o
CO
'S
3
3
rt
Ph
o
o
o
to a large scale in order to give some idea of the merit

of the sculpture. Some of the medallion portraits*
are very well executed.
There is one very curious feature in some of these
monuments. In several cases the medallion in the
centre of the front has the usual design of the busts
of a man and wife, her arm round his shoulder; but
the faces of the figures are only roughly shaped out,
and have never been finished. In one case there is an
orante the middle of a row of Scripture subjects
in
whose face is left in the same unfinished state, t This

reveals the interesting fact that sarcophagi were kept
X ready made at the sculptors' studios, so that "the
person who had the management of the funeral could
go and select from the number ;

and would find one
with a medallion bust of an ordinary citizen, another
of a dignitary in appropriate costume, needing only
that the rough-hewn face should be sculptured into
a portrait at the last morhent, and this would pro-
bably be copied from a bust already sculptured in
lifetime. In the cases mentioned some accident or
oversight had hindered the completion of the portraits.

So in later times, in the case of the effigies engraved
on brass plates, which were so common from the
fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the plates
"
were kept was only necessary to
in stock," and it
order a brass of a knight, or a lady, or a knight and

lady, with or without canopy there was very rarely
;
* See Museum
photographs in the South Kensington of sarcophagi
in the Vatican, by Macpherson, 402

— 71763, 71757, and 71 761.
t See p. 240.
SCULPTURE. 26;
any attempt at portraiture in them only the narrow

;
fillet which carried the inscription and the shields of
arms had to be en<Travcd at the last moment. The

brasses were sent down to the local stonemason, who
cut the proper matrices in a slab of marble, and in-
serted the brasses in their places. We
find brasses of
which the costume had gone out of fashion, turned over

and engraved with a more modern effigy on the other
side. In the cases where these mediaeval effigies were
sculptured on the marble slab itself, we constantly

find evidence of a freer handling and inferior skill in
the design, because it was executed by a local artist.
The painted on the walls of the pagan

subjects
sepulchral chambers and sculptured on their tombs
may be studied with a view to the motive of the pagan
artists in their choice of funeral subjects, in the hope
of obtaining a suggestion as to the motive of the
Christian artists in the choice of their cycle of subjects.
The burial-vaults of the Tarquinii are ornamented with
symbolical paintings of a very interesting character.
The soul is led away, lamenting, by dark yet beautiful
figures, genii or Eumenides, its white guardian angels
interceding ; Day and Night,
there are chariots of
the Seasons, and various other serious symbols. But,
on the other hand, the wall paintings of the famous
tombs on the Latin Way are chiefly taken from the
Trojan war, as the Judgment of Paris, Achilles at

Scyros, Ulysses and Diomed with the Palladium,
Lemnos, Priam at the feet of Achilles,
Philoctetes at
Jupiter and the Eagle, Centaurs hunting lions and

panthers, etc.
Some
of the subjects of the sculptures on pagan
tombs probably have reference to the occupation or
character of the deceased ;
a battle scene may allude
to his vocation as a soldier, or to some particular battle
in which he won reputation ;
scenes of the chase may
indicate his favourite pursuit; a portrait of thedeceased
with a book in his hand accompanied by the Muses
probably shows that he was an author. The Cavaliere
*
Visconti thinks that some
of the mythological sub-
jects, are symbolical the subject of Pluto carrying

;
away Proserpine, which occurs in many sarcophagi,

of the death of a girl in the bloom of youth the ;
subject of Niobe, which occurs on several funeral urns,

of the grief of parents bereft of their children the ;
Labours of Hercules he takes to be an allegory of

the triumph of Virtue; the Seasons to be an allusion
to the ages of human life ;
he even suggests that the
Baccanalian scenes, which are, perhaps, more common
than any others, indicate that the deceased had been
initiated into the mysteries of Bacchus. But the
majority of the subjects seem to be taken from the
poets, as the fables of Adonis, of Phcedra and Hippo-
lytus, of Bacchus and Ariadne, etc.
We confidently conclude that,

in the great majority
of cases, the subjects painted on the walls of the
pagan chambers and sculptured on the sarcophagi

within them are such as were chosen for the decora-
chambers of a house, and of its furniture,
tion of the
and had no funereal allusion or individual signifi-
cance.
• H. Parker's "Archeology of Rome."
J.
SCULPTURE. 267
Perhaps the earliest Christian sa.cophagus of ascer-

tained date is that of Helena, the mother of Con-
stantine, who
died A.D. 328. It is of very large size,
of red Egyptian porphyry, which has been repoHshed

in modern times, to the enhancement of the
splendour
of the precious material, but probably to its dete-
rioration as a work of art. We
know that the
empress-mother was a devotee, who, by her personal
example, encouraged the fashion of pilgrimages to
the Holy Land, and the cult of sacred relics, but
the ornamentation of her stately sarcophagus has
nothing distinctively Christian in it. The body of

the sarcophagus is ornamented with warriors on horse-
back, driving captives before them, or triumphing
over them, without any representation of ground, so
that they appear to be marching in the air. On the
front and back, at the upper angles, are busts of
Helena and Constantine and on the lower are lions
;
reposing, wreaths, and winged genii. The tomb of

Constantia,* the
daughter of Constantine, has in
front a heavy festoon within whose three convolu-
tions are clumsy genii gathering grapes from a vine
;
at the ends, two vines enclose genii

treading out
grapes the ends have Good Shepherds, vines, and
;
genii.Another large sarcophagus, among the oldest

examples known,f has women and genii gathering
grapes; with three figures of the Good Shepherd
(bearded) in the centre and at the corners.
In Sta. Maria Maggiore is a sarcophagus which is
*
Photographed by Parker and drawn by Roller, Plate XLIV.
t South Kensington Photos, portf. 406, No. n.
supposed to be that of Petronius Probus, who was

consul in A.D. 341. It is an example of an ex-
tensive series in which the portrait busts of the

deceased are introduced in the middle of the front
ground within a scallop shell or a circle. In this two
busts of men past middle life are enclosed in the
central shell, the remainder of the front is divided
intotwo rows of Scripture subjects. In the upper
row are the raising of Lazarus the denial of St. ;
Peter Moses receiving the Law

;
the sacrifice of ;
Isaac Pontius Pilate on the judgment seat about to

;
wash his hands, and Herod with him. In the lower

row, a subject which has not yet been deciphered ;
Daniel in the lions' den, and Habakkuk * bringing
him food ;
another group, the principal figure of
which is an aged man reading a scroll, not identified ;
healing the blind ;

and the blessing of the loaves and
fishes.-f-
At S. Francisco Perugia
a fine sarcophagus with
is
a youthful classic figure of Christ supposed to be

about the middle of the fourth century.
In excavating the new crypt of St. Peter's was found
the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, which is usually con-
sidered one of the best works of Christian sculpture.
Its date is given in its interesting
inscription, which
is thus translated —
"
Junius Bassus, who lived forty-two years and two
months, in the very year in which he was Prefect of
the city went to God a neophyte, August 25, A.D. 359."
• See Bel and the
Dragon, v. 34.
t No. 2900 of Parker's photographs.
It has two rows of subjects in panels, arranged as

follows :
—
Our Lord
Pilate
Sacrifice of Peter's between Christ before
washing his
Isaac. denial (?). SS. Peter Pilate.
hands.
and Paul.
Our Lord's
Adam and triumphal Daniel in the The arrest
Job. Eve. Moses
entry into Lions' den. of (?).
Jerusalem.
A very curious feature of the design is that over

the lower canopies are introduced a number of
"
vignettes," so to them, of small size, in a
call
sketchy style, in which our Lord is represented under
the symbol of a Lamb and to Him are attributed;
the miracles of the Old Testament as of the New.

The subjects, beginning at the spectator's left hand,
are the Furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, the Striking the
Rock, the Manna (?), the Baptism of our Lord, the

Giving of the Law (?),the Raising of Lazarus.
The sarcophagus of Anicius Probus, several times
consul and pretorian prefect, who died A.D. 395, is also
specially interesting because the person buried in it
and the date of In the centre,

his burial are known.
beneath a rounded arch supported by twisted columns,
Christ is represented standing on a small mound,
from which flow the four rivers of Paradise; He holds
a tall gemmed cross in his right hand, and in his
left hand an open scroll. On his right stands St.
Peter with upraised hand, and St. Paul holding a
book on his left. On each side of the central arches
SCULPTURE. 271
CO
=1
3
S
o
272 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAX ART.
are two other arches, under each of which stand

two Apostles. In the spandrels of the arches arc
birds picking grapes in baskets. Each end of the
sarcophagus continues the design of the front, having
three arches, under which are Apostles. On the back
Probus and his wife are represented standing hand
in hand (though his wife was buried elsewhere), a
disciple stands on each side, and the intervening
panels are of striated pattern.*

In the Lateran Museum is one of the most simple,
and at the same time one of the most excellent in point
of workmanship. The front is divided into seven
compartments by eight beautifully carved columns

upon which foliage and flowers are represented. In
the centre is the youthful Christ seated between two
disciples
— probably Peter and Paul, beneath His feet
is a youthful figure holding a large veil over His

head, which is probably a symbolical representation
of the sky. Four other disciples stand near. At the
left end of the front is the sacrifice of Isaac ;
the two
right-hand spaces are filled by Christ standing before
Pilate, who
washing is his hands. The figures are
admirably designed and excellently sculptured in
high relief. The two ends of the coffin are differently
treated, so much so as to lead to the suspicion that
they are of a different date or, at least, by a different

hand. They are carved in very low relief; at one
end is Christ predicting St. Peter's denial, at the
*
Figured by Bosio, p. 49, etc. ; Aringhi, i. 281, etc. ; Bottari, i.
Plate XVL, etc. ; D'Agincourt, "Sculpture," Plate VI., Figs, 12-15;
Appell, p. 12 ; Parker, photo. 451 B,
3
a
(L>
O
«3
3
.O
rt
<u
3
tJ3
C3
Ci
o
:-•
c5
other the healing of the woman who touched the

hem of Christ's garment, and they have an archi-
tecturalbackground including a basilica and detached
baptistery of great interest.
The largest sarcophagus in Rome recently found
at the basilica of St. Paul-without-the- Walls has a
portrait bust in a medallion. In the upper row, the
Trinity creating woman ;

the fall and expulsion (angel
giving Adam a spade, and Eve a fleece)
Christ turning;
the water into wine ;blessing the loaves and fishes ;
raising Lazarus. In the lower row, Adoration of
Magi ;healing blind Daniel and Habakkuk ; warn-

;
ing of Peter ;
Moses arrested (?) ; the stricken rock.
One of late fourth-century or early fifth-century
date here given has several features of special interest.
It has several Passion scenes, which are very rare at
that period — Christ

bearing His cross and crowned
with thorns, in two panels on the left on the right ;
Christ before Pilate, and Pilate washing his hands ;
in the centre panel a symbolical Crucifixion, in which

Christis represented by the XP monogram surrounded
by a garland. The stem of the P is lengthened to

form the upright staff of a cross, on either side of
which arc St. Mary and St. John.*
Another sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum
presents great originality of treatment. The principal
subject is Jonah in three scenes
—
cast into the sea,
disgorged, and under the gourd. The face of the

stone is filled in with other usual subjects the Raising —
of Lazarus, the Striking the Rock, three figures in
* Photo at South
Kensington, portf. 406, No, 33. Compare p. 324.
a
3
rt
o
o
i-jî HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
the usual attitude of the Magi, with two figures lying

on the ground, perhaps gathering manna, a shepherd
and sheep at the door of a building ;
in the lower part
of the design, two men (subject unknown), Noah and
the dove, and a fisher.
The sarcophagus represented on p. 277 from the
Lateran Museum has only two subjects the Adora- —
tion of the Magi and Daniel in the Lions' Den. In
the latter subject Habakkuk is introduced bringing
loaves and the two men bearing rolls of parchment,
;
here and in the same subject on the tomb of Junius

Bassus, are supposed to be the accusers of Daniel.
The're are numerous examples at Ravenna ;
in
the Chapel Tomb of Galla Placidia are those of

Constantine III., A.D. 421, Honorius, A.D. 423, and
Galla Placidia herself, A.D. 420. It adds an interest-
ing fact to our general knowledge of the subject

when we learn that Theodoric summoned from Rome
a certain Daniel, who was famous for his skill in
sculpturing marble, and gave him the privilege of
supplying sarcophagi to the people of Ravenna.

The Ravenna designs belong to the rising school
of the mosaic artists rather than to that of the sarco-
phagus sculptors of the previous centuries.

There are examples at other places in Italy, at
Verona, Tortona (with a mixture of heathen and

Christian symbols), and Milan, described by Dr.
Appell, photographed in the South Kensington
Museum, and engraved in numerous works. In
Southern France there are considerablenumbers ;
Aries is especially rich in them. It is to be noted

SCULPTURE. '77
that many of these seem to have been executed by

native artists, and that informing a judgment of
their date it must be borne in mind that the
fashions of Italian sepulchral subjects seem to have
begun almost a century later in Gaul. The Gallic ex-
End of sarcophagus of Aichbishop Theodouis, St. Apollinaro

in Classe, Ravenna, seventh century.
amples are engraved and photographed in Le Blant's

"
la Gaule" (1835).
great work, Les Sarcophages de
Others in various towns of Spain are described by Dr.
"
Appell, in his Monuments of Early Christian Art."
The necropolises of Salone have supplied a certain
SCULPTURE. 279
number of inscriptions and of bas-reliefs. Among

the latter a sarcophagus is ornamented with the sub-
ject of the passage of the Red Sea, with an orante on

another of its sides. Another sarcophagus has in
the centre a Good Shepherdof the bearded type in ;
another part of the decoration is a group of five

persons, man, wife, and children, grouped around a
door decorated with lions' heads. On
the right and
left of the Good Shepherd are two novel subjects ;
on one side twenty-eight figures, male and female,

of different stature, are grouped around a person who
holds a scroll in his hands ;
on the other side a group
of small figures of more equal height and youthful
countenances surround a female of ripe age. M. Bayet
conjectures that they are a cleric
— priest, deacon, or
lector —
and his deaconess-wife.
The classic school of figure sculpture in stone and
marble died out on the continent of Europe with the
discontinuance of these elaborate sarcophagi the ;
sculptor's skill was directed to the execution of

smaller works, of which the carved ivories remain
as the best examples of the art for several succeed-
ing ages.
There are examples of pagan sarcophagi which

have been used over again for the burial of Christians,
Recently, in digging in the crypts of the Vatican
for the foundations of the new sacristy, was found a
sarcophagus v/hose bas-relief represents a bachanalian
"
scene, with an inscription stating that this vessel of
ancient workmanship had been used for the sepulchre
of two Christians." The most striking anomaly, per-

haps, is in a sarcophagus found in the Cemetery of St.
Agnes, Rome, whose ornamentation is a Bacchus

surrounded by little naked cupids and by the genii
of the Seasons, whose inscription states that it
was used for the burial of a young female, by
name Aurelia Agapetella — "
ancilla dei
" — which pro-
bably means a Church virgin.
Two handsome sarcophagi, on one of which is
represented the rare and curious subject of the Forge
of Vulcan, enclosed the bodies of St. Victor and of
St.Mauron, bishops of Marseilles. The body of St.
Honorat, Bishop of Aries, was buried in an ancient
Roman coffin. And, lastly, the sarcophagus in which
rested the feet of the sitting body of dead Charlemagne
in the crypt at Aix, is an ancient Roman coffin,
ornamented with a bas-relief of the Rape of Proserpine.
Roul-Rochette mentions several later examples.
There is an English example which shows how
such things were likely to take place. When Ethel-
dreda's body was translated into the church of Ely
(a.D. 660), the monks made a voyage across the fens
to find a stone large enough for a coffin "and ;
coming to a small abandoned [Roman] city called

Grantchester [near Cambridge], they found near the
city walls a white marble coffin most beautifully

wrought and neatly covered with a lid of the same
sort of stone, and having washed the virgin's body,
and clothed it in new garments, they carried it into
church and laid it in the coffin that had been brought,
where it is held in great veneration to this day"
"
Bede, Ecclesiastical History," chap. xix.).
SCULPTURE. 281
We have no examples in Britain of this sculptured

t3'pe of Christian sarcophagus. And their absence is
perhaps to be taken as one among other indications
that while Britain was a province of the empire

the Church included few members taken from the
wealthier classes. One example of a Roman sarco-
phagus found in London and now

preserved in the
*
British Museum has a medallion portrait of the
deceased, and the rest of the panel striated, and at
the end is a basket containing loaves or fruit. There
is nothing to indicate that it was a pagan monument,
and nothing to prove that it was Christian.
Fragments of another found at Barming, Kent,
have patterns something like a combination of palm-
branch and cross, roughly incised upon them, f
Another sarcophagus was found in 1869 in the
ground outside the north of the nave of Westminster
Abbey. On the front, enclosed in a panel with
moon-shield shaped ornaments at each end, was the
following inscription :
— -
"
MEMORIAE VALER AMAN . .
DINI VALERI SVPERVEN

. .
TOR ET MARCELLVS PATRI FECER."

. . . .
The inscriptionand the panel are both conclusive of

a Roman date, probably not later than the end of
the third century. The cover was of the same kind
of shelly oolite, which must have been brought from
a distance ;
a cross is rudely sculptured on its whole
length and width, with expanded upper limbs and
* C. R. Smith's " Roman London," Plate IV.
t C. R. Smith's "Collectanea Antiqua," i.
p. 1S3.
the lower limb terminating in a fleur-de-lys the ;
design is of late character, perhaps as late as the

twelfth or thirteenth century. The whole suggests
the idea that a Roman sarcophagus has been re-used
at a later period for Christian burial, and the original
coped cover cut down to present form.
its
When these sculptured scenes of Scripture History

were no longer in use on the continent of Europe,
we find them still surviving in Ireland on the high
crosses, and in England on the tympana of
church doors in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
They are more rudely executed than in the ex-
amples of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, but
they are the same cycle of subjects treated in the

same conventional manner. Some of these even
appear on tympana and fonts of the eleventh and

twelfth centuries.* For example, the cross of Muire-
dach at Monasterboice, has the following subjects :
The Temptation and Expulsion of Adam and Eve ;
the Adoration of the Magi ;

Christ seized by the
Jews ;
the Sacrifice of Isaac.
The cross of St. Patrick and Columba, at Kells,
has the Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Three Children.
The churchyard cross at Kells has the expulsion
of Adam and Eve, the Baptism of Christ, and
Noah. On
the font at Lenton, Notts., are the Baptism
of Christ, the Crucifixion, the raising of Lazarus, and
the Maries at the Sepulchre.
For these and other medixvr.l examples, see "Early Christian

Symbolism," by J. Romilly Allen,
CHAPTER XV.
*
THE MOSAICS .
—
History of mosaic decoration ; its subjects Examples at Rome St. : :
Constantia ; St. George Salonica ; Sta. Maria Maggiore ; Sta.

Pudentiana ; Vatican ; SS. Cosmas and Damian ; S. Praxedes,
etc. — At Ravenna : tomb of Galla Piacidia ; the two baptisteries ;
St. Vitalis ; St. Apoliinare Nuovo ; and in Classe —At Constanti-
nople, etc.— At Ai.\-la-ChapeIle ; St. Mark's, Venice— Fragments
in the Catacombs.
HE use of tesserae of different coloured

marbles and other materials for the
production of ornamental patterns and
pictures upon a ground of red clay
tesserae, in the pavements of their houses and public
buildings, had existed in Greece and Rome long
before the Christian era. The same method of
decoration, almost exclusively in ornamental patterns,
had also been applied to small spaces, such as
* Garucci devotes vol. iv. of his " Storia della Arte Christiana " to
the mosaics. J. H. Parker has published photographs of the principal
mosaics of Rome and Ravenna; the
Constantinople mosaics are in
^/
W. Von Salzenberg's Monograph. A complete list of mosaics and their
subjects is
published by the South Kensington Museum in its Universal
Art inventory.
spandrels and niches in the walls of houses. Pliny

describes a mosaic picture of two doves drinking
V^ from a vase, executed as early as 200 B.C.
In the course of the

century the art received a
fifth
sudden impulse from an invention which placed a vast

addition of new material in the hands of the artist.
The old tesserae were chiefly different coloured
marbles, hard stones, and terra-cotta of different
colours ;
the new invention was of cubes of vitreous
pastes artificially coloured, which supplied the artist
with every possible colour, in a material easily broken

to any form which his design might require at the ;
same time gilt tesserae were invented for the back-

ground of the pictures, composed of a film of gold
leaf between two plates of glass, which were mounted
on a tessera of earthenware, and the whole vitrified
by heat into a solid cube.

I It is remarkable that there are no examples of the
use of this new method of
decoration in the great
^ civic buildings of the empire but it was at once
;
largely adopted for the decoration of churches, and

accompanied a great change in the style of pictorial
art so that mosaic-painting may be considered a

;
characteristic Christian mode of decoration. It came
into use at a time when the artists were introducing

a new choice of subjects. The mind of the Church
had been directed to the mystic grandeur of the
scenes of St. John's visions, narrated in the Book of
the Revelation,* and the artists turned to them for
their principal subjects. The usual subject for the
* See
p. 172.
THE MOSAICS. 285
decoration of the semi-dome of the apse of a church

became a solemn figure of superhuman size of the Lord
seated upon a throne, or upon a rainbow, surrounded
by a halo of glory, sometimes attended by apostles

and angels. The patron saint of the church and its '
founder were sometimes added. On a lower band of

decoration, round the base of the dome, it was very / n
usual to represent the Lamb standing on the mount,
from which issue the four rivers of Paradise, and on
either side six sheep, types of the Apostles, and so of
the whole body of believers. The wall space over
the arch of the apse is usually filled with other scenes
from the same Book — a jewelled cross placed upon
a throne, the Lamb on an altar, the seven golden
candlesticks, the Book with the seven seals placed on

a throne, the four angels commanding the four winds,
the four living creatures, and the four and twenty
elders. On the side walls were often subjects from
Scripture history, especially from the Old Testament.

The treatment of the series of mosaic paintings
executed in the fifth century, leads to the supposi- v;
tion that, with the adoption of a new material and a

new series of subjects, the artists sought an improved
style, by going back to earlier works of classical art
for their models. The works of a century later, the
sixth, are still in the classical style, but inferior in .^
conception and drawing. In another century, the

seventh, the characteristics of the Byzantine style
are fully developed, in the ninth it began to decline 'vC
till the end of the tenth, and was partially revived in

the twelfth.
The material lends itself to — almost necessitates —

breadth of treatment. Its durability makes it a
specially valuable method for the decoration of

"
monumental buildings, it is painting for eternity."
The general effect of the mosaics is grand and
solemn a certain religious dignity
;
is given to the
figures by exaggerating their height, by posing them
in statuesque attitudes, and by giving a severe gravity
to the expression of the faces ;
the colouring is like
that of a crimson and purple sunset and the back-
;
ground of gold tesserse, reflecting the light at all

angles, gives to the whole the gorgeous brilliancy in
which the taste of the time delighted.
There are some small works of this class in the
catacombs, which have a special interest from their

locality, but the most important examples are found
in the churches of Rome and Ravenna, Constanti-
nople and Thessalonica, and later examples in St.
Mark's, Venice, the royal chapel at Palermo, and the
cathedrals of Monreale and Cefalu in Sicily.
The earliest considerable example of the mosaic
decoration of a sacred building is that of the Church
of St. Constantia. The mosaic pictures decorate the
bays of the roof of the circular aisle of the building.
-
They are on a white ground, in the style of the early

mural paintings for example, one bay, a central
;
half-length figure, which might be a portrait {e.g. of

Constantine), but is probably a Good Shepherd, is
surrounded by a flowing vine pattern, with naked
genii and birds among the branches at the four ;
corners are vintage scenes, carrying the grapes in

THE MOSAICS. 287
a cart drawn by two bullocks, treading out the
grapes, etc.*
The cupola of the church of St. George at Salonica,
(whose erection is assigned by Texier and Pullan to
A.D. 323), is decorated with extensive mosaic pictures,
which are probably not later than the middle of the
fourth century ; they consist of a series of repre-
sentations of sacred edifices in a fantastical style of
classical architecture, with figures of local saints
introduced.
The mosaics the vaults of the chapels of St.
in
John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist of the

Lateran baptistery are of the fifth century, and still
retain the feeling of the early school of Christian art.
The extensive series of mosaic pictures in Sta.
Maria Maggiore are remarkable as being in a distinct
style of art, different from that of the early Christian
period which we have been studying, and equally
difterent from the Byzantine style which succeeded
it.
They were executed by order of Sixtus III.
(432--440), and his artists seem to have taken the
sculptured bas-reliefs of an earlier and better art,
especially those of the columns of Trajan and

Antoninus, as their models. At the apex of the
arch of the apse they placed some usual Christian
symbols, the throned roll with seven seals and over ;
it a gemmed cross and crown, supported by St.

Peter and St. Paul with the evangelistic symbols on
each side below are five rows of subjects from the
;
There are full-size fac-similes of these mosaics in the South

Kensington Museum,
New Testament In one of the rows of subjects are

introduced the conventional holy cities, Jerusalem
and Bethlehem, and the sheep on the north and ;
south walls are double rows of pictures from the Old

and New Testaments, but treated in a manner so
different from the conventional method of the period
that we have difficulty in identifying them.
The mosaic in the apse of the Church of Sta.
Pudentiana at Rome is usually said to date from the
first reconstruction of the church by Siricius, A.D. 390,
but it seems to have been skilfully restored at a
much later period. The principal subject is our

Lord throned in the midst of His Apostles with
an architectural background, designed with much
freedom in the classical style of art while the ;
upper part of the semi-dome is occupied, with very
incongruous effect, by the symbolical figures of the

Byzantine school — a gemmed cross upon a mount,
and large figures of the four living creatures, sym-
bolizing the four Evangelists.

The example which we are able to give here is from
the semi-dome of the apse of the ancient Vatican. The
design is divided into three portions. In the principal

portion the central figure is our Lord in glory, seated on
the throne of heaven, holding the Book (of Revelation
or of Life) in the left hand, the right hand raised in
the attitude of benediction. The starry background
represents heaven ; and above, at the central point
of the apse, is the hand of God, surrounded by rays
of glory. On each side of the Saviour are the standing
figures of St. Paul and St. Peter, the patron saints
THE MOSAICS. 289
of the Roman Church, Their names are inscribed

beside them in Greek and in Latin, DAYAOC SCS
.
PAVLVS, and . HETPOC SCS PETRVS. The

figures flanked by two palm trees.
are Beneath
the throne is the mount of Paradise with its four
rivers, and the two stags drinking. Some other
Mosaics in the apse of the ancient Church of the Vatican.
figures on a small scale appear upon the same plat-

form, the meaning of which it is difficult to determine,
unless they represent the souls in Paradise. The
second portion of the design consists of a broad band
running round the lower part of the semi-dome. In
the centre is an altar bearing a cross, and " in the
U
midst of the altar a Lamb as it had been slain,"
according to the description of St. John in the

Revelation. From the foot of the altar flow the
rivers of Paradise, whose source we see above.
Approaching the altar from each side are two pro-

cessions of sheep, one of which issues from a building
inscribed "Jerusalem," the other from a building
" "
inscribed Bethlehem ; they represent the faithful of
the old and new dispensations. The background is
ornamented with the figures on each side of

trees ;
the throned cross probably represent the bishop and

the emperor of the time at which the mosaic was
executed. The third portion of the design is a
narrow border, which bears the inscription in Leonine
verses —
"SuMMA Petri sedes est wmc sacra princtpis
^DES. Mater cunctar. decor et decus ec-
CLESIAR. DEVOTUS CIIRISTO QUE TEMPLO SERVIT
IN isTO. Flores VIRTUTIS CAPIET FRUCTUS Q.
SALUTIS."
Other mosaics in Rome of this early style are in
the apse of the Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian,
built by Felix IV. (526-530) In the centre of the
apse a colossal figure of Christ ; on the left St, Peter

is
introduces St. Cosmas; on the right St. Paul intro-

duces St. Damian on the extreme left is St. Felix
;
the founder, and on the right St. Theodore carrying

his crown; the whole composition is enclosed between
tv.ô palm trees. Beneath is a frieze with the usual
subject of the central Lamb
standing on the mount
of Paradise with the sheep proceeding towards Him
THE MOSAICS. 291
from the two holy cities. On the east wall of the

nave above the arch of the apse is the Lamb
enthroned, surrounded by the seven lamps, four
angels, the eagle of St. John and the angel of St.
Matthew.
In the later mosaics which still remain in the
Roman churches we see a gradual transition in
style. The mosaics above the arch at SS. Nereus
and Achilleus (796) are remarkable as representing
historical scenes instead of the usual Apocalyptic
subjects. On Arch of the Tribune are
the face of the
the Transfiguration, and on either side the Annun-
ciation and the Virgin with the infant Saviour. Those
in the Church of St. Praxedes (820) are copied from
those of SS. Cosmas and Damian, but in an inferior
style of art. The last instance in the Roman series

is that of church originally called S. Maria
the
Antiqua (858), in which the art is poor, and the /^

execution rude, but it is interesting for the evidences
of the introduction of a new idea and of ornamental
treatment. The principal figure is the patron Saint,
the Blessed Virgin Mary, now for the first time
crowned, with the Holy Child on her lap, and the

founder. Paschal I., kneeling at her feet attended ;
by each under an arch of a continuous arcade,

saints,
with tabernacle work spreading over the upper part
of the design.
The ecclesiastical buildings of Ravenna still retain
the mosaics with which they were originally deco-
rated, and they are especially interesting as com-
plete examples of the application of pictorial design
and colour to the purpose of architectural ornamenta-

tion. These Ravenna mosaics are of different dates.
The earliest are those which decorate the lower part
of the orthodox baptistery {c. 430), and those which
cover the whole interior of the Tomb of Galla Placidia
(now known as the Church of SS. Nazaro and Celsus,

c.
440). Like those which have been mentioned
Mosaic from the Tomb of Galla Placidia, Ravenna.
above, they are classical in style and feeling, and

possess much merit, both in the elegant forms of
the merely ornamental design and in the drawing
of the human figure. The domes of this orthodox
baptistery and also of the Arian baptistery {c. 553)

are a century later in date, of the same school of
classical art, but of inferior merit.
A third mode of treatment is seen in the mosaics
of St. Vitalis and of St. Apollinare in Classe {c. 549).
THE MOSAICS. 293
To describe them without the aid of illustrations

would be tedious to the reader. We are able to
give a specimen of their beautiful effect in the
accompanying illustration of the front of one of the
upper galleries of St, Vitalis. The subjects from con-

temporary events in these Ravenna churches are
very worthy of notice : for example, the important
Upper gallery, Church of St. Vitalis, Ravenna,
historical pictures in St, Vitalis of Justinian and

his court, with the Bishop Maximinus (546-562)
and his clergy, and the corresponding picture of
Theodora and her attendant ladies. The walls of
St. Apollinare in Classe are covered with whole rows
of mosaic pictures. Christian symbols, portraits of

archbishops, and
scripture histories. The grand
processions of male and female saints which decorate
the wall-spaces over the nave windows of St. Apolli-

nare Nuovo and lead up to the throned Saviour,
attended by angels, in the apse, are also very
noble examples of Christian art.
Of these frescoes at Ravenna, those in the build-
ings of Honorius and his sister were executed under

the influence of Western Christianity others, in the ;
buildings of Theodoric, under the influence of Gothic

Arianism ; others, in the buildings of the reign of
Justinian, under the influence of Eastern Christianity.
The Empress Theodora : St. Vitalis, Ravenna.
The decoration in all these buildings is

fairly com-
plete and perfect, so that they present a remarkable

testimony to the prominent ideas of the Christianity
of the period which they cover it is very interesting
;
to observe that the art teaching is perfectly scriptural

and orthodox. Our Lord is the one Person pre-
sented to the adoration of the people no special ;
prominence is given to the Blessed Virgin the ;
saints are treated as historical persons

not a single ;
doctrine or opinion contrary to those held at this

THE MOSAICS. 295
day by instructed members of the Church of England

finds expression.
There are some less important examples of mosaic

of the early part of the fifth century in the churches
of St. Lawrence and St. Ambrose at Milan, and
{c. 543) at Parenzo in Istria.
Sophia at Constantinople still retains its original
St.
magnificent mosaic decoration, though in the Jnterior

is covered with whitewash
it
during the temporary
;
w/
removal of this covering they were drawn by Von
Salzenburg, and are published in his great work on
the ancient Christian architecture of Constantinople.
The mosaic in the exterior of the narthex, which
represents the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus kneel-
ing before our Lord throned, is of rather later date.
The illumination of St, Dunstan kneeling at the
feet of St. Gregory m a Saxon manuscript in the
British Museum is clearly taken from this. Another
grand example of the early part of the sixth century
is the cupola of St. Sophia, Thessalonica. There are
other mosaics at St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, Mount
Athos, Daphne near Athens, and St. Luke in
Livadia, and there is no reason to doubt that similar
works were common in the churches of the East.
The churchAix, built by Charles the Great,
at y
was decorated with mosaic. In the centre of the
design of the apse is our Lord throned seven small ;
figures of the elders rise from their thrones and cast

their crowns at His feet. The Church
St. Mark's, of
Venice, a fine example of the revival of the art in
is
^^
the eleventh 'century. There are also in Rome '
:g6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
examples of the revived art of the twelfth and

thirteenth centuries.
The art has been again revived in our time by
Salviati at Venice ;
the best examples which we
possess at present are the spandrels of the dome of
St. Paul's, London ; small applications of mosaics
to the decoration of reredoses and the like are not
infrequent.
There are traces in scattered tessera: of the use
of mosaics in the ornamentation of tombs in the
catacombs. The only works which have survived
are two. Marangoni mentions (Act, s.v., p. 99)
the tomb of an infant, named Tranquillina, sur-
rounded by a mosaic of white stones and coloured
and gilded glass, upon which the epitaph is worked
in the same materials. Marchi figures (v. tom. xlvii.)
an arcosolium, the crypt of SS. Protus and Hya-
in
cinth, decorated in this style with some of the usual
subjects, Lazarus, Daniel, the paralytic, etc.

^^^pjesiBt:ssr:MF:js^Dm^
CHAPTER XVI.
IVORIES.
Consular Diptychs —
Church Dlptychs Diptych of St. Gregory
;
—
Chair of St. Maximinus of St. Peter— Book-covers— Pyxes and
:
relic-boxes— Caskets and shrines Doors. —

N the early ages of our era, people used
to carry memorandum tablets of ivory,
r' like a little book with two leaves, called
a diptych.
Consuls, and perhaps other
Roman magistrates, used to make presents of such
tablets, on their election to office, and for new-year
gifts, with their own effigies in official robes and in-
signia, sculptured on the exterior sides. The earliest
existing example is that of Stilicon, attributed to

A.D. 405. Many of these
classical diptychs have
been preserved through the accident of their having
been used for the covers of the Gospels and other
sacred books.
The early Church preserved lists of those whom it
—
held in special honour as saints, founders,
bishops,
benefactors, etc. — inscribed in similar diptychs, which
were placed upon the altar at the time of the cele-

bration of the Eucharist. The exteriors of these
ecclesiastical memorandum-books were sculptured
in relief, like those above mentioned, but with
Christian subjects, such as representations of our
Lord, of saints, and of scenes from the Old and New
Testaments.
When the sarcophagi cease to afford us examples
of the best art in sculpture, these ivory carvings
happen to come in to continue the series. The

subjects of them are the same as those on the
sarcophagi, are composed in the same conventional

way, and executed the same style.
in
The woodcut represents the exterior faces of an

interesting diptych at Monza, whose date and subject
are matter of dispute. It is said to be one of the many
pious objects which Gregory the Great sent as presents
to Theodelinda, the orthodox queen of the Lombards;
Martigny says that it was originally a consular

diptych, and that Gregory had caused one of the effigies
to be retouched in the face and hair, the robe, and the
staff, make it a representation of himself, and

so as to
" "
caused his name SCS GREGR to be inscribed over it ;
" "
while the inscription of REX DAVID over the other
effigy appropriated it to King David. Professor
Westwood, however, says that, after careful examina-

tion of the ivories, with a view to this point, he comes
to the conclusion that there has been no retouching
of the original carving, and that the two names are
certainly not palimpsest. He points out that this

differs in design from all consular diptychs, and
V
77^^
Ivory diptych at the Cathedral, Monza. {To face ^. 298.
IVORIES, 299
maintains that it is a genuine ecclesiastical work. The

assigning of the title sanctus to Gregory would
in-
dicate that it is later than his lifetime, and therefore
not one of his presents to Theodelinda. The ivory

"
covers now contain a'/' gradual of St. Gregory, written
in gold and silver letters on vellum, and the subjects
of the cover — David

the psalmist, and Gregory the
—
reformer of psalmody suggest that the cover may
have been expressly made for its present use.
The celebrated episcopal chair of Maximinus,

preserved in the decorated
Cathedral of Ravenna, is
with a number of ivory plaques, representing subjects

from the Old and New Testaments of the middle of
the sixth century. The frieze of vine-scrolls with
lions, deer, peacocks, etc., is full of freshness and
spirit. It is the most magnificent work in ivory \/

which has come down to us. The so-called Chair
of St. Peter at Rome is ornamented with ivory
carvings of the Labours of Hercules.
The woodcut on 300 represents a pax, probably
p.
of the eighth century, formed by a central plaque of
ivory, sculptured with the Crucifixion, mounted in a

frame of enriched with precious stones it
silver-gilt ;
is preserved in the church of Cividale, in Friuli, and

is probably the earliest remaining example of a pax.
A book-cover in the Cathedral of Milan, of the
sixth century, is ornamented with scenes from the
"
life of Christ, in which the groups are finely arranged
and in many respects savour of antique treatment."
The
other examples of this early style of art
(though their date is a little uncertain) catalogued

zoo HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
by Professor Westwood are plaques of red-

four
stained ivory with scenes from the life of Christ,
in the British Museum. Two sides of a book-cover
in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, with scenes
the
from the life of Christ. Two tablets of the sixth
A pax of the eighth century, Civldale,

Friuli.
or seventh century in the Kunst Kammer, Berlin,

identical in design with the central portion of the
last named, but more skilfully executed. Two leaves
of a diptych in the collection of M. Carraud, with

scenes from the life of St, Paul. Two leaves of a
IVORIES. 30 r
diptych of the sixth or seventh century in the

collection of Mr. Bateman, with subjects from the
life of Christ. The front of a book-cover in eight
compartments, of the sixth or seventh century, in the

Public Museum of Ravenna, with subjects from the
life of Christ. The front of a book-cover in the
Vatican Library, sixth to eighth century, one of
the most important and admirable specimens of early
Christian art : at the top, two angels support a circle
containing a richly gemmed cross in the centre, an ;
admirable figure of a youthful Christ tramples on

the lion and asp, under a round arch resting on fluted
columns with Corinthian capitals ;
at the bottom is the
Adoration of the Magi.
There are in the South Kensington Museum a
considerable number of casts of round boxes of
carved ivory, which are described in the catalogue as
Pyxes. Some of them were perhaps used to contain
the reserved Eucharistic bread others were probably
;
reliquaries
— one when found contained a fragment of
cloth such as was frequently treasured up as a relic
from having wrapped, or at least touched, the body

of a saint. One, of the fifth or sixth century, at the
Vatican is carved with some of the miracles another, ;
of the sixth to the eighth century, in a private collec-
tion, with the healing of the demoniac ; one, of the

fourth or fifth century, in the Kunst Kammer, Berlin,
has the sacrifice of Isaac, and Christ with Apostles.
A very remarkable one is of the sixth to the ninth
century, with a figure of St. Mennas, which probably
contained a relic of that popijlar Alexandrian saint.
There is a very large collection of fac-simile casts

of ancient ivories in the South Kensington Museum,
including those above mentioned ;

and Professor
"
Westwood's Fictile Ivories," a Catalogue raisoim^ of
the collection, gives photographs of some of the more

remarkable examples.*
Ivory caskets and shrines are a numerous class
of objects upon which the best art of their time
has been bestowed, but few of them come within
this early period to which we arc restricted. The
earliest and the most beautiful of these is the casket
preserved in the Bibliotheca Quiriniana at Brescia,

which is of the sixth or seventh
century. The panels
are sculptured with some of the usual subjects of
the early classical school of Christian art the Good —
Shepherd ; Christ amid the Doctors ; the woman
washing Christ's feet with her hair ;
the raising of the
daughter of Jairus the raising of Lazarus, and the

;
healing of the blind Ananias and Sapphira.

;
Another casket the British Museum, though

in
below the limits of our period, is of so much interest

that we shall be pardoned for introducing a notice
of it here. It is made out of the bone of a whale,
and has its sides and ends carved with historical and
scriptural subjects. In front on the right-hand side is
the Adoration of the Magi ; the inscription over it is

"
the word Magi." The inscription in front of the box
relates, in Runic characters, the name of the North-
umbrian hero who killed the whale and caused this
casket to be made out of its bone in memory of the
* See also " Ivories, Anient and Modern," W. Maskell.
IVORIES. 303
exploit. It may be classed with the quaigh found at

*
Long Wittenham as interesting survivals of the
classical school of Christian art in our own country.
Intimately related to these ivory panels, in choice

of subjects and style of treatment, are the ornamental
doors, of which the earliest examples are the doors
of Sabina at Rome, of the sixth century. They
St.
are divided into panels which bear some of the usual
cycle of Scripture subjects.-f- The famous bronze

doors of the Baptistery at Florence, by Ghiberti
(fifteenth century), are

a revival of the ancient style.
* See
p. 332.
" Storia della Arte iv.
t Garucci, Christiana," 499.
CHAPTER XVII.
GILDED GLASS VESSELS.
Where found ; mode of execution ; subjects ; inscriptions

— Engraved
glasses
— Original use : memorial application.
|MONG the objects of early art is a series of

glass vessels which seem to have come into
use about the end of the third century, and
to have ceased to be manufactured after
about the end of the fourth. They have been found
only at Rome and at Cologne the larger number have ;
been found in the Roman catacombs. About 340* have

been published, and the British Museum is fortunate
enough to possess a considerable number of them.

Very few of them are perfect. They have been stuck
into thewet plaster cementing the slabs or tiles with
which the loculi were closed and the greater part of
;
them have been broken. Some appear to have been

shallow bowls, others tazzi or salvers, the greater
number drinking-cups of various shapes some like —
* Buonarotti's
"Ossereazioni," etc., is the first adequate publication
of these vessels. They are all figured in Garucci's " Storia della Arte
Chrisiiana,"
GILDED GLASS VESSELS. 305
egg-shells, one like a horn. Their great feature of

interest is that the bottom of the vessel is ornamented
with a circular medallion, which is a work of pictorial
Gilded glass vessel, from the Roman catacombs. Side view.
art. It was executed in the following way : a round
piece of glass of the size of the bottom of the bowl

had a leaf of gold fixed upon it with some kind of
Gilded glass vessel, from the Roman catacombs. Full view.
cement a pattern was traced upon the gold with

;
a pointed instrument the glass medallion was then

;
fixed to the bottom of the vessel externally by the

X
application of heat, so that the ornamentation was

seen through the glass when in use. Silver leaf
and colour were, very rarely, used instead of gold.
Some of the medallions have a subject in the
centre, with an
inscription over; the subject is
frequently a marriage, with the names of the man
and woman inscribed over their heads, which sug-
Gilded glass vessel: " Ponipeiane, Teodora, vib(v)atis."
gests that the vessels were wedding presents ;

chil-
dren sometimes accompany the adult figures. The

figures of our Lord and of Apostles often occupy
the centre, with their names inscribed over them ;
by far the most frequent are St. Peter and St. Paul
in whole length, half length, or busts another ;
which very frequently occurs is St. Agnes others ;

which occur singly, or in pairs, or in threes, are

Peter, Paul, Timothy, Simon, Luke, Judas ;
and
saints, as Hippolytus, Laurence, Vincent, Callistus,
Marcellinus, Ciprianus,
Sixtus, Justus, Florus,
Mary, Pcregrina, Liber-
nica, etc. Sometimes
the central
subject is
from the Old or New
Testament, and the
most commonly found
are those which we
have seen were most
Gilded glass vessel "Angne."
frequently used in the
:
paintings and sculptures : Adam and Eve, Noah, the

sacrifice of Isaac, the stricken rock, Moses and the
brazen serpent, the spies with the grapes of Eshcol,
Daniel, Jonah. Our Lord
appears as the Good
Shepherd, between St. Peter and St. Paul, seated
with lambs on each side, raising Lazarus, in the
miracle of the loaves, and of the wine at Cana, and
of the healing of the paralytic. It is notable that as
the series of wall paintings includes three apocryphal
subjects, that of Habakkuk bringing food to Daniel,

and that of Susannah and the elders, and the ox
and ass at the Nativity, so on these glass vessels
there are Tobit and the fish,* and Daniel giving the
balls of pitch to the dragon. f

A more elaborate design is exhibited in some
*
Tobit vi, 3. t B?U and the Dragon, 27.
examples, which reminds us of the painted ceilings

of the catacomb chambers, where a central subject
is surrounded by a number of others arranged out-
side, and sometimes radiating from it. Here is one
Gilded glass vessel. Bust surrounded by twelve figures.-
of them, which, at first sight, looks like a bust of

our Lord surrounded by full length figures of the
twelve Apostles but, on
; examination, the central
bust might be that of a female, and there is nothing
to indicate that the
figures other
Apostles are
except their number. The name PETRVS, which

catches the eye over the figure at the top of the
design, turns out, on the reading of the whole in-

scription, to be that of the person to whom the vessel
was to be presented. The inscription is of the usual
type, ELARE PIE ZESES PETRVS

convivial
CVM TVIS OMNES ("Drink joyfully, long life,
Peter, to you and all yours"). The groups of sub-
jects from two examples have already been used

in studying the symbolism of the art of the catacombs

at pp. 231, 232. The design on another represents
a heap of coins, among which are those of Caracalla
and of one of the Faustinas.
Some of these vessels seem to be Jewish, from
the subject of their designs, as the seven-branched
candlestick, which is used in the Jewish catacombs,

and the ark containing the rolls of the Law. Others
have subjects from the old mythology, as Hercules,
Achilles, and pagan Others represent secular
deities.
subjects, as hunting, chariots, a carpenter surrounded

by scenes from his occupation.
The inscriptions are all of the same character, as,
PIE, ZESES, TT/'e 6)(Tr,c (" Drink, long life"); DIG-
NITAS AMICORVM PIE ZESES CVM TVIS
OMNIBVS ("A token of friendship, drink, long life
you and yours").

to'
There are a few examples of these bowls in

which the ornamentation is executed by engraving
upon the glass without any gold-foil.* One, in the
shape of a truncated horn found at Cologne, and
now in the British Museum, is incised with the
subjects of Adam and Eve, and the stricken rock ;
another of similar shape, figured by Perret, is orna-
mented with a bird in a cage, and palms. One found
at Podgoritza, in Dalmatia, has a series of Scripture
subjects : in the centre the sacrifice of Isaac, and

round it Adam and Eve, Lazarus, Moses-Peter
striking the rock, Daniel, the Three Children,
Susannah, Jonah. The subjects all have inscriptions.
* See Garucci, vi. 464,
3IO HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
"
The inscription to the stricken rock is, Petrus
virga perqod sit fontes ciperunt quorere," intended
"
for Petrus [? petram] virga percussit, fontes ceperunt
"
currere," Peter struck [or he struck the rock] with
a rod, the fountain began to flow." {ô\.q., fontes is
the technical word for the baptismal font.) In the
British Museum is also a plain glass beaker from
the Roman catacombs.^
Various conjectures have been made as to the
original use of these vessels, and the intention with

which they were affixed to the graves.
As to their original use, the sacred subjects with
which they are ornamented by no means imply

that they were intended for sacred uses such ;
subjects were commonly used for the adornment of

objects of ordinary domestic use, as lamps, buckles,
dress, etc. On the other hand, the inscription tti'e
^Tjo-r/e seems to be sufficient proof that they were
intended for domestic use. The common formula
seems to indicate a custom of drinking healths ;
the
" "
Teutonic Drinc heil of Geoffrey of Monmouth's
story of Vortigern and Rowena is the exact equivalent
of the Tr/e ^jjo-jIc of these cups while the fact that the
;
formula is in Greek, even where Latin words are

found with it, as feliciter ciivi siiis, indicates that
the custom came from the East.
As which they were affixed
to the intention with
to the graves, has been suggested that they con-
it
tained the blood of martyrs, that they were chalices, or

had been used at the funeral feast. In favour of the
theory that they contained the blood of martyrs, are
the arguments that the faithful are known to have
dihgently caught the blood of the martyrs and to

have preserved it as relics that a brown encrustation
;
at the bottom of one or more of these vessels has

been analyzed and pronounced to be blood ;
that
scratched in the damp plaster beside two of them are
the inscriptions Sa Saturnu and Sang Sa. On the
other hand, it is replied that the way in which the
blood of the martyrs was preserved was by spreading
cloths to catch it before the fatal blow was struck, as
in the well-known case of Cyprian, or soaking cloths
in it afterwards, which was the more usual way that ;
the result of the analysis spoken of is not considered

conclusive by those who have examined the subject ;
and that the inscriptions mentioned are proved by
the character of the letters and by the formula used
to be forgeries of later date. It is especially a
forcible argument that some of these vessels are
accompanied by monograms which were not in use
till after the last persecution was over, and some are
actually dated, by the names of consuls, from A.D. 350

to 400. We
hesitate to accept any more recondite
explanation than that they were intended to identify

the graves, just as we find coins and shells and such-
like things impressed in the wet plaster of tombs,
with the same intention. The great majority of the
known examples have been published in Garucci's
"
Storia del Arte Christiana."
CHAPTER XVIII.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS.
— —
and profane Sacred MSS. The Syrian Gospels
Earliest books, sacred
of Rabula — Early
MS. in England the Genesis of the Cotton
:
Library ; the C. C. C. Cambridge and Bodleian Gospels The

—
Irish and Saxon MSS.
[N treating of the art of painting as exhibited

in written books, it is necessary to dis-
tinguish between merely ornamental forms
of writing and pictures introduced into
the text as illustrations.
The earliest books which remain to us depend
upon the size and form of their letters for their
beauty ;
in the sixth century, sometimes initial letters,
or words, or lines are written in red pigment. In

some early books the vellum leaves are stained of a
purple colour, and the writing is in gold or silver ;
the intention seems to have been to do honour to the
imperial or royal person for whom the book was

written, rather than to the subject of the book.
The oldest manuscripts of the sacred Scriptures
which have come down to us are the "Codex
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS. 313
" "
Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus," both of the
fourth century, and the " Codex Alexandrinus," of
the early part of the fifth century, which is in the
British Museum ;
but none of these have either
ornamental writing or illustrative pictures. Some
very early secular books, enriched with pictures,
have survived. A Virgil in the Vatican, with pictures,
may be as early as Constantine the Great. A Roman

calendar in the library at Vienna, with beautifully
drawn figures of the months, has been thought to be
as early as Constantine II., A.D. 338 ;
but Professor
Westwood's mature opinion is that it is a compara-
tively modern copy of a classical original. Probably
the earliest sacred book with miniatures is a Greek
manuscript of Genesis, written on purple vellum, with
forty-eight pictures, in the same library, of the fourth
or fifth century, engraved by D'Agincourt (IV., xix.),
and still more satisfactorily by Garucci (" Storia della
Arte Christiana," iii. 1
12-123). A history of Joshua,
of the seventh century, is also a valuable monument
on the history of the art (D'Agincourt, IV. i. 23 ;
Garucci, 157-167).
iii.
One of the most remarkable and valuable of illus-
trated manuscripts is the Syrian manuscript of the
Gospels preserved in the Laurentian Library at

Florence. It was written in the year 586, by Rabula
(as he himself records),

a scribe in the Monastery
of St. John, in Zyba, a city of Mesopotamia. The
whole of these miniatures are given by Assemanni,
in his Catalogue of the Laurentian Library, and still
more accurately and beautifully by Garucci (vol.

iii.
pp. 128-140). Many of the pictures, and the
Eusebian canons, are placed under arches, which
are sometimes of horseshoe form the arches and ;
columns which support them are ornamented with

chevrons, lozenges, nebules,quatrefoils, zigzags, flowers,
fruit, birds, etc., many of which strikingly resemble
those found in the early Anglo-Saxon manuscripts,
especially in the columns supporting the Eusebian

canons in the purple Latin Gospels in the British
Museum (Reg. I, E, 6). There is, however, none of
the interlacing of the patterns so characteristic of the
Irish and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. Some of these
arches, and their columns and capitals, are exactly
like the Norman doorways which still remain in
many of our churches for example, that on Plate

;
128 of Garucci, beneath which stands a fine and
dignified Virgin and Child. One feature of the

work is the introduction, in the margins of the
elaborate principal subjects, of very charming vig-
nettes of the usual cycle of early Scripture pictures,
treated with a certain originality, and sketched in
with great firmness and skill, as the Annunciation, Bap-
tism of Christ, massacre of the innocents, Nativity,
healing of the woman, the paralytic, miracle of Cana,

Jonah, entry into Jerusalem, Betrayal, Judas hanging
from the top of a palm which bends with his weight
(very clever and ghastly). The Crucifixion, Resurrec-
tion,Ascension, descent of the Holy Ghost, in a differ-
ent style, occur on spare leaves at the end of the book.
The woodcut represents the Ascension of our Lord,
and if the date, A.D. 586, be correctly assigned to it,
ILL UMINA TED MANUSCRIP TS. 315
it the earliest representation of the subject The

is
aureole round our Lord is supported beneath by the

Ezekiel (chap, i.) and St.
mystic living creature of
at the sides two
John (Rev. iv.), and by two angels ;
The A=.cension: from the Syrian Gospels, by Rabula, A.D. 5S6 (?).
Other angels present crowns the sun and moon are

;
symbolized in the upper corners of the picture.

Beneath this scene in the clouds (not given in our
woodcut) are the Apostles gazing upwards. In the
middle is the Blessed Virgin Mary standing in the
orante attitude, and on each side of her an angel de-
"
livering our Lord's message, Ye men of Galilee," etc.
An account has recently been published by Dr.

Josef Stryzgowski, of a manuscript of the Gospels at
Etchmiadzin, which is bound in ivory plaques, and
has miniatures at the beginning and end of the vol.
The manuscript itself is dated A.D. 989, but the editor
is of 6pinion that the ivory carvings and the minia-
tures are additions of Syrian origin, and probably of
the sixth century.
3i6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
The our own country possess some early

libraries of
manuscripts, which are valuable both as examples of
caligraphy and of miniature painting. The

Genesis of
the Cotton Library,* in the British Museum, probably
of the fourth century, is, or rather was, illustrated
with pictures, for only fragments of it have survived
the fire of 1731, which consumed so many treasures.
There is also in the British Museum a fragment

of a manuscript of the Gospels, written in large fine
silver letterson purple-stained vellum (Titus, cxv.),
which is, perhaps, the oldest manuscript of any
portion of the New Testament now existing.
In the course of the "Life of St. Gregory the
Great," writtenby John the Deacon, it is recorded
that Gregory sent to Augustine, among other things,
many books. In the "Annals of St. Augustine and

Christ Church, Canterbury," compiled by a monk of
St. Augustine, in the reign of Henry V., several books
then the library, and always regarded as having

in
belonged to Augustine, are described. Two

of these
books are believed still to exist — one in the library
of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, the other in

the Bodleian Library, Oxford. They contain Anglo-
Saxon entries now a thousand years old, which
connect them with the monastery of St. Augustine.
The Cambridge manuscript is of the Gospels,
written in fine Roman uncials, and probably of the
fifth has pictures of the Evangelists at
century. It
the beginning of the several books, and has some

small square pictures of scenes from the life of
• " Vetusta Plate LXVII.
Engraved in the Monumenta," i.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS. 317
Christ,brought together on separate pages and in-

serted these bear traces of the conventional classical
;
designs, but are treated rudely, and with a certain

degree of freedom. They are the most ancient
monuments of early Christian painting existing in
this country. The Bodleian Manuscript is also of
the Gospels. The text is ornamented with red
letters in the first line of each Gospel and in some
other places, butit has no pictures.
Another manuscript of the Gospels, which also

belonged to the Monastery of St. Augustine, Canter-
bury, and is now in the British Museum (Royal I, E),
may be of the seventh century it is written on purple-
;
stained vellum, with ornamental initials, etc., of the
Anglo-Saxon school of art, and with pictures of the

Evangelists of the Byzantine school.
The MS. Add. 11695 in the British Museum con-
tains rude copies of paintings of much earlier date
— horseshoe arches, and interlaced ribbands, which
recall the Rabula Manuscript a large cross with
;
the AO suspended from its arms at fol. 229 the ;
Three Children in the Furnace in oranti attitude,

with angels spreading out hands and wings over them.
The MS. Galba A
XVIII. in the British Museum,
of the eighth century, has an Ascension of the same
type as that in the Rabula Manuscript.

From the sixth century the political troubles of
the empire seem to have interrupted the work of
the miniature-painter on the continent of Europe,
until the revival of art by Greek artists in the time
of Charles the Great. But in the seventh and eighth
3iS HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
centuries the monasteries of Ireland, the Hebrides,

and of Northumbria were producing books written in
letters of a grand form, profusely ornamented with
fanciful figures of birds, beasts, and lacertine creatures,

and interlaced work, with borders and initial pages of
ornament * but the attempts at the drawing of the
;
human figure in them are childish. In the Psalter of

Athelstan we first see the revival of art in England,
in miniatures which are clearly copied from ancient
originals the Ascension is so much like that in*the

;
Syrian manuscript of Rabula, as to raise the question

how far our English art was indebted to Eastern
sources.f
It pleasant to be able to add that while the
is
early English Church was indebted to more learned

countries for books, in one instance at least a manu-
script of the same Church is at this day one of the

treasures of the Western Church. A huge and
magnificent manuscript of the whole Bible, which
Abbot Ceolfrid had written in A.D. 17 16, either at
Wearmouth or Jarrow, as a present to the Bishop
of Rome, is accounted as one of the two manuscripts
from which the text, as Jerome left it, may be best
determined ;
it is known as theCodex Amiatinus, as
having belonged to the convent of Monte Amiata ;

it
is now in the Laurentian Library at Florence.
* For which see Westwood's " Palxographia Pictoria Sacra."

t The scribes of the East Syrian (Nestorian) Christians are to this
day writing books in large bold minuscule characters, and ornamenting

them with frontispieces of interlaced work, in the style of the Irish
and Saxon manuscripts of the eighth century. It is a very curious
survival of ancient art.
li^raJrmJraJr^|gtali^ra raJmJraissraraf^[gjgJigg[igj TBj|î^ra^
CHAPTER XIX.
GOLD AND SILVER VESSELS— HOLY OIL VESSELS-

SACRED EMBROIDERY.
The altar and its canopy ; altar vessels, etc. ; censers ; crosses ; lamps
— Holy oil vessels ; their use ; examples at Monza— Superstitions
connected with : continued to the present day— Sacred embroidery :
liangings in churches ; clerical vestments.
N the time of Constantine — and how much

earlier we —
do not know the altar the in
more stately churches was overshadowed

by a kind of canopy, which in Constan-
tine's Church of the Holy Wisdom was a semi-dome,
carried on four pillars with silver capitals. Two
centuries later, when pictures and images were com-
monly used in churches, the presence of the Holy
Ghost was represented by a silver dove hanging over
the altar, and another over the font in the baptistery.
Even times the altar vessels, as chalices,
in primitive
patens, lamps, were of precious metals, and we cannot

doubt that vessels of silver and gold would be wrought
according to the use of their time. We have seen
that in the upper room of Jerusalem it is probable
that this was the case ; that it was so in later times

we learn from several incidental notices. Tertullian,*
in the latter part of the second century, speaks of
the symbol of the Good Shepherd on the Eucharistic
cup, from which we infer that the chalices and pro-

bably other sacred vessels were sometimes orna-
mented with the symbols and pictures which the
piety of the time so freely lavished. Bishop Zephy-

rinus (a.d. 203) prescribed that the chalices should be
of gold or silver. Urban I. (227) bestowed sacred
vessels of gold and lamps of upon various
silver
churches. Part of the crime for which St. Laurence

the Deacon suffered martrydom under Valerian {c.
A.D. 253) was that he refused to give up the golden
which the sacred mysteries were celebrated,
vessels in
and the golden lamps used in the night assemblies,
which were under charge as deacon.
his In the
Diocletian persecution, Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage,
when (a.d. 303) ordered to Rome to be tried, left the
gold and silver vessels of his church in the custody of
the priests, and an inventory of them in the hands of a
deaconess, with a charge that if he did not return she
should give it to his successor. What this inventory
contained may be inferred from another of the same
period of the sacred vessels given up by Paul, Bishop

of Cirta, to the persecutors ; it enumerated two gold
cups, two silver cups, six

silver water-pots, a silver
cumelitcm (probably a flagon or bowl), seven silver
lamps, etc. When emperors and kings became the

" "
nursing fathers of the Church, they lavished trea-
* Oxford
translation, p. iii.
GOLD AND SILVER VESSELS.
sure upon the fabrics and their furniture. To take

the Basih'ca of St. Peter as an illustration. The doors
were overlaid with silver plates, the pavement before
the crypt was of silver. Besides the precious materials
used in the construction of the Confessio for the
relicsof the Apostles, and the golden-plated vaulting
of the apse, there was a cross of solid gold, an altar
of silver gilt, adorned with four hundred precious
stones, white, green, and blue ;
a golden paten with
a cover of pure gold and a dove upon it (patenam
auream cum turrem ex auro purissimo cum colum-
bam), similarly adorned with jewels, together with
patens three golden jewelled chalices and
five silver ;
twenty ones two golden and five silver aince,

silver ;
apparently flagons for receiving oblations of wine

from the faithful. Also a golden jewelled censer ;
four brazen candelabra, ornamented with silver

medallions of Scripture subjects, and a golden
corona — these stood before St. Paul's shrine ; thirty-
two silver fara, or pendants for light, in the nave
and thirty in the aisle. The Lateran Basilica was
still more splendidly furnished.
The furniture and vessels of Justinian's Church of
Sta. Sophia were not less sumptuous. The altar was
encrusted with gems set in gold ;
the baldachino over
ithad a cupola of gold and a cross of gold weighing
75 lbs., adorned with precious stones. The throne of
the patriarch and the seats of the presbyters were
of silver gilt. The pulpit had a dais of gold, with a
cross of gold lOO lbs. weight, ornamented with car-
buncles and pearls ;
the golden candelabra weighed
Y
6000 cwt, and the doors were of cedar, ivory, and

amber. The
sacred vessels of various kinds, which
/ numbered 42,000, were of gold, and the chalices were
ornamented with pearls and other gems. The cata-
logue reminds us of the list of the gold and silver
vessels of Solomon's temple (i Kings vi. and vii.).
The use of incense is mentioned in the Apostolic
Constitutions not later than the early part of the
fourth century, which implies censers of some kind.
By the seventh century crosses of silver and gold,

and adorned with gems, were placed upon the altar,
and censers of precious metals were used in the
service, since Chosroes gave such ornaments to the
Church of Jerusalem {c. A.D. 616).
None of these v/orks in the precious metals have

come down to us. But we shall not err in taking
for granted that they resembled, in their general
forms, the secular cups and tazze and lamps whose
*
forms we know from actual examples or from
pictorial representations.
Holy Oil Reliquaries.

Another interesting class of objects affording
Y examples of early Christian art is that of the vessels
to contain oil taken from the lamps which burned
before the shrines of the martyrs. The custom
belongs to that region of popular religious sentiment
which so easily runs into superstition. Pilgrims to
* For example, those which have been found at Herculaneum and
Pompeii,
HOLY OIL RELIQUARIES. 3:3
the shrines used to carry these oils away as relics.

At first, perhaps, they were not regarded as any-
thing more than relics, but at an early period it

" "
began to be believed that the holy oil possessed
miraculous properties, especially in the cure of
disease. No doubt the foundation of this belief
was the primitive practice of anointing the sick
with oil, alluded to in Jas. v. 14. Septimus Severus
was believed, in his early years, to have been cured
of a sickness by a Christian who anointed him with
oil. Ephrem the Syrian, who died circa 370, asserts
"
that anointing with oil wherewith the lights of the
"
martyrs are kindled would give spiritual healing * ;
so that the superstition dates back to the later years

of the fourth century, and continued for many cen-
turies afterwards. At all the famous shrines which
were places of pilgrimage these holy oils were sold
to the pilgrims. Probably a little of the oil from the
lamp of the shrine was mingled with other oil. A bit

of cotton wool was dipped into it, little flasks of
glass, or metal, were made expressly to contain this

relic ; they were usually round and flat, about the
size of a modern watch, with a short neck, and were
usually ornamented with sacred symbols, or with
the effigy of the saint, and had an inscription running
round the edge or horizontally across.
In the latter half of the fifth century, among the
pious articles Gregory the Great sent as

which
presents to Theodelinda, the orthodox queen of the
Lombards, was a collection of these holy oils. Abbot

* Oxford Library of the Fathers, translation, p. 229, note.
John, by the bishop's direction, collected sixty-five

from the principal Roman shrines and the vessels ;
which contained them, or some of them, still exist in
the treasury of the Cathedral of Monza, together with

a catalogue of them written on papyrus. Our wood-
cuts represent two of them. One has in the upper
portion of the design a very curious shadowing forth
of the Crucifixion. Instead of the cross of Calvary
Ampullse, at Monza.
is a small jewelled cross with two persons kneeling

at it and instead of Christ hanging upon the cross
;
is a head of Christ in glory. But the other usual

—
accessories of the scene are there the two thieves in
the attitude of crucifixion, but with the crosses
omitted ; Mary and John ;
and the symbols of the sun
and moon above. The lower subject is the sepulchre
and the angel appearing to the Marys. The other
HOLY OIL RELIQUARIES. 3^5
has the Adoration of the Shepherds and of the Magi

combined in one scene, with an inscription beneath,
EMMANOHA ME9 YMON O GS ("Emmanuel, God
with us ").
Both have round the margin the in-
scription, E.VEON ZYAOY ZflHS ("Oil of

TON AriQN XPI2T0Y TOnnN
thewood of life and of the holy places of Christ ").

The flat sides form medallions which are orna-
mented with subjects of Scripture history, as the An-
nunciation, Salutation, Nativity, Adoration of the
Magi, Baptism of Christ, Crucifixion, Ascension, the
sepulchre with the Marys and angel, the cross, heads

of the twelve Apostles, Christ and the Apostles.
Similar vessels which contained oil from the shrine
of St. Mennas, also exist. Such vessels were brought
from the great shrines, not only of

all Rome, but of
Jerusalem, of Egypt, and probably of all the great
saints of Christendom.*
Mr. Romilly Allen f points out that the'treatment
J. y
of the subjects on these vessels marks the transition
between the art of the sarcophagi and that of the
Saxon manuscripts and later works down to the
* Garucci Plate 443) figures

("Storia della Arte Christiana," vol. vi.
several others of these vessels.

"
The author of "Mademoiselle Mori says that it is still the custom
in Italy to dip a bit of cotton wool into the oil of the small lamp burning
at the altar of the Virgin, and to use it as a charm in cases of sickness.
He adds that, in the Middle Ages, was the custom, after the cele-
it
bration of the saint's day at the Roman

churches, for an acolyte to dip
a piece of tow in the oil of the lamp which burnea before the shrine,
"
and to carry it to the pope, saying, To-day the station took place in
"
such a church, and the saint salutes you ; and that these locks of tow-
were carefully kept to form a pillow on which the pontiff's head might
rest in the grave.
t "Early Christian Symbolism," p. 52.

twelfth century. The thought suggests itself that it

might be the dissemination of these and such-like small
portable objects, by the hands of traders and pilgrims,
which helped to carry the conventional designs of
ancient art over the length and breadth of Christen-
dom, and afforded authorities to the native artists
of every country.
A very similar custom was common in ourown
country in the Middle Ages. Pilgrims to St. Thomas
of Canterbury, our Lady of Walsingham, and other
great shrines, carried away holy water, in which the
relics of the saint had been dipped, in small leaden
ampullae of the same general form as the earlier

vessels,only that the ornaments upon the flat sides
were pictures of the saint, or of his shrine, or initials
of his name.*
Sacred Embroidery.
From St. Jerome we learn that, in the fourth centur\',
hangings embroidered with sacred subjects were be-

ginning to be used in churches, and that the bishops
did not all approve of it; for John, Bishop of Jerusalem,
"
took down a hanging, representing Christ or some
saint," in a church of Palestine, giving it for a
winding-
sheet for the poor, and replaced it with one from
Cyprus.f
In the fourth century Asterius, Bishop of Amasia,
*
/ournal of the Archaological Association, v. 124 ; Archceological
/oitnial, vol.vii. p. 400 ; xv. 156; xvii. 68.
t Jerome, Ep., 51. This was perhaps the hanging which at certain
times of the service screened the chancel from the rest of the church.
SACRED EMBROIDERY. 327
informs us that the rich people of his time had not
only the walls of their houses decorated with pictures,

but also their tunics and pallia and the more pious ;
of them, both men and women, chose scenes from

the Gospels.
"
One sees he says, " Christ
there,"
with His disciples, and each of His miracles as the
history relates it ;
the marriage feast at Cana, and
the water-pots ; the feeding of the multitude, with
the baskets of bread ;
the paralytic carrying his
bed on his shoulders ;
the blind man cured with a
little clay ;
the woman who touched the hem of the
Saviour's garment ;
the sinner at the feet of Jesus ;
*
Lazarus recalled to life from his grave." There is
an interesting contemporary illustration of the custom

in the mosaic portrait of the Empress Theodora, in
St. Vitalis, Ravenna, in which the hem of her* robe
is adorned with the subject of the Adoration of

the Magi.
During the first three centuries the dress of the y

clergy, both in ordinary life and in their ministra-
tions, was that which has been already described at

p. 9, viz.the long tunic and the pallium. In the
fifth century new fashions of male costume seem to
have come in, and gradually become general, which
differed from the dignified simplicity of the old
classical dress. The prestige of the ancient habit
and its artistic merits caused it to be retained,' as
being more grave and dignified, by the officials of

the empire and by the clergy. When civil digni-
taries abandoned it, the clergy still used it in their
* "Homiiia de Divite et Laz."
ministrations, and thus the tunic — under the name

of the alb, because its colour was always white — and
the pallium became distinctively clerical vestments.
The new upper garment which superseded the
pallium in general use was a circle of cloth, of
larger or smaller diameter, with a slit in the
middle
through which the head was passed, and it fell in

folds round the person. When this went out of
fashion in civil use, it was retained by the clergy
as the original of the chasuble, which has continued
in use in the Western Church to the present day.
The great dignitaries of the empire wore a richly

embroidered pallium. And it was probably the
presentation of such embroidered robes by em-
perors to the great dignitaries of the Church which
led to the more common use, by bishops and priests,
of such ornamented vestments. The figure of St.
Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, represented at p. 157, is
in the episcopal vestments of probably the sixth
century. The Gregory the Great, opposite
figure of St.
p. 298, represents an embroidered vestment

of about
the same period.
mJrîi^rsj[^\m:^rî^fsj[^r^j^Ss\r^mJm^mirsJ\mir^r^r^r^mi\
CHAPTER XX.
RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS IN DOMESTIC USE.
Religion in daily life — Use of religious subjects in decorating houses ;
dress ; water-vessels ; ; ;
—
wine-cups buckles huir-pins Lamps.
N order to understand the profuse use of

Christian symbols at times and in places
where our modern taste would regard

them as incongruous, we must call to
mind that, in the view of primitive Christianity, the V
Christian is a consecrated person, a member of the
Body of Christ, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit ; his

life is a religion, and every act of it is done to the
glory of God. As, according to the testimony of

TertulHan, the primitive Christians, "in their coming
in and going out, in putting on their shoes, at the
bath, at the table, in lighting their candles, in lying

down, in sitting down, marked their foreheads with
"
the sisrn of the cross : so in later times Christians
•/
saw no incongruity in sculpturing religious symbols
over the doors of their houses, and painting Scripture
histories on the walls of their rooms, embroidering
them upon their garments, engraving them upon their

impressing them upon every article of personal

seals,
and domestic use.
Among the miscellaneous objects of ancient
Christian art which may be mentioned in this place,
are secular vessels used for containing beverages.

The two woodcuts represent a leaden vessel found
in theRegency of Tunis, the use of which is deter-
mined by the inscription, ANTxVHCATE YAOP MET
V EY^POCYNE (" Drink water with joy "). The figures
cast upon it pagan and Christian
are a mixture of
subjects, and were perhaps chosen at random, out of
the moulds which the maker had in stock, merely

for ornament without any intention to convey a
meaning. A mythological nymph mounted on a
sea-horse, corresponds with the Christian symbol
of the two birds drinking from a vase. The Good
Shepherd is placed between a gladiator and a palm
tree, an orante is between a palm tree and a
mythological victory. The Christian symbol of the

cross, on a mount from which flow the rivers of
Paradise, with two stags drinking, is repeated a ;
vine pattern forms an ornamented frame.

Vessels, like small buckets of wooden staves
mounted with metal, were intended apparently as
receptacles forwater or wine, or perhaps for ale or
mead. One of these was found in a Merovingian
grave at Miannay, near Abbeville, in France.
Later examples are one in the Duomo of Milan,
and another in Mr. Attenborough's collection, one
made for Otho II. (a.d. 973-978), and the other for
Otho III. (born 9S0), of which there arc casts in
RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS IN DOMESTIC USE. 331
Water-vessel from North Africa.

the South Kensington Museum. These also are

ornamented with Scripture subjects.
A curious English illustration of the use of
Scripture subjects in the ornamentation of objects of

domestic use, was found in a Saxon grave at Long
Wittenham, Berks together with a spear, a bronze
;
kettle, and an iron knife. It is a drinking-vessel,
formed of staves and hoops, such as is not infrequently-

found in Saxon graves, and is still in use in Scotland,
where it is called a quaigh.* The example in question

had the following Christian subjects repoiissê on the
metal plates with which it was ornamented the ;
X P and the A O within a circle the Miracle at

; ;
Cana the Baptism of Christ, inscribed IQANNHC

; ;
the Annunciation. The Greek form of the name of
Buckle of a belt. Daniel in the lions' den, and an orante.
the Baptist suggests the quarter from which came

the designs of this vessel, if not the vessel itself.
Buckles for belts of bronze, in some cases plated
with silver, have been found in the Jura, Switzerland,
* In the Roach
Mayer Collection at Liverpool, engraved in C,
Smith's Catalogue, and in the
"
ArchKologia," xxxviii. 327.
and Savoy, which are probably not earlier than the

sixth century, ornamented with Scripture subjects.
Daniel in the lions' den seems to have been the most
in the attitude of prayer,
popular subject; figures
and crosses, also occur.
Two objects found in England are worth mention
here in London a metal hairpin with a medallion
:
at the top bearing a helmeted bust with a cross

on breast looking upwards towards a cross in
its
the air ; clearly an allusion to the vision of Con-

stantine* (compare it with the gold coin described at
p. 338)
and a bone hair-pin at Colchester with a cross
;
on the top.f
Lamps.
From the time of the Apostles downwards some of
the most popular services of the Church were held in \/
the evening, vigils lasted through the night, and the
Eucharist was celebrated very early in the morning
(Acts XX. 8). This involved the use of lamps

and ;
these lights seem from the earliest times to have

been regarded as having a symbolical meaning.
Christ called Himself the Light of the world St. ;
Simeon called Him the Light to lighten the Gentiles;

one of the names applied to baptism was ilhiminatio ;
again, oil was one of the symbols
of the Holy Spirit.
This will account for the lamps being reckoned
among the sacred vessels of the churches, and for
their being made of the precious metals.
" Roman
London," C. R. Smith, p. 128.
"
t
' '
Historic Towns :
Colchester, p. 49.
At anearly period, certainly within three centuries,

the lamps were lighted before Vespers with certain
appropriate prayers and psalms or hymns ;

and the
ceremony gave to the Vesper service the name of
'ETTiXuxvfoi^ or in Latin Liicernarium.

Even in domestic use, when Christians lighted
.
their lamps says they were
in the evening, Tertullian
N\ accustomed to make the sign of the cross, and in

later times they sang a hymn. The Greek hymn
$wt: i\ap6v ay/ae So4'?c (" Gladsome light of holy
glory"), the thanksgiving at lamp-lighting, was old in
St. Basil's day (a.d. 370).
We have seen that Christians ornamented all kinds
of articles for mere domestic use with Christian sym-
bols and subjects the symbolical meaning which
;
they attached to light, and the religious ceremonies

connected with it, would lead them especially to the
use of such symbols on their domestic lamps. Ac-
cordingly, in many countries are found in great

numbers lamps of earthenware and metal ornamented
in the style with which we are familiar.
The ornamentation of the clay lamps
was most commonly on the circular top,
which formed a medallion, and con-
sisted of figures of the Good Shepherd,
a lamb, a bird, Jonah, the cross, the
Clay lamp, with XP, ctc. Metal lamps arc sometimes

XP ornament.
made
i
m
•
î
the
i r i.*
shape of a ship or a
church, and the handle is often fashioned into a
medallion ornamented with the same kind of figures
as appear on those of clay.
Earthen lamps have been found in our own country

— at Newcastle, ornamented with the XP monogram ;
at London, with pahn branches and at Colchester,

;
•with the Good Shepherd and other early subjects.*

Garucci gives two plates of illustrations of mcta!
lamps, and three plates of earthenware.f
* " "
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities :
Lamp.
t Vol. vi. riates 469, 471, 473, 474,
and 475.
CHAPTER XXI.
COINS, MEDALS, AND GEMS.

Coin of Severus with Noah's ark ; of Trajan with XP ; of Salonina
with EN EIPHNH— Coins with Christian symbols: of Con-
stantine, etc.— Medals: pectoral crosses— Gems primitive use of
:
— —
them with Christian symbols Clement of Alexandria Examples
in the British Museum, etc.
HE conversion of Constantlne introduced

the symbols of the Christian faith upon
the coinage of the empire, at first in
symbols sparingly introduced as mere

accessories of the old-established types, then by
allegories plainly setting forth the faith, and at
more
last by direct introduction of the effigies of sacred
personages occupying the whole field of the coin.

There are, however, exceptional types of coins
before the time of Constantine which are interesting
enough to require notice.
Certain coins of Septimus Severus, which have the
subject of Noah's ark on their reverse, must be noticed,

ifonly to say that we do not claim a Christian origin
for them. These were all coined at Apamea on the
COINS, MEDALS, AND GEMS. 337
Euphrates, and are connected with that city. The

city was called (KtjSwroc) Cibotos, and KtjSwro'e is the
word used in the Septuagint and in the New Testa-
ment for the ark of Noah. Of the ancient legends
Coin of Septimus Severus.
of the Flood, one had taken root at Apamea, and

thus the ark is adopted on the coin as a hieroglyph
of the name
of the city.*
A
medallion of Trajan Decius (249-251) struck at
Metonia in Lydia has on the reverse the inscription
En AYP A-I-riANYO B A XP A TO B CTE-
. . . . . . .
. I. ANH .
(etti
^
AvprjXiov Acjxpidvov ^\g ap\ovTeQ ayojvodeTi

TO BevTspov Gte(pavr}(j)dpov). The engraver has contracted
the PX word apxovreg, so that it forms exactly
in the
the usual Christian monogram XP, and the monogram
occupies a very conspicuous place at the top of the

coin. It has been suggested that a Christian moneyer
introduced this symbol of his faith upon the coin ;
and would be valuable as one of the scanty

if so it
evidences that the monogram was in use before

Constantine.
* See p. 218.
Z
We have already had occasion to mention the

coins of Salonina, the empress of Gallienus, with
the inscription, EN EIPHNH, "in peace," which is
beHeved to be an
exclusively Christian legend,
and usually to have a funereal meaning ; and there-
fore it has been assumed that the coins were struck
on the death of the empress, and that ;;he was a
Christian but some coins with the inscription which
;
were struck during the lifetime of the empress, have

thrown doubt upon this conclusion.*
The cut shows a coin of Constantine the Great
with the monogram upon his helmet. Another coin
of the same emperor
shows on the reverse the
Labarum between two
soldiers. The monogram
and the Labarum in vari-
Coin of Constantine the Great.
ous forms are the com-
monest of the Christian symbols of the coinage of this
A more important coin, both as a work of nu-
V reign.
mismatic art and as a monument of Christian history,
is an aureus presenting the emperor's head with
eyes uplifted, and no legend round, executed in the
very highest style of which the age was capable its ;
reverse always has reference in type and legend to
triumph as, GLORIA or VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AUG.

:
The motive for this striking innovation in medallic

"
portraiture given by Eusebius.t
is How great was
the strength of the Divine faith which was the founda-
* See " Dictionary of Cbristlan Antiquities :
"
Money,
t "Vita Const.," iii, 15.
tion of his soul may be estimated from the considera-

tion that he devised how his own portrait should be
represented upon the gold coins in such a manner as
to appear to be looking upwards, stretching himself

aloft towards God, in the action of one praying. Now
the pieces thus stamped are in circulation over the
Roman world. Moreover, in the palace itself, at cer-
tain of the entrances, upon the pictures placed over
the gateways, he had himself painted standing up-
right, looking towards heaven, and stretching forth

his hands in the attitude of one in prayer."
There exists a scarce medal of CONSTANTINVS

MAX AUG. Coronated bust to the right. Rev.: SPES
PVBLICA, Labarum with three o o o on the banner and
XP at the top of the spear, below is a serpent trans-
fixedby the spiked end of the staff. The reader may
remember that this enters into the subject of the great
painting over the entrance of Constantine's palace at
Constantinople, described in a former chapter.*
Lastly we may m.ention the medal struck in
memory of Constantine's apotheosis. Down to his sj
time the eagle bearing the emperor aloft is the

established symbol of an apotheosis. In this medal
a symbol clearly adapted from the horses of fire and
chariot of fire of Elijah is adopted. For the emperor
is seen standing in a chariot of four horses going at
full speed, whilst the hand of God issues from the
heavens, to which the emperor raises his eyes and

hands. This interesting medal belongs to the mints
of Alexandria, Antioch, and Carthage alone, but
* See
p. 170.
must have been issued to a large extent, considering

the numerous examples which remain to the present
day.
Coins of the Emperor Constans have on the
reverse a soldier holding the Labarum in his left
and a little figure, perhaps a phoenix

or a victory, in his
Coin of Constans.
right The same reverse is found on coins of Con-

stantius Magnentius and Constantius Gallus, A
medal of Constantius II. shows that prince holding
a standard emblazoned with the Christian monogram,
the legend being "IN HOC SIGNO VCTOR ERIS,""Under
A this banner thou shalt be victorious ;
"
probably the
real words which Constantine saw in his dream,
translated by Eusebius tovti<^ ^'X"-
The monogram of the Saviour's name between
the An, with the legend SALVS AVGVSTI, is
letters
frequently the exclusive device of a medal's field

under the two sons of Constantine.
During many reigns the usual reverse of the coins
bearing the legend VICTORIA AUGUSTI was a figure
of the emperor holding orb and Labarum and setting
his foot upon the neck of a crouching barbarian. In
the coins of Valentinian, Satan, in the form of a
serpent with angel-head, is substituted for the bar-

COIN'S, MEDALS, AND GEMS. 341
barian. In the time of Majorian an angel \s substi-
tuted for the figure of the emperor this continued :
as the usual reverse of the solidi from 450 to 575,

the workmanship becoming more and more rude and
careless. The reverse of a coin of Flacilla, the wife
Coin of Justin I. (518 A.D.).
of Tlieodosius, has a winged figure a victory hold- — —

ing a shield marked with the monogram. In a coin
of Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius holds a cross
in the shape in which it first appears upon the
sarcophagi.
Justinian II., on his recovery of the empire, placed
a full-face bust of the Saviour on his solidi, holding
Coin of Licinia Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian III. (425-455 a.d.).
the Gospels in the left hand and giving benediction

with the right. On the obverse
a full-length figure
is
of the emperor grasping with one hand the cross

planted on Calvary and holding in the other the
I
mappa or roUed-up napkin with which the emperor
.gave the signal in the hippodrome, which was a badge

of sovereignty. The coin is a great improvement
upon those of the previous reigns. The Saviour's
head is said to be a copy from the older statue over
the palace gate, and that to have been copied from
some antique statue. The portrait of Christ, with
intervals of disuse, continued to appear on the coinage
until the first capture of Constantinople. On the coins
Medallion of the eighth or ninth century.
of Basil the Macedonian appears a full-length figure

of the Saviour seated on a throne. His son Leo
the philosopher introduced a bust of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, front face, with hands palm upwards,

" "
and not badly executed over the head MARIA and
;
on each side ME 9Y, mother of God. For many

generations following this the Madonna seems to
have been appropriated to the coinage of a female
sovereign.
Some MEDALS exist, generally of bronze, of the

third and later centuries, often pierced for suspension.
On a large medal drawn by Buonarotti, but whose
present whereabouts is not known, a Good Shepherd

stands in the middle, bearing the sheep on his
shoulders ;
the rest of the field is divided into four
horizontal lines ;
and Eve, and
on the first are Adam
on either side Noah and Jonah under the gourd on ;
the second Daniel and the lions and the sacrifice of

Isaac on the third the healing of the paralytic and
;
the smitten rock on the fourth Jonah sxi'allowed

;
and disgorged. Other medals exist which bear

some one of the usual cycle of early subjects, as
the sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel, etc.
St. Paul and St. Peter (bronze). Leaden medallion.
The remarkable bronze medal which presents the

heads of St. Peter and St. Paul with unusual origi-
and great vigour is said to have been found
nality
in the Catacomb of Domitilla, and is considered
by De Rossi to be of the third century.

the martyr-
The subject of the next example is
dom of St. Laurence. It is remarkable as, perhaps,

the earliest picture of a martyrdom ; probably of
X
early fifth century date.
The figure in the attitude
of prayer represents the soul of the dying martyr;
(
the hand stretched down from above is a symbol

of God — it is prepared to give the martyr's crown.
The legend upon it is "SUCCESSA ViVAS" — Successa
being the name of the person for whom the medal
was made.* Roller (Plate XLIV.) gives drawings
of several medals, two of which represent the
Adoration of the Magi, in which the Holy Child
is distinguished by the nimbus, but not the Virgin
Mother. They are not of earlier date than the
fifth century.
At Carthage have been found moulds for casting
little devotional medals and crosses ;

one of the
medals has a XP in a circle, another a cross with AW
suspended from the arms.f
Gems.
In ancient times men used a seal where we use an
autograph of our name, and in Eastern countries they

do so to this day. This made it necessary for every man
to possess a seal, which, for convenience of carriage
and safety of custody, was often in the shape of a ring.
Thus Clement of Alexandria discourages the wearing
of rings as ornaments, but allows one signet ring as
almost a necessity. "A man," he says, "should not
wear the ring on the finger-joint, for this is effeminate,
* Smith's"
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities." See "Early Chris-
tian Numismatics," by the Rev C. W. King ; article Nutnismattque,
" " "
in Martigny's Dictionary ; Dictionary of Christian
Money in
"
Antiquities ;" figures of coins in Garucci, vi. 4S0, 381.
Storia," etc.,
" Revue de I'Art For a bronze of
t Chretien," 1890, vol. i. liv. 2.
Peter and Paul, and other very similar designs, see De Rossi's
" Bulle-
tino de Archreol. Christ.," fourth series, fifth year, Plate X., 1887.
but upon the little finger, as low down as possible ;
for the hand will thus be more free for action and the
ring less likely to slip off, guarded by the
as being
larger joint. But let our signet devices be a dove, or
Early Christian rings,
a fish, or a ship coursing against the sky, or a musical

or a ship's anchor
lyre which Polycrates employed,
which was the seal of Seleucus, or if it be a fisher-
man it will remind us of an Apostle, and of boys

saved from water." A
number of precious stones
engraved with such devices, which probably were
mounted in rings, have come down to us.* Several
of the third and later cen-
precious stones, probably
turies, are engraved with the Good Shepherd others ;
with the fish, dove, anchor, etc. one with an episcopal

;
chair with IXY0 (for IXGYS) on the back, and a

monogram, probably of the name of the owner of
the seal, on each side of the chair gems engraved ;
with the sacred monogram are numerous. Mr.
King specially mentions and gives engravings of the

following
— :
A fine large sapphire with monogram of Christ.

"
*Some are figured in the Rev. C. W. King's Antique Gems and
"
Rings," and others in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities."
A emerald, quarter inch square, set in a gold

fine
hexagonal ring with monogram.

Another in red jasper with legend IHCOYC OEOY
YIOC IHPE, "Jesus, Son of God, keep me." (All
three are in the British Museum.)
The frequent on gems of the Lower Empire;
ship is
for cargo the ship generally carries a monogram
XP or cock with palm.

;
A
palm branch occurs on
many signets with the name of the proprietor.
The Good Shepherd is engraved on a large carnelian
from the north of India with I.X.9.Y.C. round the
lamb, and on the reverse XPIGTE CGZE KAPIIIANON
AEnOTE (sic), "O Christ, save Carpianus for ever."
The same figure of earlier and better work on a red

jasper. A third in the British Museum represents
the Shepherd in the middle of a landscape with dogs
looking up to him, inscribed ECIYKEY = Kurie

"
Jesu."
There are two intagli in the British Museum in
green jasper, one with Christ's entry into Jerusalem,

and the other with a Madonna and Child with angels
(" Gnostic of the beginning of the third century "). In
the same case two camei which cannot be later than
St.Helena, one with John Baptist, the other with an
Annunciation and the inscription OXAPETICMOC
TABPIHA, "The salutation, Gabriel."
A Gnostic gem, Good Shepherd with two sheep, and
inscription AH; (iv. Plate 9, Fig. 9).
I A martyrdom
of a female with XP over her head (ix. Plate 8), and
under ANFT ("Annum novum felicem tibi," a new
year's piesent).
In the French collection of gems the following

specimens which have been the signets of Persian
(Nestorlan) Christians are noticed by Chabouillet.
No. 1330, the sacrifice of Isaac; 1333, the fish in
the middle of the Christian monogram ; 1331, Virgin
and sacred Infant seated, with a Pehlevi legend ;
and lastly (without number) the bust of Christ in

profile beardless, the fish below, and then the legend
XPICTOY. Chabouillet considers all these earlier
than the great persecution by Sapor II., A.D. 340.*
Innumerable other objects have been found in and
near the locuH, chambers, and galleries of the cata-
combs, terra-cotta and bronze lamps, with monograms
and symbols, vases of terra-cotta and other materials,
unguent boxes, glass pastes, medals, rings, fibulae,
personal ornaments and utensils, ivory dolls, and

playthings.
* " " "
King, Anlique Gems and Rings ; Rings of the Early Christian
Period," by C. D. E. Fortnam, copiously illustrated ; Arch. Joiiri: ,
xxvi. p. 139.
CHAPTER XXII,
INSCRIPTIONS.
prayers for the departed,

and
History and character of inscriptions j
requests for their intercession ; euphemisms ; examples.
epitaphs of the first six cen-

JHRISTIAN
turies exist in large numbers in all
Christian countries they have been col-

;
lected and annotated in many volumes,
and form a special branch of archaeological literature.*

It will be enough for our present purpose to give a
brief sketch of their general characteristics and some

have a
examples, and to note a few whose contents
special bearing upon our subject.
* Rossi has published two volumes, and has material for four or
De
five others, ofthe Christian inscriptions of Rome earlier than the
seventh century ; the Abbe Guzzara has published those of Piedmont ;
Mommsen those of the kingdom of Naples ; Le Plant those of Gaul ;
Waddington those of Central Syria ;
Renier those of Algeria. The
early Christian inscriptions in Great Britain of the
Roman period are
in Haddan and Stubbs's "Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents,"
i, 39,40 ; ii. p. xxii. and 51.
"
See the articles on the subject in Martigny's Dictionaiy of Christian
Antiquities," and in Smith's "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities."
" Britanno-Roman
See also Dr. McCaul's "Christian Epitaphs," and
Inscriptions." Roller gives photographs of some hundred and fifty
or two hundred of the more interesting inscribed stones as they are
classified and arranged on the walls of the Vatican Museum.
INSCRIPTIONS. 349
During the first three centuries inscriptions are
comparatively rare. As to their art, some are

incised on the slab which closed a loculus, with all
degrees of care, from the elegant caligraphy of the

poetical epitaphs with which Pope Damasus
dis-
tinguished the graves of his predecessors, down to
very rude and illiterate scratchings some are

care- ;
fully carved upon the front of a rich sarcophagus.

As to their contents, with few exceptions the earlier
a date.
epitaphs are brief and simple, and without
Recent discoveries in the Cemetery of St. Agnes show
that ninety-six out of a hundred of the earliest tombs \'^
are entirely without inscriptions, in contrast with the
wordy elegies upon pagan sepulchres of the period.

In the third century inscriptions became common,
but are brief and undated. From the fourth century
and onward they become more complex and ornate,
and are carefully dated. Sometimes the day of the
month of death is given, because that was the day on
which the annual commemoration was to be held, but /
not the year that was

;
of little importance to those A,
whose thoughts were of eternity. One characteristic
which no doubt existed from the earliest times, but

is only brought out by the language of the later
inscriptions, is the
existence of a strong feeling of
family affection. In the open-air cemeteries epitaphs

in verse abound ; but formal eulogies and inscriptions
are rare after the sixth century.
The briefest and commonest of the epitaphs is
So-and-so EN IPHNH, or IN PACE. Brief as it is, it ^

has two meanings ;
it is either an assertion that the
departed rests in peace, or an aspiration or prayer

that he may rest in peace, which latter meaning is
"
brought out more clearly in some epitaphs, as DoRME
" "
IN FACE," " Sleep in peace Semper vive in pace,"
;
"
"
Live always in peace "
ViVAS IN PACE," " Mayest
;
thou live in peace." Many consist of an affectionate

word of farewell on the part of the living to their de-
"
parted relation : FAX TECUM," "Peace be with you ;"
"
QuiESCE IN PACE," "Rest in peace;" "AccEPTA
SIS IN Christo," "Mayest thou be accepted in
Christ ;
" "
Êterna TIBl LUX IN xp," " May eternal
"
light in Christ be with you "Pax TECUM PERMA-
;
"
NEAT," May everlasting peace be with thee."
The principal symbols which appear on the in-
scriptions are the fish, dove, lamb or sheep, phoenix,

cock, horse, stag, barrel, anchor, ship, lighthouse,
cockle-shells, etc. Towards the end of the fourth
century, or more surely at the beginning of the fifth,
the cross begins to appear on the inscriptions at Rome.
Of requests for the departed to pray for the
living, De Rossi says that among the inscriptions
"
of the first PETE pro
three centuries the forms
"
NOBIS," and PRO PARENTIBUS," and "PRO CONJUGE,"
" "
and. PRO FILIIS," and pro SORORE," occur but Dr. ;
McCaul adds that these are comparatively rare

am.ong the thousands, and that anything beyond
these requests of the surviving relations to the
departed to pray for the members
of his family, is
of extreme rarity. On the other hand, of requests
to the living to pray for the departed, Dr. McCaul
says that he only recollects, in the first six centuries,

INS CRIP TIONS. 35 i
two of the addresses reader for his prayers

to the
which are so frequent in mediaeval times.
The euphemistic phrases in which the heathen
spoke of death, with a natural shrinking from the
realization of its sadder features, are continued in
Christian epitaphs with the strong faith which their
religion gave them in the unbroken continuity of

life and the certainty of a joyful resurrection.
"
RECESSIT DE S/ECULUM, De S/ECULUM exivit,"
"he departed this life;" " FuiT IN s^liCULUM," "he
"
ceased to be of this life;" VixiT IN S^CULUM,"
"he ceased to live in this life" S.-ECULUM being —
always used by Christianity of this present life ;
" " "

Reddit," or Reddidit," viz. debitum vit/e,"
"he restored his life to God who gave it;" "Abso-
LUTUS DE COR PORE," "he was freed from the body,"
"Depositus" is the word for buried, which has the
meaning of a treasure placed in safety.

Here are a fev/ examples of epitaphs which have
some special feature of interest.*
From Orleansville, in Algiers, Renicr, n. 3701 —
"HIC REQVIES
CITSANCTAE MEMO
RIAEPATERNOSTER
REPARATVS E. P. S. QVIFE
CIT IN SACERDOTIVM AN
NOS Villi MEN-XI-ETPRE
CESSIT NOS INPACE
DIE VNDECIMV . KAL
* From Dr. McCaul's " Christian
J. Epitaphs of the First Six
Centuries." Toronto, 1869.
352 HISTORY OP EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
AVG PROVNC CCCCXXX

.
ET SEXTA."
"
Here rests our father of holy memory, Reparatus
the bishop, who passed in his priesthood nine years
eleven months, and went before peace, on the

us, in
eleventh day before the Calends of August, in the

436th year of the Province \i.e. July 22, A.D. 475]."
A lengthy inscription, recently found at Narbonne,
recording the reparation of the church in A.D. 445,
tells of another married bishop, "RUSTICUS EPISCOPUS
"
EPISCOPI BONOSI FILIUS (Le Blant, u.s. n. 489).
From the Cemetery of St.
Agnes
* —
"PRyESBYTER HIC SITVS EST CELERINVS NOMINE
DIC[tus]
CORPOREOS RVMPENS NEXVS QVI GAVDET IN
ASTRIS
DEP Villi KAL IVN FL SYAGRIO ET EVCERIO."
" name
Here has been laid a Presbyter called by the
of Celerinus, who, breaking the bonds of the body,
rejoices in the stars \i.e. in heaven]. Buried on the

ninth day before the Kalends of June, in the Consul-
ship of Syagrius and Eucherius \i.e. May 24,

A.D. 381]."
From the Cemetery of St. Paul, in the Ostian

Way t—
•'GAVDENTIVS. PRESB. SIBI.
ET CONIVGI SVAE SEVERAE CASTAE IIAC SANG

[tissimae]
FEMINAE QVAE VIXIT ANN. XLII. M. III. D.X.
DEP III. NON. APRIL. TIMASIO ET PROMOTO."
* De t Iîd-, n. 376.
Rossi, n. 303.
INSCRIPTIONS. 353
"
Gaudentius, a Presbyter, for hiniself and his wife
Severa, a chaste and most holy woman, who Hved
forty-two years, three months, ten days. Buried on
the fourth day before the Nones of April, in the
Consulship of Timasius and Promotus [i.e. April 2,

A.D. 389]."
To a deacon's wife and children :
"
Levitae conjunx Petronia forma pudoris .
HIS mea deponens sedibus ossa loco.

Parcite vos lacrimis bulges cum coniuge
natae viventem que deo gredite flere nefas.
.
dp in page iii non octob. festo vc gonss

HiC REQUIESGIT IN PACE PaULA CLF. DULCIS
UENIGNA GRATIOSA FILIASS
DP VII KAL SEPT T NANTO VC CONSS
HiC REQUIESGIT DULCISSIMUS PUER GORDIANUS
ULIUS SS
SYMMACHO VC GONSS
DP ID SEPT .
HiG REQUIESGIT ^MILIANA SAG VG DPV . . . ID.
DEC. PROBINO VC GONSS."

"
I, Petronia, the wife of a deacon, the type of
modesty, lay down my bones in this resting-place.
Refrain from tears, my sweet daughters and husband,
and believe that it is forbidden to weep for one who
lives in Buried in peace on the third day
God.
before the Nones of October, in the Consulship of
Festus, a most distinguished man \i.e. October 5, A.D.

472]. Here rests in peace Paula, a most distinguished
woman, the sweet kind gracious daughter of the
above mentioned buried on the seventh day before
;
the Kalends of September, in the Consulship of

2 A
Venantius, a most distinguished man \i.e. August 26,

A.D. 484]. Here rests a very sweet boy, Gordianus,
son of the above mentioned, buried on the Ides of
September, in the Consulship of Symmachus, a most
distinguished man \i.e. September 1 3, AD. 485]. Here
rests ^miliana, a sacred virgin, buried on the 5th before
the Ides of December, in the Consulship of Probinus,

a most distinguished man \i£. December 9, A.D. 489]."
"
"Levita" is used for Diaconus," because the latter
word is unsuitable for hexameters. De Rossi's com-
ment upon it contains a most ingenious and con-
clusive argument that Gregory the Great was a
descendant of the persons named in this epitaph.
In the basilica of St. Alexander, in the Nomentine
is an inscription to Appinnus, a subdeacon,
Way,
who died in his thirty-fourth year, April 1 1, A.D, 448.
The following is from the crypt of the Vatican* :
—
"
Locus Marcelli Subd. Reg. Sexte concessum sibi
et pos
teris ejus a beatissimo
Papa Joanne ^
que ann
vixit plm Ixviii dep pc basili vc ann xxli
ind. xi. undecimu Kal. Januarias."
" The
place of Marcellus, a subdeacon of the sixth
Region, conceded to him and to his posterity by the
most blessed Pope John, who lived sixty-eight years,
more or less. Buried in the twenty-second year after
the Consulship of Basilius, a most distinguished man,
in the eleventh Indiction, on the eleventh day before
the Kalends of Jan \i.e.
December 22, A.D. 563]."
From St. Agnes (De Rossi, n. 1185) is an inscrip-
* De Rossi, 1096.
INSCRIPTIONS. 3^5
tion to Abundantius, an acolyte of the fourth Region,

of the Title of Vcstina, who died at the age of thirty.
Opinions differ as to the date. De Rossi thinks it of

the sixth or seventh century.
"
From ^clanum (Mommsen, I. N.," 1293): an
inscription to Ca^lius Johannes, an exorcist, buried
December 6, A.D. 5 1 1.
From the Cemetery of Callistus and Pretextatus
(De Rossi, n. 48) to Equitius Heracleus, a Reader

:
of the second Region, who died in his twentieth
year, Febuary 7, A.D. 338.
From the crypt of the Church of ^clanum (Momm-

sen, 1299) to Cselius Laurentius, Reader of the Holy
:
Church of ^clani, who died about 48 years of

age. May 9, A.D. 494.
From St. Paul (De Rossi, 10S7) : to Decius, cus-
todian {Cnbiciilariiis) of the basilica, A.D. 534.

From the Church of the Holy Trinity, Ticinum
(Muratori, 424, 426) Theodora, a Deaconess, aged
:
48, died July 22, A.D. 539.

From the Cemetery of Calistus (De Rossi, 497) :
Praetiosa, a virgin of only twelve years (ancilla Dei

et XRl), died May 31, A.D. 401.
From St. Paul (De Rossi, 739) :

Gaudiosa, a most
illustrious woman, a virgin (Clarissima fe iiina, Ancilla
Dei), who lived 40 years and 4 months, and was

buried September 22, A.D. 447.
Roller gives inscriptions from the Roman cata-
combs to Dionysius, Presbyter and Physician to ;
Emmanius Opas, Lector of the Title of Fascicola,

a friend of the poor, A.D. 377 ;
to Prunus an Exorcist,
3S6 HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
to Secundius a Church Administrator, both probably

of the fourth century to Church Virgins (ancillae
;
dei) ; Neophytes and Catechumens,

to
Inscription found in an arch of an ancient cemetery

at Autun. Probable date latter part of fourth century :*
"
Offspring of the heavenly Ichthus, see that a heart
of holy reverence be thine, now that from Divine
waters thou hast received, while yet living among
mortals, a fount of life that is to immortality.
"Quicken thy soul, beloved one, with ever-flowing
* waters of heavenly wisdom, and receive the honey-
sweet food of the Saviour of the Saints. Eat with a
longing hunger, holding Ichthus in thine hands.
"
To Ichthus Come nigh unto me, my Lord [and]
. . .
Saviour [be Thou; my Guide] I entreat thee, Thou

Light of them for whom the hour of death is past.
"Aschandus, my Father, dear unto mine heart, and
y^ thou [sweet mother, and all] that are mine ... re-
member Pectorius."
The inscriptions scratched by pilgrims upon the
walls and stones in and about the objects of pilgrimage
have been briefly noticed at p. 157.
In the fifth and following centuries It became
the fashion to put inscriptions upon new churches
and other buildings, recording the date of their
foundation.
of the mosaics have inscriptions recording
Many
the name of the donor.
W. " Vestimenta
Marriott, Sacra Antiqua."
CHAPTER XXIII.
SOME CONCLUSIONS.
T may be useful to put together a summary

of some of the conclusions which have
been arrived at in the preceding chapters.
" "
The Church of the Catacombs is a
/
beautiful myth. The
assemblies for worship of the
were not held in caves and cata-
primitive Church
combs, except during the infrequent occurrence of
in the upper rooms
general or local persecution, but
and halls of the houses of wealthy Christians.
Public churches were built probably as early as the
firstquarter of the third century, and were numerous
throughout the'empire by the end of the century.
The churches were built on the plan of the houses
in which the congregations had been accustomed to
assemble, with the modification of the apse suggested

by the civil basilicas.
Of the Christian art of the primitive Church
nothing has come down to us which can with any
certainty be assigned to the first century^ except a
few insignificant inscriptions.
35S HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
To the er.d of the first and the second century belong

the early chambers of the cemeteries of Domitilla,
Priscilla, Pretextatus, and Lucina, at Rome, before
those family burial-places were opened to the use of
the Church. We
find in their wall-paintings the
Symbolical subjects of the vine, the fish, the dove, the

anchor, the Good Shepherd, the baptism of Christ,
Jonah, the stricken rock, Daniel in the lions' den, the
agapas, and the orantes, the resurrection of Lazarus,
and a few others of the cycle of symbolic subjects ;
and De Rossi thinks the Virgin and Child with the

man and star in the Cemetery of Priscilla, not later
than A.D. 150. Others assign it to a much later date.
The inscriptions are few, brief, and simple.

,_^ In the preceding subjects de-
third century the
velop, and others are added. The fish is often a

dolphin, which is sometimes wreathed round the
stock of the anchor the ship of the Church appears.
;
The water from the stricken rock forms a river, from

which the fisherman draws out the mystic fish. In it
Christ is baptized it widens into a sea on which the
;
ark floats, and which is the scene of the history of
Jonah. We find new subjects in the wall-paintings :
the sacrifice of Abraham, the miracles of Cana, of the
paralytic, and others. Eucharistic symbols, as the

fish with a basket
tripod with loaves and fish, the
of loaves and (?) a vessel of wine on its back, Or-
pheus, the peacock, and

other symbols appear.
The inscriptions express aspirations on behalf of
the departed : that they may be in peace, may be
with the saints, may be refreshed, may enjoy bliss.
SOME CONCLUSIONS. 359
Friends offer for them to God the sacrifice of thanks-
giving.
The peace of the Church at the beginning of the f.
fourth century naturally leads to a great extension
of Christian Art. The
sculptured sarcophagi become
very numerous, and are the most important existing
monuments of the Christian Art of this and the fol-
lowing century. On these and other monuments
we find all the old cycle of Christian subjects con-
tinued, with little or no change in their conventional
treatment, with some new subjects, as our Lord

before Pilate, and Pilate's declaration of His inno-
cence ;
other Passion subjects begin to be intro-
duced ;
the Nativity, with the legendary ox and ass,
and the Adoration of the Magi, are more frequently
found. The symbol of the cross is not at first openly
put forward, but gradually the XP monogram takes

the form of the cross, with the curl of the P attached
to its upper limb ;
before the end of the century the
cross openly portrayed. The nimbus appears round
is
the head of Christ before the end of the century.

A
great development, due probably to the recent
general persecution, has been given to the reverence
paid to the departed. We
find explicit prayers for
the dead, and requests for their intercession pray :
for such a one, be favourable to such a one, have

such a one in remembrance in thy prayers. The
inscriptions which Bishop Damasus caused to be
over the tombs of his predecessors, in the
<
placed
Callistine Cemetery, mark the point at which prayers
for the intercession of the saints came in.
J Co HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
Chapels begin to be made in the catacombs en-

closing or adjoining the graves of saints and martyrs,
and commemorative services are said there ; a saint's
tomb is sometimes used as the altar. Pilgrimages
to the tombs of the martyrs become common the
;
pilgrims inscribe their names, invocations, and

prayers upon the walls.
The IxîiQ symbol gradually goes out of use, and
the lamb becomes a popular symbol of Christ, of the
Apostles, and of the Christian flock generally.

In the fifth centtLvy Christ is presented as the
great Teacher of the Church, seated and delivering
rolls (books) to the Apostles. Christ, standing or
seated in the middle, with Apostles on each side of
Him, is a very common no special emblem
subject ;
distinguishes one Apostle from another. Sometimes

tv.'o Apostles, no doubt St. Peter and St. Paul, are sepa-
rated from the rest, and placed prominently on each

side of our Lord, as the Principes AroSTOLORUM.*
*
Bishop Leo I. (440-461) speaks of these two Apostles as those
"whom the grace of Christ had raised to such a height among all the
members of the Church, that they were as the two eyes of the body
of which Christ is the Head, so that we ought not to think of them as
differing in merit, since He made them equal by election, alike in
labours, the same in their death" (Serm. Ixxix.J. St. Ambrose
(374-397) says the primacy of Peter is in faith, not of order (" Ue
Incarn.," c. 4) and, in another place, "neither was Paul inferior to
;
Peter" ("De Spirit Sanct.," ii. 13). St. Augustine, speaking of St.
Paul, says he is the head and prince of the Apostles (Migne's edition,
iii.
2313). Pope Vitalian, in his letter to Otway of Northumbria (a.d.
665), exhorts him to "continue in all things delivered by the blessed
Apostles Peter and Paul, whose doctrine daily enlightens the hearts
of believers, even as the two heavenly lights, the sun and moon, clearly
illumine all the earch." The heads of the two Apostles appear on the
seal of Ihe See from the earliest period ; they were the joint founders
and patron saints of the Roman Church.
Prominence begins to be given to St. Peter, but

he not yet represented with the keys.
is He is
represented as Moses striking the rock, an allusion,
perhaps, to his admission of Jews (at Pentecost) and
Gentiles (Cornelius and his friends) to baptism. In
the eighth century Art bears witness to the de-
*
velopment of the papal idea in the mosaic of the
tribune of the greater triclinium, in the palace of the
Lateran, where the principal subject is Christ with the
Apostles, in which Peter is distinguished by the keys
and a cross of two bars ;
in the spandrels, on each side
of the principal subject, are, on the
left, Christ giving
the keys to Peter and the banner to Constantine on ;
the right, Peter giving the pall to Pope Leo and the
banner to Charles the Great. Peter and Constantine
have the circular nimbus, Leo and Charles the square
nimbus. The representation of the cross becomes
usual and replaces the XP monogram, but the
crucifix does not yet appear. The use of pectoral
crosses and medals with sacred subjects becomes
usual.
The crucifix does not appear till the sixth century, p
and there is no attempt at realism. Christ stands
in front of the cross, with arms extended horizontally,
and is always clothed in a tunic. The miniature at
p. 202 shows the sixth-century, and the ivory plaque
at p. 300 shows the eighth-century modification of
the subject.
The Byzantine epoch is the point from which a Q
number of new ideas begin to appear in Christian Art.
* Bunsen's "Die Basiliken des Christ. Roms.," Plate XLIII.
The monuments of the Christian Art of the early

centuries prove the non-catholicity of certain
me-
dieeval and modern doctrines and practices, and their
silence with respect to others is a protest against
them.
It is interesting to realize how different the ex-
ternal aspect of the civilized world had become

has been
during the latter part of the period which
under consideration, from that which it wore in the
earlier part of the period.
Then the great architectural ornaments of every
city were the colonnaded fagades of its temples ; the

subjects of art— statues, bas-reliefs, bronzes, paint-
ings
— were
taken from the heathen mythology and
the stories of the classic poets every action of ;
common life was attended by some superstitious

custom at every meal they poured out a libation to
;
the gods they beaded the thread of their discourse

;
with frequent oaths: "by Jupiter," "by Hercules,"

and " by Bacchus."
Now
the churches were the great public buildings
of every city the subjects of all art were taken
;
from the Holy Scriptures; over the doorways in

the streets were sculptured Christian symbols and
sacred the fountains in the
monograms ; public
squares were bronzes of the Good Shepherd and

Daniel in the lions' den the interiors, not only of
;
the churches, but of the houses also, were covered
with paintings of the cycle of symbolical and Scrip-

ture subjects with which we are familiar; the very
dress and personal adornments of the people, and

the utensils for common household use, were orna-
mented with Scripture subjects the gestured sign
;
of the cross hallowed every action the whole ex- ;
ternal appearance of life was Christian the common ;
talk, the popular songs, were of religion.* Arius
popularized his views in Alexandria

by songs
adapted to all classes, and Ambrose wrote popular
hymns to fortify his Milanese against the prosely-
tizing efforts of Justina. how, at Beth-

Jerome tells
lehem, psalms and hymns were the ballads of the
ploughman and the vine-dresser. In Chrysostom's

time the favourite topic of the street and gossip of
the market was the contemporary doctrinal con-
troversy. It had become a Christian world ;
and
not unfittingly, during the first half of the fifth
century, reigning empress, Pulcheria, was a

the
Church virgin ; in her palace the religious exercises
and discipline of a monastery Vv-ere maintained and ;
out of the midst of this seclusion the imperial nun

ably and successfully administered the affairs of the
East for nearly forty years.
Finally, there is nothing in the history of early

—
Christian Art to discourage us but rather the con-
j-rary
— from
frankly and fully using the Arts in the
service of Religion. The aesthetic side of our nature,
which recognizes the noblest aspect of things
in the actual world and in ordinary life, and deals
with human aspirations and ideals, is akin to the
religious sentiment. Our English religion has long

jbeen cold and unlovely, to a degree which ought

not to exist in a true representation of Christianity,
not only by reason of some popular doctrines not
really belonging to which shock the heart, but

it,
also owing to its repression of the imagination and

taste. The Arts receive a new impulse when
will
Religion them
shall give scope for works of the
highest character for the adornment of its temples ;
and the Arts will repay Religion by teaching its

lessons with a force with which mere words cannot
teach, and by bringing out its poetry and beauty.

INDEX.
Catacombs at Rome, 107-123 5

Ancyra, tombs of martyrs there,
149 Naples, 127, 128 ; Cyrene, 129 ;
Anicius Probus, sarcophagus of, Alexandria, 129 ; description of
A.n. 395, 271 their original state by Jerome,
Apostolic worship, 8 ; vestments, 9 125 ; by Prudentius, 125 ; dis-
used for burial, 127 deserted,
Apse, modification of the tabli- ;
num, 33 ; western, So 127

Cemeteries, at Colchester, 103
Architecture of early churches, 65, ;
66, 70, 76 ; Byzantine, 81-86 family, 103; public, 119

Art the handmaid of religion, 363 Chair of St. Peter, 299 ; of Maxi-
Atrium, description of, 18 minus, 299
Chapels in the catacombs, 122,
Baptism, mode of administering, 151 ; in churches, 156
90-92, 97, 98 Chapter houses, 99
Christian definition I ;
Baptisteries, early, 93 ; design of, art, of,
94 historical value of, 3

Basilica in the house of Theo- Churches, in houses, 1 1-23; public,
philus at Antioch, 15 first built, 29, 35 ; numerous
Basilican church, description of, 40 before Constantine, 30, 31 ;
Benedict Biscop, introduced plan of, 32 ; description of, at
Christian art into Northumbria, Tyre, 42
i6f Church, the, represented as a
Bethlehem, church at, 62 woman, 245
Buckles ornamented with sacred Ccenaculum, 6
subjects, 332 Coins with Christian emblems,
Byzantine architecture, 81-86 336-341
Coiifessio, 146
Catacombs, a hiding-place from Constantine, arch of, 49 ; churches
persecution, 141 ; violated by of, 53,61-64

the Lombards, 127, 151 Constantinople, churches at, 63, 85
366 INDEX.
Conventional treatment of ^sub- Greek art, 2

jects, 179 Good Shepherd, 254-257
Crucifixion, 199, 202 Graffiti, 156, 199
Crypts, reminiscences of the cata- Groups of subjects, 227-233, 268-
combs, 155 ; at Ripon and 276, 307
Hexham, 155; Canterbury, 155
Curtain between atrium and tabli- Hippolytus, statue of, 258
num, 19 House, the early Churches as-

Cycle of scriptural subjects, 182, sembled in, 10-23 Christian
;
214-233 symbols on exterior of, 74 ; de-

scription of Greek and Roman,
Deceased persons, representations
iS
of, 235, etc.
Dome, introduced, 81-84 ;

in Illuminated manuscripts, 312
Europe, 86 Incense, 321, 322
Drinkinj-vessels, 332 Inscriptions, 348, et seq., 359
Invocations of the saints, 156,
Emblems, 196 cross, 197 ; ;
mono-
157, 358
gram XP, 231 A and n, 203 ;
Irish examples of early school of
Emblems, personal, 249
sculpture, 2S2
England, early churches in, 87 ;
Ivory carvings, 297
paintings in, 167 ; sarcophagi
in, 280, 281 ; illuminated manu-
Jerusalem, churches at, li, 63
scripts in, 316, 321 ; reliquaries
Jesus Christ, representations of,
in, 326 ; lamps in, 335 1S6
Funeral customs, classical, 102 ;

Junius Bassus, sarcophagus of,
A.D, 359, 269
Jewish, 104; Christian, 106
Funeral feast, 141, 143, 245,
Lamps for sacred use, 322, 323,
246-248
333 for domestic use, 334
Funeral rites, heathen, I41 ;
;
Lazarus, raising of, an illustration

Christian, 142
of early tombs, 152-155
Gaul, churches of, at Lyons, 78 ;
Tours, 79 ; Clermont, 79 ; Martyrs, honours paid to, 145,

Avignon, Alet, Poictiers, Ro- 146
man Motier, So ; Aries, St. Medals with Christian emblems
Gilles, Treves, 80 and subjects, 342
Gaul, sarcophagi of, 27S, 2S0 Milan, Church of St. Ambrose, 69
Gems with Christian subjects, 344 Monumental stones, 137; at Prym-
Gilded glass vessels, 304 ;
their nessos, 139 in
England, 140
;
original use, 310; secondary Mosaic,' manufacture of, 284;

use, 311 designs of, 284
Glass vessels, 309
Gold and silver vessels, 8, 320 ; Oil from the lamps of the saints,
of St. Reter's, 321 ; of Sta. 323
Sophia, 321 Oranti, 235-240
INDEX. 367
Painting, classical, 160, 265 ; Sextus, Bishop of Rome, martyred,

Christian, 161 ; of different 147
periods, 171 ; descriptions of, SS. John and Paul, house of,
by ancient authors, 166, 183 ; 150, 170; church of, 150

in houses, 169, 329 ; Christian, St. Alban, 152
early use of it, 165 St. Gregory the Great, his pre-
Parenzo, church at, 77 sents to Theodelinda, 298, 323 ;
Pax of 300
ivory, to Augiistine, 316
Persecutions, 25-29 ; Diocletian, St. Peter and Paul, palron saints
145 of Rome, 360
Pilgrimages to the catacombs, St. Peter, statue of,

259
125, 156, 323 Symbolical subjects, 204 ; Good
Pillars, monumental, 132, 137 Shepherd, 204 ; lamb, 204 ; fish,
Pompeii, the street of the tombs, 205 ; Ichthus, 205 ; fisherman,

132 206 ; ship, 2o5 ; anchor, 207 ;
Pyxes of ivory, 301 amphora, 207 ; vine, 207 ; olive,
208 ; palm, 208 ; birds, 209 ;
Rabula, Syriac manuscript of, 232,
sheep, 209 ; goats, 209 ; pea-
313,315 cock, 209 ; Phoenix, 209 ; Or-
Ravenna, churches at, 76 ; sarco- pheus, 210; ox and ass, 211 ;
phagi at, 276, 278 ; mosaics at, Mount of Paradise, 212; stag,
291 212 hand, 213 ; nimbus, 213 ;
;
Relics removed from the cata-
aureole, 214 ; from the Old and
combs, 151 ; placed in churches, New Testaments, Daniel, 215 ;
151. 155 three children, 216 ; Jonah,

Reliquaries of ivory, 301. ; of 216 ; Lazarus, 217 ; Noah, 217 ;
metal, 323 sacrifice of Isaac, 219 ; paralytic,

Rings with Christian subjects, 344 219 ; infirm woman, 220 ; blind
Roman art, 2
man, 220; Red Sea, 221;
Rome, St. Peter's Church, 58 ;
Moses in various scenes, 221-
St. Paul's, 59 ; St. Agnes, 61 ;
224 Job, 224 ; Eve, 224 ; the
;
St. Clement, 67 Fall, 224 ; Abel and Cain, 225 ;
Elijah, 225 ; baptism of our
Salone, sarcophagi at, 278
Lord, 225 ; triumphal entry,
Sarcophagi, 259-281 ; pagan
used for Christian burial, 279- 225 ; arrest of Christ, 225
2S1 Symbolism, came from the East,
176 its growth, 178
Sarvistan, palace at, 81
;
Scribblings on walls and tombs,

Symbols of the Eucharist, 226
Syrian churches, 35-37, 70-73
156, 199
Scripture subjects on sarcophagi,
227 Temples, classical, 55 ; converted
Chris- into churches, 56, 57
Sculpture, classical, 253 j
tian, 261 Thessalonica, churches at, 75

Sepulchres, subterranean, at Thorns, blocking church doors
Rome, 104; Syrian, 136 with, 150
368 INDEX.
Tombs, classical, at Rome, etc., Joppa, 12; Troas, 12; Rome,

131 ; Jerusalem, 132 ;
of St. 16; of Mary at Jerusalem,
Helena, 133 ; of Constantia, service in it, 8 ; the Church of
133; at Hass, 134 the Apostles, 10
Torcello, bishop's throne at, 69

Virgin Mary (supposed representa-
Upper classes, converts of the, tions oQ, 239-244, 315
12-15
Upper room, at Jerusalem, 6; Water-vessels, 330
J-
>-
y^
.\y- ,
A"
V V)
y
^^\ r
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES»
^ X.
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388
Return this material to the library
from which it was borrowed.
7
N 7832. C983H
3 1158 00014 9871
FACI
UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY
AA 000 261 694 4

History of Early Christian Art PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

History of Early Christian Art PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

History of Early Christian Art PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

I

EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.

REV. EDWARD L. CUTIS, D.D.,

rUBLISIIED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.

43,QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.

New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO-

The special object of this book is to make more

throwing light upon the early history of the Church.

open to every student, the writer has exercised an

contributed to put some things in a clearer light,

e.g. the externals of the worship of the Churches

before the time of Constantine.

Some care has been taken to show how the early

phase of the Church's life links on to the beginnings

of our own English Church history.

Grateful acknowledgments are hereby tendered to

the authorities of the Science and Art Department

at South Kensington, for permission to make use

of reproductions of the woodcuts of sarcophagi, etc.

permission to use reduced copies oi some of the

plates of the Count M. de Voguee's important work

EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.

THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE.

dignity of the room and service ; it was the Church of the

St. Pontus ; at Bourges in Gregory of Tours, in the

and rebuilt on the same site

ARCHITECTURE OF THE PUBLIC CHURCHES BEFORE

Description of a Basilican Church— The

at Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Constantinople Effect of Con- —

arch with an upper tier of columns St. Clement's, Rome

bouda Qualb Louzeh ; Tourmanin — Domestic architecture

Churches of Gaul: Lyons; St. Martin's, Tours;

gotten ... ... ... ... ... "• 101

Classical paintings at Rome

mouth and Jarrow —

House of SS. John and Paul, Rome Subjects of paintings —

narrow cycle of subjects Originated in the East The IX0T2; — —

THE LIKENESSES OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES.

The earliest representations conventional statuary group

the monogram — Symbolical subjects the shepherd the :

lamb ; the fish ;

vine ;palm ; doves ; sheep ; goats ; peacock ; phoenix ;

Orpheus mount with four streams ; stag drinking nimbus ; ;

Symbolical subjects from the Old and New Testa-

woman the blind man the passage of the Red

seizure of Moses (?) ; striking the rock ; Job ; creation of Eve ;

translation of Elijah ; baptism of Christ ; entry into Jeru-

Lateran and Vatican collections — Groups of subjects

ceilings, gilded glass, arcosolia ... ... .., 195

sarcophagi used for burial of

two baptisteries; St. Vitalis; St. Apollinare Nuovo ; in Classe

Consular Diptychs ; Church Diptychs Diptych of St. Gregory- —

£C?"aved glasses — nnnl use: menorial nn lica'ion

the Cotton Library; the C.C.C. Cambridge and Bodleian

with EN EIPHNH— Coins with Christian symbols of Con- :

stantine, etc.— Medals pectoral crosses— Gems primitive :

use of them with Christian symbols— Clement of Alexandria