RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Architecture
4. Origin
of the
Christian
Basilica.
impossible to answer certainly from direct tradition. But it can not be avoided, because on it depends another, as to the origin of the Christian basilica, than which there is none more important in the whole range of ecclesiastical archeology. The basilica has an influence on the development of church architecture to the present day, and this development is unintelligible without an attempt to arrive at a theory of the origin of this structural form. Its definition is not matter of controversy; it is an oblong building, divided by rows of pillars into three (or sometimes five) aisles, the central one the highest and covered with a flat roof, with a projecting addition, generally semicircular, more rarely square, at one end. When, however, it is asked how such a building came to be constructed for Christian worship, there is no such possibility of agreement. It has been held to have originated from the forensic basilica or the so called private basilica; from the Roman dwelling-house or the cella cimiterialis ; and from the demands of Christian worship by a new creation. The limits of an article like the present preclude minute examination of these various theories; but obvious objections lie against all of them, as they are expressed by their defenders. The most certain fact in this whole discussion is that when the Church was established under Constantine, it did not need to go in search of a form for its buildings; the form already existed, substantially the same in all parts of the empire. It is not too much to say that we are forced to consider the form found in the beginning of the fourth century as the product of a long course of development. From what has been said, it follows that this development took place approximately from 180 to 300. Eusebius (Hist, eccl., viii. 1, 5) indicates that before 260 the churches were what we might call small oratories, but increased in size after that date — though this increase must not be exaggerated; the facts that the famous church of Nicomedia could be razed to the ground in a few hours (Lactantius, De mort. persec, xii., p. 187; Athanasius, Apol. ad Const., xv., ed. Maur, i. 1, p. 241), and that the churches of Treves and Aquileia needed to be replaced by larger buildings as early as 336, show that it was only relative. Thus, though the hypothesis of a development from the private house of the earliest age is attractive, it does not lead directly to the basilican form, which in its essence requires a considerable size; a basilica for one or even two hundred people could not have been constructed. What we need, and what these various theories do not provide, is an intermediate stage.
A direct prescription as to church-building is found for the first time in a fourth century passage incorporated with the Apostolic Constitutions (II. lvii. 3), which shows what was then regarded as essential. This was very little; it is limited to a marking of the distinction between Building, clergy and laity, and a special place for the bishop. Accordingly, the place set apart for the clergy was a more or less i'-ed dimension; its form might vary— it might be
5. First Step toward a Church
made either by the cutting off of one end, or by the addition of a semicircular or oblong space, in the middle of which was the bishop's seat. That the semicircular or apsidal form finally prevailed is due partly to acoustic considerations — the bishop preached from his throne — and partly to the esthetic motive which made this form a popular one in the architecture of the imperial period. The space assigned to the laity, as long as they were comparatively few in number, could only be a simple oblong, the form which appears as normal in the Apostolic Constitutions. This general type, of a simple oblong room with an apse at one end, may safely be taken as that of the churches which after 260 were demolished or abandoned. None of them is preserved; but churches like Santa Balbina in Rome and that of Hidra in Africa show that this form did not at once disappear even when the basilica became the recognized type. The Hidra church is particularly instructive; it is square and small — if the measurements given by Kraus are correct, the sides are only about 20 feet, with a corresponding apsidal presbyterium. This is the church for not more than 100 people which we need for our intermediate stage.
The development from this to the basilica falls probably in the period between 260 and 303, which
was marked by great activity in build-
6. Second ing. The motive of the change was
Step. the need for more space; the problem
was, how to attain this end without upsetting the recognized plan of an oblong auditorium with an added apse for the clergy. The proportional lengthening of the main hall could not go far, as the extension of the width was limited. The only thing to do was to break up the width, and thus came a division of aisles. The final solution, that of a wide central division with narrower side aisles, does not seem to have been reached at once; the basilica at Hidra shows the singular arrangement of side aisles wider than the middle section. A period of experiment must have come first; but, given the division, both esthetic and practical considerations inevitably suggested the plan finally adopted. The middle section being the main division, its raising to a greater height followed, for purposes of lighting, especially since other buildings must have frequently stood on each side of the church. This arrangement was not new; it has been found, for example, in the temples of Hierapolis and Samothrace: and thus it is not surprising that the same or a similar solution of the problem was found simultaneously in different places — though it probably required some time for this solution to be universally recognized as the best, as it was in the fourth century. The designation of churches as basilicas must have begun in the third century, since it is already a familiar term at the beginning of the fourth. This transition was the easier because the original meaning of the word had been practically superseded by what was nearly the sense of our word " hall."
With the reign of Constantine begins the building of large and splendid churches, through his encouragement and the activity of the bishops, first in the East, later in Rome and the West. The earli-
Architecture