Old St. Peter’s Basilica

• Be able to meet requirements of rituals

• Provide a suitable monumental setting

• Accommodate the rapidly growing number of Christian followers

• Latin cross plan = the longer arm of the cross formed the name of the church

• Saint Peter → Petrus → Greek “rock”

• Baldacchino = a canopy on columns, frequently built over an altar

• Stood on Vatican Hill where St. Peter is buried

• Fallen into disrepair

  • Demolished and built a new one

Portraits of the Four Tetrarchs'

• Embedded in the corner of the church

  • Doesn’t belong there

  • Color is different

  • Spoils from the Fourth Crusade

• Diocletian set up tetrarchy

  • Four rulers → 2 seniors, 2 juniors

• Impossible to tell who’s who

• Stand in very similar positions

• Same body sizes

• In each pair, one is bearded and one isn’t.

  • Faces still look exactly the same and are very abstracted

• Clothes are identical

• Inherited the legacy of ancient Greece and Rome, but there’s a rejection of all naturalism that had come before.

• Express valor, sense of working together, of harmony.

  • Grasp each other

• Military figures

  • Grasping their swords

  • Eagle hilts

• Drapery

  • Simply cut linear forms

• Proportions not natural

  • Heads too big for their bodies

  • Shoulders are narrow

Samuel Anoints David (Synagogue at Dura-Europas, Syria)

• Biblical story of the prophet Samuel choosing David as the future king of Israel

• Samuel standing, holding a horn filled with oil, anointing David, who is among his brothers.

• Dressed in Roman-syle tunics → Greco-Roman artistic influences of the period

• Significant event → God’s choice of David

• Combines Jewish religious themes with artistic conventions that were common in the Greco-Roman world

• Lack depth or shading but vibrant and colorful

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

• Taken conventions from Greek and Roman art and converted it into a Christian context

• Jesus on top of the Roman god of the sky → Jesus above all gods

  • Left hands with scrolls → Christ as the lawgiver

• Old Testament stories

  • Adam and Eve

    • Nude

    • Separated by a tree

    • Serpent → symbol of evil that will tempt Adam

      • Causing the downfall of mankind

      • Requiring Christ in order to save mankind

  • Daniel in the lion’s den

  • Sacrifice of Isaac

• New Testament stories

  • Christ entering Jerusalem

    • Tradition of Roman emperors entering triumphantly on horseback → Christ enters very humbly

• Sarcophagus of a pagan and then converted to Christianity

  • Wealthy

    • Jesus, Peter, and Paul framed by Corinthian columns carved with angelic figures

    • Classical quality

• No image of the crucifixion of Christ

• Christ enthroned at the top center

  • Surrounded on either side of Peter and Paul

  • Looks much more like a youthful Roman emperor than the image of the bearded older Christ

• Resemblance to other figures from the 4th century

  • Generally classical

  • Togas and ancient Roman clothing

  • But heads are. a little big and their bodies a little squat

Vocabulary

• Edict of Milan

  • Proclamation issued by Constantine and Licinius that granted religious tolerance to Christians and other faiths within the Roman Empire

  • Ordered the return of confiscated property to Christians

  • Led to massive spread of Christianity

  • Not made the official state religion of the Roman Empire until the Edict of Thessalonica

• Mystery cults

  • Religious groups that were secretive and involved initiation rites

  • Supplement to traditional religious practices

  • Members were expected to maintain the secrecy of the cult’s rituals and knowledge

  • Fees and other contributions and was a way to gain a new status and closer relationship with the divine

  • Based on sacred stories

• Baptistery

  • Beginning of a believer’s spiritual journey

  • Large, octagonal buildings attached to cathedrals

• Torah

  • Law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures

• Old and New Testaments

  • Old Testament

    • First part of the Christian Bible

    • Comprising 39 books and corresponding approximately to the Hebrew Bible

  • New Testament

    • Second part of the Christian Bible

    • Written originally in Greek

    • Recording the life and teachings of Jesus and his earliest followers

• Evangelists / evangelical beasts

  • Evangelists: person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching.

  • Evangelical beasts

    • Matthew: winged man or angel → Jesus’s incarnation and Christ’s human nature

    • Mark: winged lion → courage and monarchy

    • Luke: ox → sacrificial nature of Christ’s ministry

    • John: winged eagle → his visions and heavenly opening of his gospel

• Orant

  • Figure in a posture of prayer

  • Standing with outstretched arms

• Lunette

  • Arched aperture or window

• Apse

  • Large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church

  • Usually containing the altar

• Transept

  • Either the two parts forming the arms of the cross shape, projecting at right angles from the nave.

• Narthex

  • Antechamber, porch, or distinct area at the western entrance of some early Christian churches, separated off by a railing

• Aisles

  • Passage between rows of seats in a building

• Nave

  • Central part of a church building

  • Accommodate most of the congregation

• Atrium

  • Open courtyard at the entrance of a church, usually surrounded by covered aisles.

• Chi rho

  • Christian symbol that is a combination of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ

  • Symbol of faith and identity and is often used to represent the divine nature of Christ and his role in salvation

• Tetrarchy

  • Form of government where power is divided among four people

• Putto/putti

  • Representation of a naked child, especially a cherub or a cupid in Renaissance art

• Liturgy

  • Form or formulary according to which public religious worship is conducted

• Catacombs

  • Underground cemetery consisting of a subterranean gallery with recesses for tombs

  • Constructed by the ancient Romans