Etiquette and the Early Roman Christian Basilica: Questions of Authority, Patronage, and Reception

Abstract

The genesis of the early Roman Christian basilica occurred at a moment of historical transition as the emperor and the empire began the process of converting to the Christian religion. Typically, this era has received scholarly treatment either as the end of a time in which the emperor held supremacy or the beginning of one dominated by bishops. The exact moment of `redefinition,' however, has rarely attracted attention because of the assertive oligarchies that bookended this transitional period, the Roman emperor and the Christian pontificate. Richard Krautheimer, who focused much of his attention on the historical figure of Constantine, promoted the idea that the basilica was Constantine's way of imbuing the Christian church with imperial authority and connotations; effectively, Constantine forever changed the shape of Christian churches. This explanation of the pivotal moment of genesis has been generally accepted and the moment of transition has not received much attention from scholars since. In my thesis I will focus primarily on this moment of transition. I will explore the political climate of the government, the authoritative hierarchy of the church, and the precedents of the very first early Roman Christian basilica, at the Lateran. The method that I will employ is the theory of etiquette, operating under the assumption that in every historical period, there is a general understanding of what is `fitting' and `appropriate.' Because of the paucity of material evidence and the unreliability of surviving primary sources, it is generally impossible to make incontestable statements about who was responsible for the early Roman Christian basilica, what they intended to convey to the Roman population, and how appropriate it would have been given the social decorum of the time. Thus, conclusions of this nature are not the primary focus of this thesis. Instead I will concentrate on reconstructing who the most appropriate agent of authority is, and how suitable the early Roman Christian basilica might have seemed.