Chapter XV: Act 1898: the official principal of the archbishop is required to (4)

_Private Houses_.-The entire absence of the remains of the private
houses of Rome, with the single exception of the house of Livia on the
Palatine, would have left us with a very poor insight into their
design were it not for the discovery of Pompeii (q.v.) and Herculaneum
(q.v.). The descriptions given by Pliny of the lavish extravagance in
the Roman houses, and the employment of various Greek marbles in the
shape of monolith columns and panelling of walls, are substantiated by
those which are found in the Pantheon, in the palaces on the Palatine,
and in Hadrian's villa at Tivoli; and these compared with what is
found at Pompeii show that the latter was only a provincial town of
second or third-rate importance, where painted imitations took the
place of real marbles, and where the wall paintings were very inferior
to those which have been discovered in Rome. (R. P. S.)

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE

The term "Byzantine" is applied to the style of architecture which was
developed in Byzantium after Constantine had transferred the capital
of the Roman empire to that city in A.D. 324.

It is not possible, in the early ages of any style which is based on
preceding or contemporaneous styles, to draw any hard and fast line of
demarcation; and already before the Peace of the Church, a gradual
transformation in the Roman style had been taking place, even in Rome
itself. Thus the arch had gradually been taking the place of the
lintel, either frankly as a relieving arch above it (portico of
Pantheon), or introduced in the frieze just above the architrave (San
Lorenzo), or by the conversion of the architrave into a flat arch by
dividing it into voussoirs, as in the Forum Julium at Rome or in the
temple of Jupiter at Baalbek. In the palace built by Diocletian at
Spalato, the architrave or lintel of the Golden Gate is built with
several voussoirs, and the pressure is further relieved by an arch
thrown across above it. Long before this, however, and already in the
2nd century A.D. in Syria, this relieving arch had been moulded and
decorated, with the result of emphasizing it as a new architectural
feature. In this same palace at Spalato, in order to obtain a wider
opening in the centre of the portico, leading to the throne room, it
was spanned by an arch, round which were carried the mouldings of the
whole entablature, viz. architrave, frieze and cornice. At a still
earlier date in Syria the same had been done in the Propylaea of the
temple at Damascus (A.D. 151) and other examples are found in North
Africa.

Now when Constantine transferred the capital to Byzantium, he is said
to have imported immense quantities of monolith columns from Rome, and
also workmen to carry out the embellishments of the new capital; for
his work there was not confined to churches, but included
amphitheatres, palaces, thermae and other public buildings. Owing to
the haste with which these were built, and in some cases probably to
the ephemeral materials employed, for the roofs of the churches were
only in timber, all these early works have been swept away; but there
remain two structures at least, which are said to date from
Constantine's time, viz. the Binbirderek or cistern of a thousand
columns, and the Yeri-Batan-Serai, both in Constantinople. As one of
the first tasks a Roman emperor set himself to perform was the
provision of an ample supply of water, of which Byzantium was much in
need, there is every reason to suppose that they are correctly
attributed to Constantine's time. If so, as the construction of their
vaults is quite different from that employed by the Romans, it
suggests that there already existed in the East a traditional method
of building vaults of which the emperor availed himself; and, although
it is not possible to trace all the earlier developments, the
traditional art of the East, found throughout Syria and Asia Minor,
must from the first have wrought great changes in the architectural
style, and in some measure this would account for the comparatively
short period of two centuries which elapsed between the foundation of
the new empire and the culminating period of the style under Justinian
in AD. 532-558.

Constantine is said to have built three churches in Palestine, but
these have either disappeared or have been reconstructed since; an
early basilican church is that of St John Studius (the Baptist) in
Constantinople, dating from A.D. 463, and though it shows but little
deviation from classic examples, in the design and vigorous execution
of the carving in the capitals and the entablature we find the germ of
the new style. The next typical example is that found in the church of
St Demetrius at Salonica, a basilican church with atrium in front, a
narthex, nave and double aisles, with capacious galleries on the first
floor for women, and an apsidal termination to the nave. Instead of
the classic entablature, the monolithic columns of the nave carry
arches both on the ground and upper storeys; above the capitals,
however, we find a new feature known as the _dosseret_, already
employed in the two cisterns referred to, a cubical block projecting
beyond the capital on each side and enabling it to carry a thicker
wall above. In later examples, when the aisles were vaulted, the
dosseret served a still more important purpose, in carrying the
springing of the vaults. The nave and aisles of this church of St
Demetrius were covered with timber roofs, as the architects had
neither the knowledge, the skill, nor perhaps the materials to build
vaults, so as to render the whole church indestructible by fire.

One of the first attempts at this (though the early date given is
disputed) would seem to have been made at Hierapolis, on the borders
of Phrygia in Asia Minor, where there are two churches covered with
barrel vaults carried on transverse ribs across the nave, the thrust
of which was met by carrying up solid walls on each side, these walls
being pierced with openings so as to form aisles on the ground floor
and galleries above. The same system was carried out a century earlier
in central Syria, where, in consequence of the absence of timber, the
buildings had to be roofed with slabs of stone carried on arches
across the nave. It is probable that in course of time other examples
will be found in Asia Minor, giving a more definite clue to the next
development, which we find in the work of Justinian, who would seem to
have recognized that the employment of timber or combustible materials
was fatal to the long duration of such buildings. Accordingly in the
first church which he built (fig. 27), that of SS. Sergius and Bacchus
(A.D. 527), the whole building is vaulted; the church is about 100 ft.
square, with a narthex on one side. The central portion of the church
is octagonal (52 ft. wide), and is covered by a dome, carried on
arches across the eight sides, which are filled in with columns on two
storeys. These are recessed on the diagonal lines, forming apses. The
vault is divided into thirty-two zones, the zones being alternately
flat and concave.

We now pass to Justinian's greatest work, the church of St Sophia
(fig. 28), begun in 532 and dedicated in 537, which marks the highest
development of the Byzantine style and became the model on which all
Greek churches, and even the mosques built by the Mahommedans in
Constantinople, from the 15th century onwards, were based. The
architects employed were Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus,
and the problem they had to solve was that of carrying a dome 107 ft.
in diameter on four arches. The four arches formed a square on plan,
and between them were built spherical pendentives, which, overhanging
the angles, reduced the centre to a circle on which the dome was
built. This dome fell down in 555, and when rebuilt was raised higher
and pierced round its lower part with forty circular-headed windows,
which give an extraordinary lightness to the structure. At the east
and west ends are immense apses, the full width of the dome, which are
again subdivided into three smaller apses. The north and south arches
are filled with lofty columns carrying arches opening into the aisle
on the ground storey and a gallery on the upper storey, the walls
above being pierced with windows of immense size. The church was built
in brick, and internally the walls were encased with thin slabs of
precious marble up to a great height (fig. 29). The walls and vault
above were covered with mosaics on a gold ground, which, as they
represented Christian subjects, were all covered over with stucco by
the Turks after the taking of Constantinople. During the restoration
in the middle of the 19th century, when it became necessary to strip
off the stucco, these mosaics were all drawn and published by
Salzenburg, and they were covered again with plaster to prevent their
destruction by the Turks. The columns of the whole church on the
ground floor are of porphyry, and on the upper storey of verd antique.
The length of the church from entrance door to eastern apse is 260
ft.; in width, including the aisles, it measures 238 ft., and it
measures 175 ft. to the apex of the dome. The columns and arches give
scale to the small apses, the small apses to the larger ones, and the
latter to the dome, so that its immense size is grasped from the
first. The lighting is admirably distributed, and the rich decoration
of the marble slabs, the monolith columns, the elaborate carving of
the capitals, the beautiful marble inlays of the spandrils above the
arches, and the glimpse here and there of some of the mosaic, which
shows through the stucco, give to this church an effect which is
unparalleled by any other interior in the world. The narthex or
entrance vestibule forms a magnificent hall 240 ft. in length, equally
richly decorated. Externally the building has little pretensions to
architectural beauty, but its dimensions and varied outline, with the
groups of smaller and larger apses and domes, make it an impressive
structure, to which the Turkish minarets, though ungainly, add
picturesqueness.

In A.D. 536 a second important church was begun by Theodora, the
church of the Holy Apostles, which was destroyed in 1454 by order of
Mahommed II. to build his mosque. The design of this church is known
only from the clear description given by Procopius, the historian who
has transmitted to us the record of Justinian's work, and its chief
interest to us now is that it forms the model on which the church of
St Mark at Venice was based, when it was restored, added to, and
almost rebuilt about 1063.

The church of St Sophia was not only the finest of its kind at the
time of its erection, but no building approaching it has ever been
built since in the Byzantine style, nor does much seem to have been
done for two or three centuries afterwards. At the same time the
erection of new churches must have been going on, because there are
certain changes in design, the results probably of many trials. The
difficulty of obtaining sufficient light in domes of small diameter
led to the windows being placed in vertical drums, of which the
earliest example is that of the western dome of St Irene at
Constantinople, rebuilt A.D. 718-740. This simplified the construction
and externally added to the effect of the church. The greatest change,
however, which took place, arose in consequence of the comparatively
small dimensions given to the central dome, which rendered it
necessary to provide more space in another way, by increasing the area
on each side, so that the plan developed into what is known as the
Greek cross, in which the four arms are almost equal in dimensions to
the central dome, and were covered with barrel vaults which amply
resisted its thrust. In front of the church a narthex and sometimes an
exonarthex was added, which was of greater width than the church
itself, as in the churches (both in Constantinople) of the Theotokos
and of Chora (A.D. 1080). The latter, better known as the "mosaic
mosque," on account of its splendid decoration in that material, is of
special interest, because in the five arches of its facade we find the
same design as that which originally constituted the front of the
lower part of St Mark's at Venice, before it was encrusted with the
marble casing and the plethora of marble columns and capitals brought
over from Constantinople.

Sometimes an additional church was built adjoining the first church
and dedicated to the immaculate Virgin, as in the church of St Mary
Panachrantos, Constantinople, the church of St Luke of Stiris, Phocis,
and the church in the island of Paros. In the last-named church the
apse still retains its marble seats, rising one above the other, with
the bishop's throne in the centre. In addition to the churches already
mentioned in Constantinople, there are still some which have been
appropriated by the Turks and utilized as mosques. At Mount Athos
there are a large number of Greek churches, ranging from the 10th to
the 16th centuries, which are attached to the monasteries. At Athens
one of the most beautiful examples is preserved in the Catholicon or
cathedral, the materials of which were taken from older classical
buildings. This cathedral measures only 40 ft. by 25 ft., and is now
overpowered by the new cathedral erected close by.

The external design of the Byzantine churches, as a rule, is extremely
simple, but it owes its quality to the fact that its features are
those which arise out of the natural construction of the church. The
domes, the semi-domes over the apses, and the barrel vaults over other
parts of the church, appear externally as well as internally, and as
they are all covered with lead or with tiles, laid direct on the
vaults, they give character to the design and an extremely picturesque
effect. The same principle is observed in the doorways and windows, to
which importance is given by accentuating their constructive features.
The arches, always in brick, are of two orders or rings of arches set
one behind the other, and the voussoirs, alternately in brick and
stone, have the most pleasing effect. The same simple treatment is
given to the walls by the horizontal courses of bricks or tiles,
alternating with the stone courses. In the apse of the church of the
Apostles at Salonica, variety is given by the interlacing of brick
patterns. This elaboration of the surface decoration is carried still
further in the palace of Hebdomon at Blachernae, in Constantinople,
built by Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913-949), where the spandrils of
the arches are inlaid with a mosaic of bricks in various colours
arranged in various patterns.

There would seem to have been a revival in the 11th century, possibly
a reflex of that which was taking place in Europe, and it is to this
period we owe the churches of St Luke in Phocis, the church at Daphne,
and the churches of St Nicodemus and St Theodore in Athens. The finest
example of brick patterns is that which is found in the church of St
Luke of Stiris, attached to the monastery in the province of Phocis,
north of the Gulf of Corinth, of which an admirable monograph was
published in 1901 by the committee of the British School at Athens,
illustrated by measured drawings of the plans, elevations, sections
and mosaics by Messrs Schultz and Barnsley, with a detailed
description. The church of St Luke of Stiris is one of those already
referred to, where a second church dedicated to the Holy Virgin has
been added, but in this case, according to Messrs Schultz and
Barnsley, on the site of a more ancient church of which the narthex
alone was retained. The plan of the great church differs from the
ordinary Greek cross in that the arms of the cross are of much less
width than the central domed square, and arches being thrown across
the angles carry eight pendentives instead of four. On the east side
the Diaconicon and Prothesis are included in the width of the domed
portion instead of forming the eastern termination of the aisles. The
churches at Daphne in Attica and of St Nicodemus at Athens have a
similar plan.

The decoration of the smaller church of St Luke of Stiris is of the
most elaborate character, bright patterns of infinite variety
alternating with the brick courses, and as blocks of marble, removed
from the site of the old city near, were available, they have been
utilized in various parts of the structure and richly carved. The
church at Mistra in the Peloponnesus, 13th century, built in the side
of a hill, is one of the most picturesque examples, and is almost the
only example in which a tower is to be found.

_Armenia._--One other phase of the Byzantine style has still to be
mentioned, the development of church architecture in Armenia, which
follows very much on the same lines as that of the Greek church, with
a central dome on the crossing, a narthex at the west end and a
triapsal east end. In two churches at Echmiadzin and Kutais there are
transeptal apses in addition to those at the east end. One of the
differences to be noted is that the domes and roofs are generally in
stone externally, and this has led to another change; the domes,
though hemispherical inside, have conical roofs over them. There is
also a greater admixture of styles, the Persian, Byzantine and
Romanesque phases entering into the design; the last was probably
derived from the churches of central Syria, as the Armenians were the
only race who seem to have penetrated there, and the finest example,
at Kalat Seman, was at one time in their possession. The church at
Dighur near Ani, of the 7th century, also probably owes its classical
details to the work in central Syria. The most important example of
the Armenian style is found in the cathedral at Ani, the capital of
Armenia, dating from A.D. 1010. In this church pointed arches and
coupled piers are found, with all the characteristics of a complete
pointed-arch style, which, as Fergusson remarks, "might be found in
Italy or Sicily in the 12th or 14th century." Externally the walls are
decorated with lofty blind arcades similar to those in the cathedral
at Pisa and other churches in the same town, which are probably fifty
years later. The elaborate fret carving of the window dressings and
hood moulds are probably borrowed from the tile decoration found in
Persia.

_Russia._--The architecture of Russia is only a somewhat degraded
version of the style of the Byzantine empire. The earliest buildings
of importance are the cathedrals of Kiev and Novgorod, 1019-1054. The
original church of Kiev consisted of nave, with triple aisles each
side, the piers in which are of enormous size, a transept and square
bays of the choir beyond, each with deep apsidal chapels. Externally
the chief features are the bulbous domes adopted from the Tatars,
which sometimes assume great dimensions. Internally, the chief feature
is the Iconostasis, which corresponds to the English rood screen,
except that in Russia it forms a complete separation between the
church and the sanctuary with its altar.

One of the most remarkable churches is that of St Basil at Moscow
(1534-1584), which in plan looks like a central hall, surrounded by
eight other halls of smaller dimensions, all separated one from the
other by vaulted corridors; this arrangement is not intelligible
until one sees the exterior view, which accounts for the plan; each
one of these halls is crowned by lofty towers with bulbous domes, the
centre one rising above all the others and terminated with an
octagonal roof, probably derived from the Armenian conical roof. The
oldest and most interesting church in Moscow is the church of the
Assumption (1479), where the tsars are always crowned; but as it
measures only 74 ft. by 50 ft., it is virtually little more than a
chapel; the plan is that of a Greek cross with central dome and four
others over the angles. One other church deserves mention--at Curtea
de Argesh, in Rumania. It was built in 1517-1526, and though small (90
by 50 ft.), is built entirely of stone, instead of brick covered with
stucco, as is the case with the churches in Moscow. The interior has
been entirely sacrificed to the exterior, the domes being raised to an
extravagant height. The relative proportion of width of nave to height
of dome in St Sophia at Constantinople is about one to two; in the
church at Curtea de Argesh it is about one to five; and yet there can
be little doubt the design was made by one of those Armenian
architects who seem to have been always employed at Constantinople,
and who presumably based their designs there on St Sophia as regards
its principal features. Here, however, he was working for Tatar
employers who attached more importance to display than to good
proportion. In general design the church is based on Armenian work.
The elaborately carved panels and disks are copied from the inlays in
the mosques in Damascus and of Sultan Hassan at Cairo, and the
stalactite cornices and capitals of the columns are transcripts of the
Mahommedan style of Constantinople, which was derived from the style
developed by the Seljuks.

We were only able to point to a single example of a tower in the
Byzantine style, but in Russia the towers not only constitute the
principal accessory to the church but were necessary adjuncts, in
order to provide accommodation for bells, the casting of which has at
all times formed one of the most important crafts in Russia. The chief
examples, all in Moscow, are the tower attached to the church of the
Assumption; the tower of Boris, inside the Kremlin; and that erected
over the sacred gate of the same. But they abound throughout Russia
and in some cases form important features in the principal elevations
on either side of the narthex. (R. P. S.)

EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE

Of the earliest examples of the housing of the Christian church few
remains exist, owing partly to their destruction from time to time by
imperial edicts, and partly to the fact that in most cases they were
only oratories of a small and unpretending nature, which, immediately
after the Peace of the Church, were rebuilt of greater size and with
increased magnificence. In Rome itself, the principal religious centre
was that which was found in the catacombs (q.v.), almost the only
resort in times of persecution. In the houses of the wealthy Romans
who had been converted, rooms were set apart for the reception of the
faithful, and these may have been increased in size by the addition of
side aisles. At all events, either in Rome or in the East, where
greater freedom of worship was observed, the requirements of the
religious had already resulted in a traditional type of plan, which
may account for the similarity of all the great churches built by
Constantine. It has often been assumed that the great Roman basilicas,
if not actually utilized by the Christians, were copied so far as
their design is concerned. This, however, is not borne out by the
facts, there being very little similarity between the first churches
built and the two great Roman basilicas, the Ulpian basilica and that
built by Constantine; the latter was roofed with an immense vault, an
imperishable covering, not attempted till two centuries later in
Byzantium, and the former had its entrance in the centre of the longer
side, and the tribunes at either end were divided off from the
basilica by a double aisle of columns. The basilica plan was adopted
because it was the simplest and most economical building of large size
which could be erected, having an immense central area or nave well
lighted by clerestory windows, and single or double aisles to divide
the two sexes, and further because the immense supply of columns which
could be taken from existing temples or porticoes enabled the
architect to provide at small cost the colonnades or arcades between
the nave and the aisles. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the
temples, for which there was no further use, were largely
appropriated, not only in Italy but in Greece, Sicily and elsewhere,
and it is to this appropriation that we owe the preservation of the
Parthenon, the Erechtheum and the temple of Theseus at Athens. There
are some cases in which it is interesting to note the changes which
were made to convert the temple into a church. In the temple of Athena
at Syracuse, walls were built in between the columns of the peristyle,
the cella was appropriated for the nave, and arcades were cut through
the cella walls to communicate with the peristyle, so as to constitute
the aisles. In the temple of Aphrodisias, in Asia Minor, a further
development occurred. The walls of the cella were taken down, a wall
was built outside the columns of the peristyle to form aisles, and the
columns of the east and west end were taken down and placed in line
with the others, in order to increase the length of the church.

The earliest Christian basilica built in Rome was the Lateran, which
has, however, been so completely transformed in subsequent rebuildings
as to have lost its original character. The next in date was that of
the old St Peter's, which was taken down in 1506, in consequence of
its ruinous condition, in order to make way for the present cathedral,
begun by Pope Julius II. It was of considerable size, covering an area
of 73,000 ft. Its plan consisted of an atrium, or open court, having a
fountain in the centre, and arcades round; a nave, 275 ft. long and 77
ft. wide, with double aisles on each side; a transept, 270 ft. long by
54 ft. wide; and a semi-circular apse or tribune with a radius of 27
ft.; the high altar being in the centre of its choir, and ranges of
marble seats and the papal throne in the middle, corresponding to the
benches and the judge's seat of the Roman tribune. The nave,
therefore, with its double aisles, was similar to that of the Ulpian
basilica, but the aisles were not returned across the east end, and at
the west end, in their place, was the great triumphal arch opening
into the transept. The monolith columns of the nave and their capitals
(together 40 ft. high) were all taken from ancient buildings, as also
were those of the aisle arcades and in the atrium.

The basilica of St Paul, outside the walls, was originally of
comparatively small dimensions, with its apse at the west end; in A.D.
386 the church was rebuilt on a plan similar to St Peter's, with nave
and double aisles, divided by columns carrying arches, transept and
apse. In the Lateran basilica, St Peter's, Santa Maria Maggiore, and
St Lawrence (outside the walls), the columns of the nave were
close-set (i.e. with narrow intercolumniations) and supported
architraves, but in St Paul (outside the walls) the columns of the
second church (A.D. 386) were wider apart and carried arches. The same
feature is found in the church of St Agnes, founded A.D. 324, but
rebuilt 620-640; here the arcade is carried across the west end and
there are galleries above, the arches being carried on dosseret blocks
above the capitals; these are also found in the galleries over the
western end of St Lawrence, added by Honorius (A.D. 620-640); the
dosseret, a Byzantine feature, being derived either from Ravenna or
from the East. In the church of Santa Maria-in-Cosmedin (A.D. 772-795)
another Byzantine feature appears in the triple apse at the east end,
the earliest example in Europe. In this church, as also in those of
San Clemente and San Prassede, piers are built at intervals to carry
the arcades separating the nave and aisles. Those in the latter,
however, were probably added when the great arches were thrown across
the nave. The church of San Clemente was built in 1108, above a much
older church dating from 385 and restored later; it is almost the only
church in Rome which has preserved its atrium intact; the internal
arrangement of the church also is different from that found elsewhere,
the choir, enclosed with marble piers and screens removed from the
lower church and erected in front of the tribune, dating from A.D.
514-523. The mosaics executed in 1112 are in fine preservation.

Other early churches in Rome are those of Santa Pudenziana (335); San
Pietro-in-Vincoli (442), with Doric columns in the nave; SS. Quattro
Coronati (450); Santa Sabina (450), an interesting church on account
of the marble inlaid decoration in the arch spandrils of the nave,
which date from 824; San Prassede (817), with arches thrown across the
nave later; San Vincenzo ed Anastasio alle Tre Fontane (626); and
Santa Maria in Domnica, where there are galleries over the aisles and
across the east end as in St Agnes.

Hitherto we have said little about the architectural design, the fact
being that externally these churches had the appearance of barns; it
is only in a few cases, notably in St Peter's, that the principal
fronts were decorated with mosaics. The magnificent materials employed
internally, the monolith marble columns, the enrichment of the apse
and the triumphal arch with mosaics, and probably the painting and
gilding of the ceiling or roof, gave to the early basilican churches
in Rome that splendour which characterizes those in Byzantium and in
Ravenna.

With the exception of the baptistery attached to St John Lateran, and
the so-called tomb of Santa Constantia, both erected by Constantine,
the circular form of church was not adopted in Rome; there is one
remarkable circular building of great size, San Stefano Rotondo, at
one time thought to have been a Roman market, but now known to have
been erected by Pope Simplicius (468-482). It consisted of a central
circular nave, 44 ft. in diameter, and double aisles round. In the
arcade dividing the aisles the arches are carried on dosserets, the
earliest known example of this feature in Rome.

Although inferior in size, the two churches of S. Appollinare Nuovo,
built by Theodoric (493-525) and Sant' Apollinare-in-Classe (538-549),
both in Ravenna, have the special advantage that they were constructed
in new materials, there being no ancient Roman temples there to pull
down. The ordinary basilican plan was adhered to, but as the
architects and workmen came from Constantinople, they incorporated in
the building various details of the Byzantine style, with which they
were best acquainted. Thus the contour of the mouldings, the carrying
of the capitals and imposts, the dosseret above the capital, and the
scheme of decoration of the interior with marble casing on the lower
portion of the walls and mosaic above, are all Byzantine. Externally
the churches are extremely plain, the wall surfaces of the nave and
aisle walls being varied by blind arcades.

The earliest building in Ravenna is the tomb of Galla Placidia, built
450, a small cruciform structure with a dome on pendentives over the
centre, perhaps the earliest example known. The baptistery of St John,
which was attached to the cathedral built by Archbishop Ursus (380),
now destroyed, is a plain octagonal building, 40 ft. in diameter,
originally with a timber roof; when in 451 it was determined to
replace this by a vault, in order to resist the thrust, the upper part
of the walls was brought forward on arches and corbels, and the
interior richly decorated with paintings, stucco reliefs and mosaics
in the dome. The most interesting building in Ravenna, however, from
many points of view, is the church of San Vitale (fig. 30), built
539-547, its plan and design being based on the church of SS. Sergius
and Bacchus at Constantinople. The proportions of the interior of St
Sergius are much finer than those in San Vitale, where the dome is
raised too high; the timber roofs also of San Vitale have deprived the
church externally of that fine architectural effect found in Byzantine
churches. In order to lighten the dome, its shell was built with
hollow pots, the end of one fitted into the mouth of the other. The
interior of the church is of great beauty, owing to the alternating of
the piers carrying the eight arches with the columns set back in
apsidal recesses. Unfortunately the church has been much restored, but
the magnificent mosaics in the choir and the variety of design shown
in the capitals and dosserets render this church, though small, one of
the most attractive in Italy. One other Ravenna building must be
mentioned, though it would be difficult to know under what style to
class it. The tomb of Theodoric, having a decagonal plan in two
storeys, the lower one vaulted at the upper storey, set back to allow
of a "terrace" round, once sheltered by a small arcade, and covered by
a single stone 35 ft. in diameter, belongs to no definite style; the
mouldings of the upper portion have some resemblance to the mouldings
of some of the Etruscan tombs at Castel d'Asso, which was probably
known to Theodoric.

As Dalmatia and Istria both formed part of Theodoric's kingdom, we
find there the same Byzantine influence as that which was asserted in
Ravenna, in both cases the work being done by artists and masons from
Constantinople. There is not much left in Dalmatia, but in Istria are
two important examples,--the churches at Parenzo (535-543) and Grado
(571-586). Like the two churches in Ravenna, they are basilican in
plan, with apses, semi-circular internally and polygonal externally,
the latter being a characteristic found in all the churches in Europe
which were influenced directly by Byzantine custom. Although the
monolith columns were derived from ancient Roman buildings, all the
capitals were specially carved for the two churches, and they have the
same variety of design and in many cases are identical with those in
San Vitale, Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, Sant' Apollinare-in-Classe, and
those brought over from Constantinople, which now decorate St Mark's
at Venice internally as well as externally. The decoration of the
lower part of the walls internally with marble slabs, and the upper
portion and apsidal vaults with mosaic, follows on the same lines as
those at Ravenna and Constantinople. The church at Parenzo still
retains its baptistery and atrium, from which fragments of the mosaics
which originally decorated the west front can be seen. The church at
Aquileia was rebuilt in the 11th century, and the Duomo of Trieste has
been so altered as to lose its original Byzantine character.
(R. P. S.)

EARLY CHRISTIAN WORK IN CENTRAL SYRIA

Contemporaneously with the early developments of the Christian
churches just described, another line of treatment was being evolved
in central Syria, which would seem to have been quite independent of
the others, though at first sight it bears considerable resemblance to
the Byzantine style, and for that reason was probably classed and
described under that head by Fergusson. But the leading characteristic
of the Byzantine style is the dome over the centre of the church round
which all other features are grouped, whereas in central Syria, with
the exception of two examples--one a circular, the other a polygonal
church--there are no domes. There is considerable Greek feeling in the
mouldings and carvings of the capitals, but that is probably due to
the fact that the masons were originally of Greek extraction. A
comparison, for instance, of the design and carving of the largest
church in central Syria, the famous building erected round the column
of St Simeon Stylites at Kalat-Seman, dating from the 6th century,
with any Byzantine church of the same date, shows very little
resemblance, because the former was inspired more or less directly by
the Roman remains in the country. A similar inspiration is found in
the churches of St Trophime at Arles and St Gilles in the south of
France, and at Autun and Langres in Burgundy. Both were founded on
Roman work, and the mouldings of the pediments and archivolts and the
fluting of the pilasters at Kalat-Seman, of the 6th century, are
identical with what is found, quite independently, in Provence and
Burgundy in the 11th and 12th centuries. There is, however, another
special characteristic found in the masonry of the churches in central
Syria, which is peculiar to the whole of Palestine, and is found in
the earliest remains there, as also in Roman work, and to a certain
extent in much of the Mahommedan construction and in that of the
Crusaders, viz. its megalithic qualities. Instead of building an arch
in several voussoirs, they preferred to do it in three or five only,
and sometimes would cut the whole arch out of a single vertical slab.
If they employed voussoirs, they were not content with ordinary depth,
shown by the archivolt mouldings, but made them three or four times as
deep.

The masons, in fact, would seem to have retained the traditional
Phoenician custom of the country to employ the largest stones they
were able to quarry, transport and raise on the building.
Subsequently, in working down the masonry, they reproduced the
architectural features they found in Roman buildings; this was done,
however, without any knowledge as to their constructional origin or
meaning; thus, in copying a Roman pilaster, the capital and part of
the shaft would be worked out of one stone, and the lower part of the
shaft and the base out of another. It is only from this point of view
that we can account for the peculiar development given to the
decoration of their later work, where archivolts, wood mouldings and
window dressings are looked upon as simply surface decoration to be
applied round doorways and windows, without any reference to the
jointing of the masonry.

The immense series of monuments, civil as well as religious existing
throughout central Syria, were almost entirely unknown before the
publication of the marquis of Vogue's work, _La Syrie centrale_, in
1865-1867. This work, illustrated with measured plans, sections and
elevations, with perspective views, and accompanied by detailed
descriptions of the various buildings, forms an invaluable record of
an architectural style, more or less completely developed, which
flourished from the 3rd to the beginning of the 7th century. An
American archaeological expedition made further investigations in
1899-1900, and its report, written by Mr H.C. Butler, contains
additional plans and a large number of photogravures, which bear
testimony to the truth and accuracy of the engraved plates of the
marquis de Vogue. The preservation of these central Syrian remains,
more or less intact, is considered to have been due either to the
desertion of all the towns in which they were situated by the
inhabitants at the time of the Mahommedan invasion, or, according to
Mr H.C. Butler, to the deforesting of the whole country about the
commencement of the 7th century.

The monuments and buildings illustrated may be divided into three
classes,--ecclesiastical, including monasteries; civil and domestic;
and tombs. It is in the two first that the principal interest is
centred.

_Churches._--The earliest of these date from the end of the 4th
century, and the latest inscription on a church is 609, so that a
little over 200 years includes the whole series. With one or two small
exceptions all the churches follow the basilican plan, with nave and
aisles separated by arcades, the arches of which are carried by
columns, four arches on each side in the smaller churches, ten in the
largest. The churches are all orientated, and have generally a
semi-circular apse, and occasionally a square or rectangular sanctuary
at the east end, on either side of which are square chambers,--the
_diaconicon_, reserved for the priests, on the south side, and the
_prothesis_, on the north side, in which the offerings of the faithful
were deposited. Except in the earliest churches, the entrance was
generally at the west end, and was sometimes preceded by a porch. In
addition to the west entrance, there were sometimes doorways leading
direct into the north and south aisles, with projecting porticoes.
About the middle of the 6th century a change was made in the design of
the arcades in the nave, and rectangular piers with arches of wide
span were substituted for the ordinary arcade with columns. The effect
as shown in the engravings and photogravures is so fine that it is
strange that the scheme was never adopted in the earlier Romanesque
churches of Europe. The two more important examples are at Kalb-Lauzeh
(fig. 31) and Ruweiha, but three or four others are known, and this
plan was adopted in the basilica erected in the great court of the
temple at Baalbek. All the churches are built in fine ashlar masonry,
with moulded archivolts and architraves to doorways and windows, and
moulded string courses and cornices of simple design. The principal
decoration externally is found in the hood-mould or label round the
windows, continued as a string-course and carried round other windows,
and sometimes terminating in a disk with cross in centre. These
hood-moulds are occasionally richly carved. All the churches in
central Syria had open timber roofs which have now disappeared; this
is proved by the sinkings in the end walls to receive the purlins, and
the corbels provided to carry the tie beams. The apses were always
covered with semi-domes. The three most important churches were those
of Turmanin, Kalb-Lauzeh and Kalat-Seman. The plans of the two first
are similar, except that in Turmanin the nave arcade is of the
ordinary type, with seven arches carried on columns, while in
Kalb-Lauzeh (fig. 32) there are three wide arches on each side carried
on two rectangular piers and responds. Both have entrance porches
(fig. 33), which are flanked by angle buildings carried up as towers
in three storeys; these probably contained wooden staircases to ascend
to an open gallery, which consisted of four columns in-antis between
the angle towers above the porch. The north and south walls were quite
plain, except for window and door dressings and string courses; the
apse was richly decorated, with wall shafts superimposed between the
windows, and carrying a projecting cornice with alternate corbels. The
church at Ruweiha has a similar plan to that at Kalb-Lauzeh, but two
transverse arches in stone are thrown across the nave, resting on
abutments attached to the nave piers.

The most remarkable example and by far the largest is the great
basilica at Kalat-Seman (fig. 34), which was erected round the pillar
on which St. Simeon Stylites spent thirty years of his life. The base
of the pillar stands in the centre of an immense octagonal court open
to the sky. The plan consists of nave, transept and choir, all with
side aisles, separated in the centre by the octagonal court which
constitutes the crossing. The nave built on the side of a hill is
raised on a crypt, and the principal entrance would seem to have been
through the porch of the north transept, which occupies the full width
of transept and aisles. There were, however, in addition two doorways
with porches to each aisle, as well as portico and doors to the north
transept. At the eastern end were three apses, the two outer ones,
facing the aisles, being additions in the second half of the 6th
centurv. St. Simeon died in 459, and the church was probably begun
shortly afterwards, but not completed till the 6th century. The
archivolts of the great arches on each side of the octagonal court
consist of architrave, frieze and cornice, copied from the arch of the
propylaca at Baalbek or other Roman work. Here, as in the great
southern porch, the classic nature of the details is remarkable, the
pilasters are all fluted, and the modillion and dentil, derived from
Roman models, exist throughout. On the other hand, the carving of the
foliage was certainly executed by Greek artists, and the well-known
Byzantine capital, with the leaves bending under the influence of the
wind, is here reproduced. The great apse externally retains its
decoration with superimposed shafts and cornice, as in Turmanin and
Kalb-Lauzeh.

The monastery of Kalat-Seman was built on the south side of the great
church, and many of the rooms had roofs of slabs of stone carried on
arches across the room, a method of construction universally found in
the Hauran, where the absence of timber necessitated this more
permanent method of construction. The monasteries differ from the
domestic work in being much plainer, and, instead of columns in the
porticoes, having invariably square piers of stone.

Among circular churches, the walls of the cathedral at Bozra are gone,
so that the conjectural restoration shown in de Vogue's work is purely
speculative, but in the church at Ezra (510) the central octagon is
covered by a high dome of elliptical section. An aisle is carried
round the octagon with similar recesses on the diagonal lines, the
whole being enclosed in a square; in the apse at the east end the
seats of the tribune are still preserved.

_Domestic Work._--The domestic work in central Syria is, in a way,
even more remarkable than the ecclesiastical. Broadly speaking, there
are two types of plan--those found in the towns and grouped together,
and those which, with increased area, constituted a villa. At El Barah
the average house occupied a site of about 80 ft. by 60 ft., of which
about 30 ft. in width was occupied by an open court; facing this
court, which was enclosed with high walls, is an open colonnade on two
floors, which always faces south, occupies the whole front (80 ft.) of
the house, and is the only means of approach to the rooms in the rear,
three on each floor, side by side. In the centre of these rooms, 14
ft. wide each, an arch is thrown across on each floor, which carries
slabs of stone covering the first floor and the roof; the upper storey
was reached probably by a timber staircase, now gone, but in poorer
dwellings an external flight of steps in stone led to an upper floor.
All the houses face the same way. The colonnade of the house consisted
of about fifteen columns on each storey. Each column, including its
capital and base, was cut out of a single stone; on the upper storey,
between the columns, are stone vertical slabs forming a balustrade;
the houses are all built in fine ashlar masonry with architraves and
cornices to doors and windows, a luxury which in England could rarely
be indulged in for ordinary houses. At El Barah, in an area of about
250 ft. by 150 ft. as shown by de Vogue, there are about 100 monolith
columns, 12 ft. high, on the ground storey alone. In a villa at El
Barah the open court is surrounded on three sides by buildings, those
at the east end of considerable extent and in three storeys. A smaller
example at Mujeleia has two courts, one of them being for stables and
other services; otherwise the residence of the proprietor is similar
to the one above described. Here and there the fantasy of the artist
has been allowed to revel in the carving of the balustrades, door
lintels, &c. The capitals are of endless design, and show
interpretations of Ionic and Corinthian capitals, in some cases not
dissimilar to the Byzantine versions in St Mark's at Venice.

Hostelries and public baths are amongst other civil buildings which
are recognizable, the hostelries in some cases being attached to the
monasteries.

_Tombs._--The principal tombs are either excavated in the rock, with
an open court in front and an entrance portico, like the tombs of the
kings at Jerusalem, and sometimes a superstructure of columns or a
podium raised above them; or again they are built in masonry, and take
the form of sepulchral chapels; in the latter case, if many sarcophagi
have to be deposited, and the chapel is of great length, arches are
thrown across, about 6 ft. centre to centre, to support the slabs of
stone with which they are covered. This carries on the traditional
custom of the Roman temples in Syria, the roofs of which, in stone,
were similarly supported. Sometimes there will be two storeys, the
upper one covered with a dome. Those which are peculiar to the country
are square tombs, with a pyramidal stone roof all built in horizontal
courses, and either enclosed with a peristyle all round, on one or two
storeys, or having a portico in front with flat stone roof. The
cornices, string courses and lintels of the doors of these tombs of
the 4th and 5th centuries, are enriched with carving, showing strong
Byzantine influence, though probably due to the employment of Greek
artists. (R. P. S.)

THE COPTIC CHURCH IN EGYPT

The earliest places of Christian worship in Egypt were probably only
chapels or oratories of small dimensions attached to the monasteries,
which were spread throughout the country; a wholesale destruction of
these took place at various times, more especially by the order of
Severus, about 200 B.C., so that no remains have come down to us. The
most ancient examples known are those which are attributed to the
empress Helena, of which there are important portions preserved in the
churches of the White and Red monasteries at the foot of the Libyan
hills near Suhag.

Although the plan of the Coptic church is generally basilican, i.e.
consists of nave and aisles, it is probable that they were not copied
from Roman examples, but were based on expansions of the first
oratories built, to which aisles had afterwards been added. There are
no long transepts, as in the early Christian basilicas of St Peter's
at Rome, and of St Paul outside the walls, and there is only one
example of a cruciform church with a dome in the centre following the
Byzantine plan. Even at an early period the nave and aisles were
covered sometimes with barrel vaults, either semicircular or
elliptical. The Coptic church was always orientated with the
sanctuaries at the east end. The aisles were returned round the west
end and had galleries above for women. Sometimes the western aisle has
been walled up to form a narthex; in many cases a narthex was built,
but, in consequence of the persecution to which the Copts were subject
at the hands of the Moslems, its three doors have been blocked up and
a separate small entrance provided. The narthex was the place for
penitents, but was sometimes used for baptism by total immersion,
there being epiphany tanks sunk in the floor of the churches at Old
Cairo, known as Abu Serga, Abu-s-Sifain (Abu Sefen) and El Adra; these
are now boarded over, as total immersion is no longer practised.

There are a few exceptions to the basilican plan; and in four examples
(two in Cairo and two at Deir-Mar-Antonios in the eastern desert by
the Gulf of Suez) there are three aisles of equal widths, divided one
from the other by two rows of columns with three in each row, thus
dividing the roof into twelve square compartments, each of which is
covered with a dome.

The sanctuaries at the east end, as developed in the Coptic church,
differ in some particulars from those of any other religious
structures. There are always three chapels or sanctuaries, with an
altar in each, the central chapel being known as the Haikal. The
chapels are more often square than apsidal, and are always surmounted
by a complete dome, a peculiarity not found out of Egypt. The seats of
the tribune are still preserved in a large number of the sanctuaries,
and there are probably more examples in Egypt than in all Europe, if
Russia and Mount Athos be excepted. Those of Abu-Serga, El Adra and
Abu-s-Sifain, with three concentric rows of seats and a throne in the
centre, are the most important; but even in the square sanctuaries the
tradition is retained, and seats are ranged against the east wall, and
in one case (at Anba-Bishoi) three steps are carried across, and
behind them is a segmental tribune of three steps, with throne in the
centre.