Impact of Religion on Roman Basilica Architecture

Architecture is one of the most significant aspects of our daily lives. Architecture has been in existence since time immemorial. There have been invention and development of numerous new artistic styles. Rome is one of the countries that have greatly influenced world architecture countries; Romans contributed highly towards art and architecture with the development of basilicas being the most notable. The religious orientation of roman emperors influenced the construction of religious buildings for worship and the expansion of their religions. The reign of Constantine as the first, christen emperor, no doubt led to the expansion of Christianity. However other than constructing churches to expand Christianity, Constantine recognized the importance of the basilica as an authoritative and functional building with a symbolic architecture. He therefore converted some basilicas into churches and tacitly influenced newer churches to adopt the basilica architecture.

Basilica, a Latin word, was used initially to describe a roman public structure normally situated in the forum of a roman town. In the second century BC, public basilicas started to emerge in Hellenistic cities. In 1914, remnants of a large profound Neopythagorean basilica dating back to the 1^stC AD were found near the Porta subterranean in Rome. The stuccoes on the inner vaulting have endured but their precise interpretation remains an issue of debate. The phrase basilica started to refer exclusively to big cathedrals that have been offered special ceremonial rites by the pope subsequent to the Roman Empire turning out to be Christian legitimately. Hence, the senses are retained by the word currently- architectural and ecclesiastical (Edward, 2009).

The roman basilica, in architecture, was a huge roofed hall erected for business transactions and disposing of lawful matters. A public basilica for business transaction had been section of any settlement that viewed itself as a city as early as the time Augustus, applied in the similar manner as the late medieval enclosed market abodes of Northern Europe, where the meeting room, for absence of urban space, was set over the malls. These kinds of buildings normally consisted of interior arcades that split the space providing aisles or colonnaded on one or both sides, with an apse at one end where the magistrates sat, usually on slightly raised platform. According to Edward (2009), the central passageway tended to be broad and higher than the flanking platforms so that there is light penetration through the clerestory windows.

The expansion of the Christian church came with a demand for large buildings for the purposes of worshiping to differentiate church activities from the pagan activities conducted outdoors. The apse provided the best location for an altar and the spacious colonnade and nave offered a suitable sitting area for worshipers. The Roman Catholic Church considers basilicas as integral religious buildings and therefore churches considered, as basilicas are generally significant grand and beautiful.

In Rome, the first basilica built was the basilica Porcia, named after Marcus Porcius Cato who built it in 184 BCE for use by tribunals and meetings. A fire destroyed the basilica in 52 BCE and left no remains. The basilica Porcia was never rebuilt. Another one, the basilica Pompeii dates back to the end of the second century. It had distinct architectural features that made it functional and grand in appearance. A few feet from the entrance on the inside stood long columns dividing the colonnade and the nave. The basilica’s columns were made of tiles covered with stucco. The outer walls had large window openings that let enough light into the interiors. On the end of the building was a tribunal axis that dominated the nave. Exedral rooms symmetrically lined the tribunal and were from lateral stairs concealed under the axis that lead to a vaulted room. The limited access to the tribunal and the exedral rooms provided a visible yet private office space for the public administration activities of Pompeii.

Probably roman basilica, which started for tradition, functions during the ruling of Maxentius, the pagan emperor and finished subsequent to 313 AD by Constantine. Constantine wanted to construct churches as the patron of Christianity and figured out the conversion of existing symbolic buildings would be effective for their architectural forms rather than coming up with new architectural forms. While early basilicas were concentrated on their functionality of space and separation of authority, the new Christian basilica’s architecture emphasized more on the symbolic decoration that highlighted the mystery of Christianity. Therefore, Constantine inspired church architectures took a centralized theme, as opposed to longitudinal architecture, of different aspects of the Christian faith such as resurrection and martyrs.