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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2025
This article argues that the spatial experiences created by the architectural features of Christian sacred spaces on the Roman frontiers of the fourth and fifth centuries were fundamental to how such spaces were perceived and engaged with. It suggests that the principles of spatial design established in Constantine’s basilicas of Rome and the Holy Land influenced the experience of Christian worship, ritual and commemoration on the Roman frontiers. While these frontier Christian sacred spaces generally followed the architectural trends of Constantinian models, they also showed distinct local adaptations. This study highlights the important role of architectural spatial design in shaping religious experiences on the Roman frontiers, illustrating the dynamic relationship between architecture, worship and regional cultural contexts. It shows both continuity with Constantinian norms and evidence of adaptability and localized expressions of Christian sacred architecture on the Roman empire’s peripheries.
This article stems from research conducted during my Master’s dissertation in Roman Frontier Studies. I extend my gratitude to Dr Rob Collins and Dr Mark Jackson (The School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University) for their guidance and encouragement to pursue publication. I also thank Marta Alberti-Dunn for her invaluable assistance in shaping this article, Lorena Hitchens for feedback on early drafts, and Rachel Kendall-Daw for constructive suggestions on the post-peer review draft. Lastly, I appreciate the peer reviewers whose critiques greatly refined the article’s core arguments.
1 Although the terms ‘ritual’ and ‘liturgy’ both reference structured and symbolic actions, they are not synonymous. While ritual is diverse and flexible, liturgy has more formal and communal connotations relating to public worship. For the purposes of this article, the term ‘liturgy’ will be used solely in reference to the eucharistic liturgy. For a helpful discussion on the similarities and differences between ritual and liturgy, see ‘Ritual vs. Liturgy: Understanding the Differences in Religious Practices’, LoreCat(alog), online at: <https://lore-cat.com/liturgy-vs-ritual/>, accessed 30 August 2024. This article will principally focus on spatial experience from the perspective of the lay worshipper, rather than of the celebrating clergy.
2 Krautheimer, Richard, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, 4th edn revised edition by Krautheimer, Richard and Ćurčić, Slobodan (New Haven, CT, 1986; first publ. 1965), 24 Google Scholar; Michael White, The Social Origins of Christian Architecture, 1: Building God’s House in the Roman World. Architectural Adaptation Among Pagans, Jews and Christians (Valley Forge, PA, 1990), 107.
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7 Sessa, ‘Domus Ecclesiae’, 108.
8 The term tituli originates from the marble slab inscribed with the property owner’s name, establishing the claim to ownership. For a brief modern discussion of the titular churches, see Stewart, Charles, ‘Churches’, in Pettigrew, David, Caraher, William and Davis, Thomas, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology (Oxford, 2019), 128–46, at 131–3Google Scholar.
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19 Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, 48. It is noteworthy that Eusebius, in his first-hand description of the new church at Tyre, speaks of the physical division of the church: ‘In the middle he [Bishop Paulinus] placed the holy of holies – the altar – excluding the congregation from this area by surrounding it with wooden latticework of marvelous artistry.’ Eusebius, The Church History 10.4.44, transl. and commentary Paul Maier (Grand Rapids, MI, 2007), 317.
20 Bosman, Lex et al., ‘Visualising the Constantinian Basilica’, in Bosman, Lex, Haynes, Ian P. and Liverani, Paolo, eds, The Basilica of Saint John Lateran to 1600 (Cambridge, 2020), 134–67, at 156–6210.1017/9781108885096.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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27 Ibid.
28 Ibid. 735–6.
29 Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai, ‘The Catacombs’, in Pettigrew, Caraher and Davis, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, 67–84, at 73.
30 Ibid. 67.
31 Ibid. 75.
32 Brandt, Olof, ‘Understanding the Structures of Early Christian Baptisteries’, in Hellholm, David et al., eds, Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Berlin and Boston, MA, 2011), 1587–610, at 158810.1515/9783110247534.1587CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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34 Ibid. 1593.
35 Ibid. 1601–2.
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40 Bowen, Gillian, ‘The Small East Church at Ismant el-Kharab’, in eadem and Hope, Colin, eds, The Oasis Papers, 3: Proceedings of the Third International Conference of the Dakhleh Oasis Project (Oxford, 2003), 153–65, at 154Google Scholar.
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44 Bowen, ‘The Churches’, 273.
45 Gillian Bowen proposes a terminus post quem of 313–31: see Bowen, ‘The Christian Monuments of Kellis’, 138–40.
46 Ibid. 177.
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49 Bowen, ‘The Churches’, 275–6.
50 Ibid. 276.
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56 Ibid. 87, 177.
57 Peter Grossman, ‘Typological Considerations on the Large East Church at Ismant el-Kharab’, in Hope and Bowen, eds, Dakhleh Oasis Project, 153–6, at 153 n. 2.
58 Bowen, The Christian Monuments of Kellis, 177.
59 Olof Brandt, ‘Understanding the Structures of Early Christian Baptisteries’, 1597–8.
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61 Gillian Bowen, Personal communication by email, 25 August 2024.
62 Bowen, Gillian, ‘Christianity at Mut al-Kharab (ancient Mothis), Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt’, in Di Bianse-Dyson, Camilla and Donovan, Leonie, eds, The Cultural Manifestations or Religious Experience: Studies in Honour of Boyo Ockinga (Münster, 2017), 241–8, at 243Google Scholar.
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64 Bowen, ‘Fourth Century Churches’, 77.
65 Bowen, ‘The Churches’, 284.
66 Bowen, Christian Monuments of Kellis, 305. In addition to the cemetery attached to the West Church Complex, a large cemetery (K2) has also been discovered at Kellis. Over 700 graves, predominantly simple pit graves but also a few small tombs, have been excavated. All the graves were consistent with Christian burial practice: see Gillian Bowen, ‘Christian Burial Practices’, in Hope and eadem, eds, Kellis: A Roman-Period Village, 343–66.
67 Bowen, ‘Fourth Century Churches’, 78; eadem, ‘Christian Burial Practices’, 358–60. Christians were traditionally buried facing east due to the scriptural teaching that Christ’s second coming would be from the east. Burial facing east meant that Christians would be ready to meet their saviour.
68 Bowen, Christian Monuments of Kellis, 306.
69 Ibid. 328.
70 Ibid. 305.
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78 Ibid. 148.
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82 Keser-Kayaalp and Erdoğan, ‘Cathedral Complex at Nisibis’, 152; Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church, 819.
83 Egeria, Itinerarium Egeriae 38.1–2 (McGowan and Bradshaw, The Pilgrimage of Egeria, 179).
84 Richard Rutherford, ‘Baptisteries in Ancient Sites and Rites’, in Pettigrew, Caraher and Davis, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, 167–87, at 176.
85 Atanassov, ‘Christianity along the Lower Danube Limes in the Roman Provinces of Dacia Ripensis, Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor’, in Liudmil Vagalinski, Nicolay Sharankov and Sergey Torbatov, eds, The Lower Danube Limes (1st-6th C. AD) (Sofia, 2012), 327–80, at 327.
86 The History of Theophylact Simocatta 7.2.17, transl. Michael and Mary Whitby (Oxford, 1986), 182.
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89 Ibid. 61.
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93 Yasin, Saints and Church Spaces, 65.
94 Atanassov, ‘Christianity along the Lower Danube Limes’, 348.
95 Grossman, ‘Churches and Meeting Halls’, 111.
96 Yasin, Saints and Church Spaces, 287.
97 Ibid.
98 Biernacki, ‘A City of Christians’, 57.
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103 Brandt, ‘Structures of Early Christian Baptisteries’, 1601–2; Biernacki, ‘A City of Christians’, 60.
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113 Ibid. 49.
114 Ibid.
115 Part of another apse was excavated nearby, but as the majority of the rest of the building fell outside the 2008–12 Scheduled Monument Consent, full investigation is yet to be undertaken: ibid. 34, 68.
116 Ibid. 41.
117 Ibid.
118 It is unclear whether the enclosed tank continued to serve a practical purpose, if and when it was used for baptism. However, it seems at least plausible that the sacred nature of the baptismal rituals might have led to the tank’s being reserved for this sacred purpose.
119 Brandt, ‘Understanding the Structures of Early Christian Baptisteries’, 1597–8.
120 Birley and Alberti, Vindolanda Excavation Research Report, 55–8, 68–71.
121 Images of these buildings and artefacts can be found in Birley and Alberti, Vindolanda Excavation Research Report, Apsidal Building b, 56 (figure 36); Apsidal Building c, 57 (figure 37); Christian symbols and markings, 172 (plate 14); the nail-cleaning strap-end, 49 (figure 31); the lead vessel, 38, 120–1 (figure 38 and plates 12 and 13).