Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Early Christian
The history of early Christianity is one of persecution and martyrdom. Introduced in the 1st
century AD, it was legalised by the emperor Constantine in 313 AD and became Rome's
state religion in 378. The most startling reminders of early Christian activity are the cata-
combs, a series of underground burial grounds built under Rome's ancient roads. Christian
belief in the resurrection meant that the Christians could not cremate their dead, as was the
custom in Roman times, and with burial forbidden inside the city walls they were forced to
go outside the city.
Ancient triumphal arches were designed as honorary monuments to commemorate military victory or an
important individual. Only three of the 36 that stood in 5th-century Rome survive: the Arco di Tito and
Arco di Settimio Severo in the Roman Forum, and the Arco di Costantino next to the Colosseum.
Church Building
The Christians began to abandon the catacombs in the 4th century and increasingly opted to
be buried in the churches the emperor Constantine was building in the city. Although Con-
stantine was actually based in Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople in his own
honour, he nevertheless financed an ambitious building programme in Rome. The most
notable of the many churches that he commissioned is the Basilica di San Giovanni in Lat-
erano. Built between 315 and 324 and reformed into its present shape in the 5th century, it
was the model on which many subsequent basilicas were based. Other showstoppers of the
period include the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and the Basilica di Santa Maria
Maggiore.
A second wave of church-building hit Rome in the period between the 8th and 12th cen-
turies. As the early papacy battled for survival against the threatening Lombards, its leaders
took to construction to leave some sort of historical imprint, resulting in the Basilica di
Santa Sabina, the Chiesa di Santa Prassede and the 8th-century Chiesa di Santa Maria in
Cosmedin, better known as home to the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth).
The 13th and 14th centuries were dark days for Rome as internecine fighting raged
between the city's noble families. While much of northern Europe and even parts of Italy
were revelling in Gothic arches and towering vaults, little of lasting value was being built
in Rome. The one great exception is the city's only Gothic church, the Chiesa di Santa
Maria Sopra Minerva.
