Pagans, Christians, Emperors, and Saints: Architectural Innovation in the Basilica of San Clemente

Kristina Meinking, University of Southern California

The ancient Roman city underwent a myriad of political and sociological changes throughout its history, mirrored by the reconstruction of the topographical landscape. One of the most prolonged and fascinating of these transformations occurred with the growth and spread of Christianity in Rome itself. Characteristically a cultural and ideological "melting pot," Rome saw the most complex use of space and imagery with the legalization and development of Christianity in the fourth century CE. These physical alterations to the city reflect the social and political sentiments of the time. My purpose in this study is to examine the ancient site of San Clemente, Rome, as a synthesis of architectural forms through a socio-archaeological lens that includes history, religion, and politics, and incorporates my own on-site research. I hope not only to show the importance of considering both architecture and social history, but also to suggest the significance of their ramifications when considering the communities at the site.

The examination of early Christian architecture necessitates a knowledge of the socio-historic context of both early Christianity and the predominant architectural forms. By concentrating on one site, San Clemente, this study seeks to test the applicability of architectural theories when the full picture of history, religion, and architecture is also considered. A discussion that omits this type of framework fails insofar as it becomes a purely descriptive and highly abstract study of a subject detached from its original context. In contrast, this study seeks to respond to the questions of how and why early Christian architecture developed in light of its predecessors.

To date, studies in early Christian architecture have progressed from rubrics for developmental phases to theories of comparative analysis that include examples from geographic areas as diverse as Dura-Europos, Italy, and Egypt. While diversity within the body of evidence for a topic such as this is valuable and worth considering, various sites are often lumped together in support of a particular theory. The result is that specific sites are ignored with regard to those elements which make them unique for both their architecture and their own distinct history. Sweeping generalizations are put forth for the sake of creating a plausible theory, but that theory, in the end, is questionable insofar as its individual, case-by-case applicability is concerned.

This study presents these theories and examines their feasibility within the socio-historic context of the third and forth centuries CE, and specifically in the case of San Clemente. The archaeological remains of the site include a late fourth century CE church, a horrea and a Roman house both dating to the first century CE, and a mithraeum located in the basement of the house, dating to the late second century CE. In many respects, the ancient site of San Clemente is an ideal case study: the strata capture aspects of Roman history, architectural theory, and religion as disparate as Constantine's contributions to Rome, the form of the Roman house and basilica, Mithraism, and early Christianity. On the one hand, the sheer diversity of the ancient remains allows for a dialogue both historic and architectural. Its location in Rome, however, and the obvious building phases enable an application of theories to a specific structure in a particular period.

As an architectural space, the ancient church of San Clemente encapsulates the transition from early Christian worship in the private Roman house to that in the basilica. What is more, the adoption of the basilica provided a sense of status and legitimacy that arose both from the incorporation of the form and the degree to which it was used throughout the city. Much in the way that the traditional Roman religio of the family was mirrored by the that of the state and Imperial family, the transition to public basilica architecture from that of the private domus sought to incorporate and continue the fundamental theo-philosophical doctrines of early Christianity.