Late Antiquity

Sample Free Response

Key Ideas

The images below show the interior and the ground plan for the church of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

What are the principal architectural elements of this design?
Describe which elements of the Christian design were adapted from non-Christian sources.
Analyze how the design of the building is meant to accommodate the needs of the Christian ceremony.

Christianity starts as an underground religion, as the pagan religion of the Romans was still the majority.
Earliest works can be found in catacombs or on sarcophagi
Architecture: mostly basilican or centrally planned building
Founded by Jesus Christ in the early 1st century
Early leaders/popes were martyred such as St. Peter
Early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire but given restitution of property in 313 with the Edict of Milan.
Constantine is the single most advocator for the Christian faith, often favoring them in political positions and patronizing religious buildings. He was officially converted on his death bed.
Christians bury their dead because it resembles the burial of Jesus Christ. Under Rome are hundreds of miles of catacombs where Christians, Jews, and pagans are buried (cheaper too).

Additional Resources

Study Guide
* YouTube video: Crash Course: Christianity
* YouTube video: The Face- Jesus in Art
* YouTube video: Making Manuscripts
Who was Jesus? by BBC
Santa Costanza (sacred destination)

Artwork List

1. Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
2. Petra, Treasury
3. Catacomb of Priscilla
-Orant fresco
-Good Shepherd fresco
-Christ as the Good Shepherd mosaic
4. Santa Sabina
5. Santa Costanza

Vocabulary

ambulatory
apse
atrium
basilica plan (axial plan)
catacomb
central plan
clerestory
coffer
cubical
Gospels
loculi
lunette
narthex
nave
Orant figure
spolia
transept