EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE. " A fuller light illumined all, A breeze through all the garden swept.'" — Tennyson. I. INFLUENCES. i. Geographical. — The position of Rome as the centre of a world-wide empire was an important factor (see page iii), " All roads lead to Rome," and Christianity, to become universal, had to grow up at the capital, however eastern its birthplace. Ravenna, subdued by Justinian in a.d. 537, was the connecting link of the early Christian and Byzantine styles (see page 193). ii. Geological. — The quarry of the ruins of Roman buildings influenced the architectural treatment of the style, both in regard to construction and decoration, as columns and other architectural features and marbles from the older buildings were worked into the design of the new basilican churches of the Christians. iii. Climate. — See Roman Architecture (page 112). iv. Religion. — History presents no phenomenon so striking as the rise of Christianity, which spread so rapidly that in a very short period it was diffused throughout the whole civilized world. In A.D. 313 Constantine issued his celebrated decree from Milan, according to Christianity equal rights with all other religions, and in a.d. 323 he himself professed Christianity, which then became the established religion of the Roman Empire. The Christians, who up to that period were an unpopular dissenting sect, and had worshipped in the Catacombs, which formed their burial-places, were now able to hold their services openly and freely. The Council of Nice, a.d, 325, called by Constantine, was the first of several Councils of the Churcli for the settlement of disputes about heresies. A temporary reaction took place in a.d. 360-363, under Julian, known as the "Apostate."
