Constantine's Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem consisted of basilicas (congregational halls of worship) attached to a round or octagonal structure. Whereas the basilicas have a long axis with a focal point (the altar) at one end, the round and octagonal structures enshrine a focal point in the center β that is, they are centralized structures. Basilicas were well suited to the purposes of congregational prayer, accommodating large numbers of worshipers who could be segregated from the altar area, and facilitating processions of clergy from the entrance through the nave and to the altar. In contrast, centralized structures facilitated the movement of large numbers of pilgrims by enabling them to circumambulate the focal point.
In early Christian architecture, such centralized buildings are often called martyria (singular: martyrium) because they were built to enshrine a site associated with a martyr (a witness to the truth of Christianity). Domed, centralized structures had a long history in Roman architecture β for example,
The octagonal room in Nero's Domus Aurea (Golden House) or Hadrian's Pantheon in Rome. In the ancient world, the dome was understood as representing or symbolizing the dome of heaven. Early Christian buildings adopted centralized structures as appropriate for enshrining sites associated with martyrs because of the celestial associations of the dome and because they were well suited to accommodating visits by large numbers of pilgrims. The Rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the octagonal structure in Constantine's Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem are examples of martyria.
Recommended Reading
Ora Limor and Guy G. Stroumsa (eds.), Christians and Christianity in the Holy Land: From the Origins to the Latin Kingdom (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006).
S. Thomas Parker, βThe Byzantine Period: An Empire's New Holy Land,β Near Eastern Archaeology 62.3 (September 1999): 134-80.
Robert L. Wilken, The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1992).
World History
