Under Constantine, the prestige of the city was directed toward Christian matters. A cathedral with a baptistery was constructed on the north edge of the main forum. Thus the old Roman pat-
Figure 25.12 City plan, Jerusalem, fourth century AD
Tern was repeated, of the forum (civic center) with the principal temple to the main gods, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, but now this prestigious combination was given Christian content. Likewise, existing Roman traditions would also be adapted in other spheres. Church architecture, as we have seen, saw the Roman basilica transformed for religious use by Christians. In pictorial art, many Greco-Roman motifs were reinterpreted for a Christian audience, and the style was simply that of the prevalent Roman art of the day.
During the construction of this church, a rock-cut tomb was discovered: not a surprise in itself, for this area had served as a Jewish burial ground in earlier times. But identified as the tomb of Jesus and thus the site of the Resurrection, the central event in Christianity, this tomb was soon sheltered by a round martyrium, known as the Rotunda of the Anastasis (Resurrection). With the church soon to house relics of the True Cross (the wooden cross on which Jesus died), the four-part complex of atrium court, basilica church, second courtyard, and rotunda became a major destination for Christian pilgrims (Figure 25.13).
The Constantinian rotunda and church were destroyed in 1009 by al-Hakim, a Fatimid ruler, then rebuilt in 1048 with the sponsorship of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. The Crusaders made many modifications after they captured Jerusalem in 1099. The church today is thus quite different from the fourth-century original.
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