This is the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine. Now, according to Gibbon here, Rome collapsed because the Romans grew decadent and soft, but I think you can see from this map here, what the real problem was. The Empire was just too big.

This way it went all the way to Scotland. And the other way – deep into the Middle East. There was just too much Empire to govern efficiently.

And when Constantine came along, he made the momentous decision to divide the Roman Empire in two – with a Western Empire here, and Eastern Empire over there.

To govern this new Eastern Empire, which came to be called Byzantium, Constantine founded a new Christian capital on the Bosphorus. A grand ruling city designed from scratch, which he named after himself – Constantinople. Though these days we call it Istanbul.

Here in the western half of the Empire, Rome was no longer cut out to be the capital either. It was living on former glories. A pretty collection of ruins. Rome was no longer the power-house of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire a better seat of government

The Empire needed somewhere more vigorous to be ruled from. Somewhere better-placed. Somewhere near the sea, perhaps, with good connections to the East. Somewhere about here. Ravenna.

The mosaic lovers among you will know Ravenna already. You’ll know that it’s mosaic heaven. Where the Christian mosaic excelled itself. How could anyone ever have thought any of this constituted a Dark Age?

Church of San Vitale, Ravenna

This is the church of San Vitale. It’s one of the group of churches in Ravenna that’s filled with these stunning mosaics. But the reason I brought you to this particular church, is because of its shape. As you can see, it’s round. Like a mausoleum. Not long and thin like a basilica.

These round churches of early Christianity have a particular effect on the visitor. They offer a 360 degree experience. A sense of enclosure and centring. The early Christians used round architecture, particularly for churches devoted to the martyrs. Like San Vitale up there. Who’d stood up to Diocletian and died for his faith.

The basilicas were action spaces, where you met and assembled, and paraded. But these round churches – these are thinking spaces. They’re like a protective bell jar dropped onto an important location, protecting it, and sanctifying it.

You still get a sense here of a transcendental space, built around a precious relic. And that mysterious, magical effect of an interior sculpted from light.

And it wasn’t just a burial sites of the martyrs that had special power. Bits of their bodies had it, too. Their hair. Their bones. And to house these precious relics, the Christians began to create marvellous jewelled containers. Relic boxes made from the finest materials with astonishing delicacy and beauty.

Because these relics had the power too, every Christian altar had to have a relic inside it to validate it. Make it sacred. Relics were like pieces of portable magic that could be transported from church to church. And wherever they were placed, they made that space holy.

So by the time we get to this glorious Byzantine cathedral of Monreale in Sicily… all the ingredients of Christian worship are in place. Just look at it. By the time Monreale was finished, the Dark Ages were over. But all this was shaped by Dark Age achievements.

At this end, the nave is like a basilica – long and thick, a space for assemblies and parades. At this end of the church, the East end, where the main altar is filled with precious relics, the magisterial apse has grown huge and enveloping. So at this end… this is like a round church, a special place filled with light and a golden magical air.

But over here, it’s like a basilica. A space for assemblies and processions. So there, a thinking space, and down here, an action space. All brought together in one magnificent piece of architecture.

High up on the walls, scenes from Christ’s miracles. There he is again, raising Lazarus from the dead. And over there, he’s curing the paraplegic, making him walk again. And look what’s above the altar – the Virgin and Child, borrowed from the Egyptian Isis. And on either side of her two angels borrowed from pagan victories. And above that, trumping them all, in size and magnificence, sitting so proudly in his golden apse, an enormous Byzantine Jesus – is Zeus-like, and bearded – unmistakably divine.

This is a proper divinity. A Byzantine ruler-God you can look up to, magnificent, all-powerful. And look also, on either side of Jesus, you can see his name is spelled out in Greek letters.

On the left, iota and sigma, J and S the first and last letters of Jesus. And on the right, chi and sigma, C and S – the first and last letters of Christos.

It’s that Christian word code again. Look at his fingers, too. Christ into ruler is spelling out his own name with his hands.

It’s that secret religious language again that Christianity had employed from the beginning. Even in this giant Jesus, larger than any Roman emperor, Christianity couldn’t resist a final moment of mystery.

Further Reading

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External Links

The history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Wikipedia Page