The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome : illustrated by its sepulchral remains . aid to have borrowedthe idea of St. Peters from the Parthenon and thePantheon ; to have, in the hopelessness of producinga new element of architectural grandeur, determinedto place the one upon the other, and combine thebeauties of both. The bishops of Rome were not unmindful oftheir early sanctuary, when released from thenecessity of seeking refuge in it. Their subterra-nean decorations have been noticed by Anastasius;and some are mentioned in the poems of Pru-dentius. Celesti
The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome : illustrated by its sepulchral remains . aid to have borrowedthe idea of St. Peters from the Parthenon and thePantheon ; to have, in the hopelessness of producinga new element of architectural grandeur, determinedto place the one upon the other, and combine thebeauties of both. The bishops of Rome were not unmindful oftheir early sanctuary, when released from thenecessity of seeking refuge in it. Their subterra-nean decorations have been noticed by Anastasius;and some are mentioned in the poems of Pru-dentius. Celestinus, who lived in 421, embellishedhis own cemetery with paintings ; Fabian, sitting in251, constructed many fresh buildings in the ceme-teries : the tomb of Hippolytus had been adornedwith Parian marble and precious metals before theyear 400. Our next specimen of the Catacombchapel is therefore considerably in advance of thelast; the roof being more vaulted and ornamented,the walls painted, and the monumentum arcuatum,an important feature in church architecture, freelyintroduced. 282 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN This arched monument, as it is technicallytermed, consists of a vaulted niche, containing aflat tomb projecting from the back wall: in someinstances the roof is covered with painting. Insubterranean chapels, it is not uncommon to finda tomb occupying part of the space originally co-vered by a fresco, in such a manner as to showthat the grave is of later date than the these graves are accompanied by thecup, supposed to commemorate a martyrs death;and these cases have been adduced as proofs of theexistence of church painting previous to the time ofConstantine. But the uncertainty regarding thesymbols of martyrdom, as well as the practice of se-condary interment, destroy the value of the proof. The projecting table formed by the lower part ofthe arched monument, and the horizontal graveexposed by the section on the right of the above THE ORIGIN OF CHR
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectchristianartandsymbolism
