DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0112
THE TEMPLE OF ROME AND AUGUSTUS AT AXCYRA.
91
The temple of Augustus was hexastyle and peripteral; the order is Corinthian, and is
one of the best examples of the work of the Augustan age.
Scale
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF ROME ANI) AUGUSTUS.
We remark, in the adaptation of this building to the purposes of Christian worship, an
arrangement entirely different from that which we have noticed at Aphrodisias. The external
colonnades have disappeared, — the cella alone remains; and as it was not sufficiently large,
the wall of the posticum was pulled down, and the side walls of the cella prolonged. The
iconostasis replaced the ancient wall of the opisthodomos, the choir being established in the
additional part of the building. The doorway of the temple, with all its decorations, was preserved,
and the pronaos became the narthex. In order to light the building, three windows were cut
in the wall; there are still to he seen in them grooves arranged to receive glass or slabs of
translucent alabaster. This fact helps to solve the question, which has been so much dis-
cussed, respecting the manner in which the ancient temples were lighted. It is evident that
if the Christians had found the temples lighted in any other manner than through the doorway,
they would not have taken the trouble to cut through the marble wall.
The usual custom in Greek churches was to make the apse circular on plan. Since the
reign of Justinian this rule had been departed from but little. The apse was generally
lighted by three windows, in honour of the Holy Trinity.1 Here, however, the chancel has a
square instead of a semicircular termination, and this is the most ancient example known of
the square east end, of which it is difficult to cite a single example in Italy, but which
became common in Normandy and England in the 11th and 12th centuries.
The Byzantine historians mention numerous temples in Asia that were transformed into
churches, hut we do not find remains of any of them. Cedrenus2 cites the temple of Cybele
at Cyzicus, which was dedicated to the Virgin, and became the church of Theotocos. Procopius
mentions the two temples of Comana, which have also disappeared, and in which Christian
worship was established without any change being made in their primitive arrangements.3
St. Porphyrus, Bishop of Gaza, went to Constantinople in order to obtain authority to destroy
eight temples which still existed in his time. Upon the site of one of these edifices, Eudoxia,
wife of the Emperor Arcadius, who died A.D. 404, founded a church, which still exists, and
which has been converted into a mosque.
Amongst the numerous ancient edifices that have been dedicated to Christian worship, we
find but one (the Basilica of Pergamus, which is believed by some to be the church of
St. John the Evangelist—Agios Theologos) that was originally destined for civil purposes. What
leads us to believe that this building was not originally erected for a church is that it has
no narthex or exonarthex, which are both indispensable for the different classes of catechumens
and penitents in the Greek Church. Secondly, as the staircases which lead to the tribunes arc
placed to the right and left of the hemicycle representing the bema, the public, and amongst
them the women, would have been obliged to cross the choir, access to which is so strictly *
* Codinus, Description of Saint Sophia. 2 Vol. i. p. 209. 3 Procopius, de Bello persico, book i. ch. 12.
91
The temple of Augustus was hexastyle and peripteral; the order is Corinthian, and is
one of the best examples of the work of the Augustan age.
Scale
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF ROME ANI) AUGUSTUS.
We remark, in the adaptation of this building to the purposes of Christian worship, an
arrangement entirely different from that which we have noticed at Aphrodisias. The external
colonnades have disappeared, — the cella alone remains; and as it was not sufficiently large,
the wall of the posticum was pulled down, and the side walls of the cella prolonged. The
iconostasis replaced the ancient wall of the opisthodomos, the choir being established in the
additional part of the building. The doorway of the temple, with all its decorations, was preserved,
and the pronaos became the narthex. In order to light the building, three windows were cut
in the wall; there are still to he seen in them grooves arranged to receive glass or slabs of
translucent alabaster. This fact helps to solve the question, which has been so much dis-
cussed, respecting the manner in which the ancient temples were lighted. It is evident that
if the Christians had found the temples lighted in any other manner than through the doorway,
they would not have taken the trouble to cut through the marble wall.
The usual custom in Greek churches was to make the apse circular on plan. Since the
reign of Justinian this rule had been departed from but little. The apse was generally
lighted by three windows, in honour of the Holy Trinity.1 Here, however, the chancel has a
square instead of a semicircular termination, and this is the most ancient example known of
the square east end, of which it is difficult to cite a single example in Italy, but which
became common in Normandy and England in the 11th and 12th centuries.
The Byzantine historians mention numerous temples in Asia that were transformed into
churches, hut we do not find remains of any of them. Cedrenus2 cites the temple of Cybele
at Cyzicus, which was dedicated to the Virgin, and became the church of Theotocos. Procopius
mentions the two temples of Comana, which have also disappeared, and in which Christian
worship was established without any change being made in their primitive arrangements.3
St. Porphyrus, Bishop of Gaza, went to Constantinople in order to obtain authority to destroy
eight temples which still existed in his time. Upon the site of one of these edifices, Eudoxia,
wife of the Emperor Arcadius, who died A.D. 404, founded a church, which still exists, and
which has been converted into a mosque.
Amongst the numerous ancient edifices that have been dedicated to Christian worship, we
find but one (the Basilica of Pergamus, which is believed by some to be the church of
St. John the Evangelist—Agios Theologos) that was originally destined for civil purposes. What
leads us to believe that this building was not originally erected for a church is that it has
no narthex or exonarthex, which are both indispensable for the different classes of catechumens
and penitents in the Greek Church. Secondly, as the staircases which lead to the tribunes arc
placed to the right and left of the hemicycle representing the bema, the public, and amongst
them the women, would have been obliged to cross the choir, access to which is so strictly *
* Codinus, Description of Saint Sophia. 2 Vol. i. p. 209. 3 Procopius, de Bello persico, book i. ch. 12.