Monuments of the early church

Monuments of the early church

Author: Lowrie, Walter, 1868-1959

Year: 1901

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION Relation of Christian to Classic Art 1 Formal Decline of Art in the Early Christian Period 4 Attitude of the Church toward Art 5 Limits of the Early Christian Period 6 Classification of Monuments 7 Distribution of Monuments 8 Relation to Literary Sources 11 History of the Study 17 II. CHRISTIAN CEMETERIES General Description of the Catacombs 23 Nomenclature 23 Plan 29 The Catacombs and the Arenaria 31 Exaggerated Idea of their Extent 32 Actual Location and Extent 33 The Fossors 36 The Catacombs and the Titles 37 The Christian Mode of Burial 40 Worship in the Catacombs 43 Constructions above Ground 47 Public Character of the Catacombs 47 The Area and its Buildings 48 Surface Burial 50 The Agape 50 Legal Tenure of the Cemeteries 53 The Sepulchre in Roman Law 53 Private Tenure 54 Corporate Tenure — the Burial Societies 56 Inscriptions 62 Epitaphs 63 The Poems of Damasus 74 History of the Catacombs after the Fourth Century 77 III. CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE Introduction 83 A. THE BASILICA Meaning of the Name 89 Various Views of its Origin 91 A Deliberate Invention 91 Derived from the Civil Basilica 92 Earlier than Constantine 93 Derived from the Schola 94