Constantine the great played a significant role in shaping Christianity to what it is today: a widespread religion, which is practiced openly in most countries. Before Constantine, Christians in Rome worshipped in secret, as they feared for their very lives in the hands of the pagans, which was the main practice at the time. In 313 BCE Constantine issued the edict of Milan thus giving Christianity a legal status. However, in as much as Christians were now free to worship and advance their religion, most of their art borrowed heavily from paganism. This kind of borrowing can be understood considering that Christianity was not a total replacement of the traditional Roman beliefs.
The Christian architecture at the time of Constantine borrowed heavily from the Greco-Roman world due to the constant cultural interaction. This fact is evident by the Christian churches of the time, which did not differ with the typical Roman architecture. One striking example is a Christian community house in Dura-Europos in Syria which is atypical home adopted to meet the needs of the congregation (Chapter 8 p.233). This house was created by breaking down a partition between two rooms and it held up to 70 people at a time (Chapter 8 p. 234). The churches at this time were built as baptisteries with mural paintings to reflect on the importance of the Baptism sacrament, which initiates new members into the mysteries of the Christian faith.
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Over time, the Christian churches were infused with Roman associations although they tried to create a Christian aura. In essence, the interior was reflective of the Christianity belief while the exterior represented the Roman architecture. Constantine in an effort to leave a lasting legacy took on himself to build monumental churches with antiquated designs (Chapter 8 p.235). Moreover, Constantine felt that the existing churches were simple as they were not different from the other houses. For Constantine, the domestic architecture would not meet the needs of his architects who were keen on producing architectural marvels (Chapter 8 p. 237). Constantine’s effort saw the building of striking architectural edifices to honor Christianity with the most striking example being the church of Saint Peter. These churches incorporated mosaics, and luxury arts as the main decorations.
