quondam @ archinect/79/7920q.htm
The Semiology of God
Rita Novel 2005.07.19 13:14
The emperor Alexander Severus at one point wished to include Jesus Christ among the pantheon of Roman gods, however, Alexander was advised against the Christian inclusion because of the quick realization that almost everyone in Rome would then openly become a Christian, and subsequently completely undermine Rome’s pagan priesthood and aristocratic powerbase. Evidently, by the first half of the third century, Christianity was already Rome’s predominant faith, and given that Alexander’s wish occurred close to a hundred years prior to the emperor Constantine’s allowance and erection of Christian tombs and basilicas within Rome, the noneventuality of Alexander’s desire is nonetheless a pivotal point that signals the beginning of paganism’s end. It is thus not for nothing that Piranesi, rather than position the Porticus Alexandri Severi correctly at the beginning of the Equiria, chooses to place Alexander’s porticus at the Equiria’s end.
--excerpt from Encyclopedia Ichnographica, 1998.12.01
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