3 November 313 - 1 June Constantine at Trier
1 August Constantine present at the Council of Arles.
autumn Constantine on German campaign.
?314 Constantine supervises the building of a fort on the east bank of the Rhine
29 October - 28 April 315 Constantine at Trier.
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Basilica Santes Marcellino et Pietro
Mausoleum of Constantine
Basilica of St. Lawrence
Basilica of St. Sebastian
2001.09.03 12:46
Cathedral of Tyre 314?
Within sources readily available I am finding what appear to be errors regarding the Cathedral at Tyre, which is described by Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History X iv 44. Below are three excerpts which offer conflicting dates and seem to mistakenly attribute the building of the church at Tyre to Constantine.
1. Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture states:
"The cathedral of Tyre (Sur) in the Syrian coast, consecrated in 318, represents still another approach. Eusebius's description, although rhetorical, outlines the plan with some clarity, and it certainly reflects the impression a lavish church building was designed to make. ... Tyre, Aquileia, and Orleanville, then, represent variant types of Constantinian cathedrals."
2. The online Catholic Encyclopedia under 'Ecclesiastical Buildings' says the following:
"In his Ecclesiastical History (X, iii, iv) Eusebius describes the dedication, in 314, of the church erected by Constantine at Tyre, at which time, however, there was no special rite for that purpose."
3. And under 'Dedication' the CE states:
"It is not strange, however, that owing to the persecutions of the first three centuries, references to the dedication of churches are extremely rare. The first authentic accounts of this kind are furnished by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., X, iii, iv; De Vitâ Const., IV, xliii, in P. G., XX), and Sozomen (Hist. Eccl., II, xxvi in P. G., XLVII) in regard to the cathedral of Tyre (314) and Constantine's church at Jerusalem." [Note: only Eusebius' Hist. Eccl. references Tyre, while the Vita Const. and Sozomen's Eccl. Hist. reference the dedication of the church at Jerusalem.]
My questions are:
1. Can anyone verify what the dedication date of the Cathedral of Tyre correctly is?
2. If the dedication date is 314 or 318, then in either case it is not possible to say that the Cathedral of Tyre is a Constantinian building because Constantine did not have control of the Eastern Empire until Autumn 324. Moreover, if the Cathedral of Tyre was dedicated in 314, then it surely predates the completion of the Basilica Constantiniani (now St. John Lateran, Rome), which began no sooner than late autumn 312. Could it be that the basilican church typology was already fairly well established in the East prior to its (the basilican typology's) establishment in Rome? [It appears that a church at Tyre was destroyed under Diocletian, and that the dedication in 314 or 318 was of a rebuilding of the prior church.]
3. What really makes me curious is why the mistake of associating Constantine with an eastern church dated prior to his having power in that region was made in the first place, and within reputable sources, no less. Is this perhaps an example of historians wanting to keep all credit of early 4th century Christian church building completely (and simply) with Constantine?
2001.09.05 07:54
Cathedral of Tyre - answers
I found some answers to the questions regarding the Cathedral of Tyre in T.D. Barnes' Constantine and Eusebius pp. 161-62. For brevity's sake, here are the facts:
1. it was Maximinus Daia in Spring/Summer 313 that "granted the right to [re]building churches," and the source for this is in Eusebius Ecclesiastical History Book 9.
2. Eusebius "in a speech which forms the greater part of Book 10 of the History; he delivered the speech in Tyre about 315, when the rebuilt basilica was dedicated."
I think it is now safe to say that the rebuilt Cathedral of Tyre should not be directly attributed to Constantine. This then seems to open further implication that the churches Constantine is responsible for are of a distinct set of churches that are special because of their unprecedented Imperial initiation and funding.
2001.09.06 14:10
Re: Cathedral of Tyre 314?
I sometimes think, while reading various (now) older texts regarding Early Christian architecture, that the general feeling of the texts is either Rome 'centric' or Constantine 'centric' or both. This is akin to the notion believed by most of the general public that the "great" Christian persecution also occurred at Rome. Broad knowledge that the power base of the Empire was in the East from the late third century on just isn't out there. My point being that a lot of answers to long standing questions concerning the 'origins' of Early Christian architecture (and other things early fourth century) may well be found in the East.
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