Sociality and Botanical Form in Early Christian Architecture
floors and walls of early Christian buildings. Scholarly literature has often considered
these forms either according to their symbolism or as being broadly suggestive of
paradise and the glory of terrestrial creation. Following recent work on ornament and
atmosphere in classical architecture, however, this study asks first what kind of
atmosphere does botanical form create in early Christian spaces? And second how does
that atmosphere relate to the social function of architecture? In doing so, it argues that
early Christian botanical forms delimits social space by cuing specific forms of sociality
deeply rooted in the pre-Christian Mediterranean.
This study begins with Paulinus of Nola's (354-431 CE) endorsement of imagery in
churches as a means of allaying the hunger of new converts accustomed to the sacrifices
of the ancient Roman religion. Imagery thus becomes a tool for cultivating Christian
spectatorship by fostering the sublimation of conditioned responses to communal ritual.
Two case studies of the Christian appropriation of botanical form follow: the fourth-
century mosaics of Santa Costanza, Rome, and those of sixth-century San Vitale,
Ravenna. The paper shows that the adoption of boughs, wreaths, garlands, and grapevines
in these Christian contexts allowed spectators to see spaces as festal and suitable for
ritual. Other forms such as baskets of fruit evoked ritualized hospitality as celebrated in
xenia "still-life" imagery. Finally, the study demonstrates that early Christians adapted
these imageries to suit specifically Christian conceptions of sacrifice, community and
ritual space.