Before Christianity took a firm hold on the Roman people, religion was based on pagan beliefs, and there were many gods. This idea allowed the gods of conquered civilizations to be taken into the Roman way of life. Polytheistic religions were based on imagery and idols that symbolize the deity to worship. Last week, we read that the Pantheon was built to be a "temple to all gods," which symbolizes the polytheistic aspect of Roman religious beliefs of the time.
Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century, which introduced a new direction for the Roman Empire. When Christianity came, the constrictions of the religion were hard to follow for the Roman people. Christianity is monotheistic and doesn’t allow for the worship of idols or other gods. This was a completely different way than tradition dictated. Baptism was seen as a way to enter Christianity, and because of this entry ritual, it was considered a secret religion (Farber, Early Christianity, an Introduction, n.d.). Farber (n.d.) suggests that the secretive nature of early Christianity led to Christians being persecuted.
Classical Roman art was
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Dr. Allen Farber (Farber, Early Christian art and architecture, n.d.) wrote that pre-Constantinian temples were constructed out of converted community houses. Constantine’s architects didn’t agree with the use of domestic architecture as Constantine wanted to portray the importance of Christianity as a religion in the Roman Empire. Constantine and his architects wanted to portray the secrets and mysteries of the secret religion by adorning the new buildings internally as if to keep the mystery of the religion alive. But at the same time, the buildings had to portray the importance of the Christian faith. Thus, the Christian Basilica was born. Although basilicas were not new because they were used as meeting places throughout the Roman