初期キリスト教ローマ帝国のキリスト教建築における集中形式集堂の堂内の建築構成

抄録

According to Sophocles's dictionary of Byzantine Greek, the term ekklhsia. From which the English words ecclesiastic and ecclesiastical were later derived, was applied to any one of various types of assembly hall in current use from the fourth to sixth centuries. These ekklhsiai seem to have been constructed fundamentally under the auspices of the Court, and represent, in a sense, then, a kind of court-architecture. In this, the ekklhsia shows a conspicuous difference from the baptistery which, in the previous paper, was recognized generally as attached to the patriarchal church all over the empire. However, as with baptisteries, the architectural idea is envisaged as a domed element and thereby conforms with the usual image of a centralized ecclesiastical architecture. With regard to structure, there are two types '. One consists of a structural wall; the other employs schematic wall (columns and layered pillars) to carry the dome. The latter type-especially layered pillars-was not found in the baptistery between the fourth and the sixth centuries. In contrast to the substantial and forthright delineation of structure in either of these two types common to the ekklhsia, surface composition of the interior grew increasingly complex and visually insubstantial. That is irrespective of wall- or "frame" -system, a trabeated style is visually manifested on the wall surface, more or less concealing structural materials. This visualized surface system is common to centralized architecture during the so-called early Christian period. Moreover, in matters of decoration, lighting and internal planning, the centralized style is apt to display an axis toward the sanctuary, which provides a focus for visitors and celebrants alike. These facts indicate that ecclesiastical architecture of the centralized style in the roman empire of the early Christian period applies a common architectural idea in surface composition and visual arrangement. Therefore, by identifying centralized ecclesiastical architecture as a single style, it may be contrasted with secular architecture in technique and composition, fruitfully and at a level above and beyond the functional difference. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a working description of Ekklhsia of the period under discussion, so that the foregoing description can be meaningfully drawn in the succeeding article.