0:00:05 > 0:00:10This is a series about an artistic era that is looked down on,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14and never gets the respect it deserves.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20It is a shadowy era so shadowy, people even disagree about its name.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24So I'm going to use the old one,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27the one that best sums up its dilemmas.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32I'm going to call it the Dark Ages.
0:01:15 > 0:01:21The Dark Ages go roughly from the fourth century to roughly the 11th.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27They begin when the Roman Empire starts to crumble,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and they end
0:01:29 > 0:01:32when William the Conqueror invades England.
0:01:32 > 0:01:39Now in this shadowy slab of time, everything changed.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43The greatest empire the world has seen
0:01:43 > 0:01:46melted back into the cultural shadows.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Various powerful artistic forces
0:01:49 > 0:01:52stepped up to take its place.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Later in the series, we'll be examining those much
0:01:57 > 0:02:00misunderstood creatives
0:02:00 > 0:02:02the Barbarians.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06What wondrous bling they brought into the world.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08What fabulous things they achieved.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15I will also be looking at that joyous and inventive religion,
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Islam, which did so much to light up the Dark Ages.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24But we begin with a group of people
0:02:24 > 0:02:26whose achievements were enormous.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29They started with nothing
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and ended up with so much.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34I'm thinking, of course, of those
0:02:34 > 0:02:39thoroughly underestimated Dark Age creatives,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42those intrepid voyagers into the unknown.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47The Christians.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Art never lies.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57And the story that art tells us of these exciting times
0:02:57 > 0:02:59is that this was never
0:02:59 > 0:03:01an age of darkness.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04This was an age of light.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21These are the famous ruins of Pompeii.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26As I am sure you know, Mount Vesuvius erupted here in 79 AD,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and all of this was covered in ashes
0:03:29 > 0:03:33and preserved for posterity in perfect conditions.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38Now, one of the things they found here, which really surprised them,
0:03:38 > 0:03:43was proof that there were already Christians here by 79 AD.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45The thing they found that proved it...
0:03:47 > 0:03:48..was this.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54It's what they call a Rotas square
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and these Rotas squares
0:03:57 > 0:03:59are deeply mysterious.
0:04:00 > 0:04:06They have been found all over the Roman Empire, in Syria, in Gaul,
0:04:06 > 0:04:11even in England, in Cirencester, they found one of these.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14They are usually inscribed on the walls of houses,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18or sometimes on the columns outside the house,
0:04:18 > 0:04:19but, of course, when they found them,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22they didn't have a clue what these were.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Just mysterious word games,
0:04:25 > 0:04:27plastered outside houses.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33What it is is a letter square,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36made up of five Latin words
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Rotas,
0:04:38 > 0:04:39Opera,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Tenet,
0:04:41 > 0:04:42Arepo
0:04:42 > 0:04:44and Sator.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Rotas at the top
0:04:52 > 0:04:55is Sator backwards.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58And you can see Rotas down this side, as well.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00And Sator down that side.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And here in the middle, Arepo,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04is Opera, "work", backwards.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10The actual words mean something like
0:05:10 > 0:05:13"As ye sow, so shall ye reap."
0:05:14 > 0:05:16But only if you ignore Latin grammar.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Various code-breakers twisted it
0:05:21 > 0:05:24this way and that for decades,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27but it still didn't mean much.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34But then, a eureka moment.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38One of these code-breakers realised that the important
0:05:38 > 0:05:41thing about the Rotas square
0:05:41 > 0:05:45was not the words,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47but the letters.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Because these letters of the Rotas square
0:05:51 > 0:05:53can be rearranged
0:05:53 > 0:05:56to form a cross,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59which reads the same
0:05:59 > 0:06:00both ways,
0:06:02 > 0:06:03up and down.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05It says Paternoster,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09which is Latin for "Our Father,"
0:06:09 > 0:06:12the opening words of the Lord's prayer.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24What's more, these two letters that are left over,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Alpha and Omega,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Alpha and Omega in their Roman form.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44You can see them down in the Roman catacombs popping up everywhere.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Alpha and Omega
0:06:47 > 0:06:49the beginning and the end.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Popular Christian code
0:06:52 > 0:06:53for the one true God.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58So these mysterious word squares
0:06:58 > 0:07:01were put outside houses to signify
0:07:01 > 0:07:04that the occupants were Christians,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09and also as a kind of lucky charm to ward off evil.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Of course, this isn't art yet,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18this is an inscription,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21but it has artistic implications.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23What you see in here,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26this appetite for signs and symbols
0:07:26 > 0:07:28and secret meanings,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30that Christian appetite
0:07:30 > 0:07:33is something that transferred to Christian art.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38The Christian art of the dark ages
0:07:38 > 0:07:40is an art of mystery and magic.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Of suggestions and miracles.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Transcendence and light.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The Rotas square isn't art yet,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54but it is an excellent pointer
0:07:54 > 0:07:57to a new artistic direction.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08One of the reasons early Christian art is so exciting is
0:08:08 > 0:08:11because you find it in exciting places.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Rome is wild enough on the surface,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20but when you descend into its underground
0:08:20 > 0:08:24look how scary and fascinating it becomes.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30People often imagine the catacombs
0:08:30 > 0:08:32were hiding places, underground
0:08:32 > 0:08:35shelters in which persecuted
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Christians hid from the Romans.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44But you can't hide an underground city as huge as this
0:08:44 > 0:08:46under anyone's nose.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49The Romans knew these were here, all right.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55What they didn't know,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58is what one Christian was saying to another down here.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Because the first Christian art
0:09:02 > 0:09:04was filled with secret signs
0:09:04 > 0:09:06and hidden meanings.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10That's why the fish became
0:09:10 > 0:09:13a ubiquitous Christian symbol.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20When two Christians met on the road
0:09:20 > 0:09:23it is said that one of them
0:09:23 > 0:09:26would draw this shape in the sand.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30The other one would draw this shape
0:09:32 > 0:09:33and two of them
0:09:33 > 0:09:36knew immediately that they were Christians together.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53This famous Christian sign,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55the Christogram, or Chi-Rho,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58represents Jesus himself.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01It is made by combining two Greek letters,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Chi and Rho, the first
0:10:04 > 0:10:07two letters of the word Christos,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09which means "the anointed one."
0:10:13 > 0:10:17It is said that the sign had magic powers.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Even today, we still call Christmas, "Xmas", because of this.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Another popular Christian sign was the anchor.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33For the simple reason that the
0:10:33 > 0:10:35top of it here looked like a cross.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Everywhere you look in these haunting Roman catacombs, the first
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Christians are declaring their faith
0:10:48 > 0:10:52in such mysterious and cryptic ways.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56These symbols and signs
0:10:56 > 0:10:59weren't just a secret language,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03they were also a different way of seeing things, a different way
0:11:03 > 0:11:08of understanding, not just with your eyes, but with your imagination.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13What is most interesting about this first Christian art
0:11:13 > 0:11:16you find down here
0:11:16 > 0:11:19is how few pictures there are in it.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25No images of Jesus,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27no Marys, no saints.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32For the first few centuries of Christianity
0:11:32 > 0:11:34there were no Christian images.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41It is not until the beginning of our period,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43the so-called Dark Ages,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46300 years after the birth of Christ
0:11:46 > 0:11:49that figures and scenes
0:11:49 > 0:11:52begin to pop up at last in Christian art.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Look how puzzling they were.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02We are in a third century Christian burial chamber,
0:12:02 > 0:12:03in the catacombs of Priscilla.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09A rich, Christian family was buried here,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11and look what's on the walls.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Over here, some peacocks.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16Over there,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18three chaps standing in a fire.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23And over here,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25some kind of sea dragon,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28with someone coming out of its mouth.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33So, let's decode all of this.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36The peacocks are symbols of eternity.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39Because peacocks replace their beautiful feathers every year,
0:12:39 > 0:12:44the ancients believed their flesh couldn't rot.
0:12:44 > 0:12:45It was eternal.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49The three young men are described
0:12:49 > 0:12:52in the Bible by the prophet, Daniel.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Three young Israelites were set on fire by the Babylonians,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58but God protected them
0:12:58 > 0:13:01and the Babylonian fires couldn't touch them.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08The chap coming out of the sea monster is the prophet, Jonah,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11who you may remember was swallowed by a whale
0:13:11 > 0:13:13for three whole days.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16After three days, the whale spat him out again,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and he returned to dry land, a wiser man.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25The thread that unites all these
0:13:25 > 0:13:28cryptic images is salvation.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29Hope.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32"God save the three young men from the fire,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35"he saved Jonah from the whale
0:13:35 > 0:13:38"and he will save you, too."
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Jonah is also the subject of the
0:13:43 > 0:13:47earliest surviving masterpieces of Christian sculpture.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Found today in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Jonah, swallowed by the whale,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57spat out by the whale
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and returned to dry land a wiser man.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Jonah is particularly significant
0:14:08 > 0:14:11because the early Christians used him
0:14:11 > 0:14:15as a stand-in for Jesus himself.
0:14:15 > 0:14:16Jesus, remember,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20also rose from the dead after three days.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25The reason why Jonah is so popular in the catacombs is
0:14:25 > 0:14:28because he is a way of showing Jesus...
0:14:30 > 0:14:33..without showing Jesus.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Replacement another code, a symbol.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43We've been down here, what, five minutes,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45and look how many different ways
0:14:45 > 0:14:48we have already seen to represent Jesus
0:14:48 > 0:14:51without actually showing him.
0:14:51 > 0:14:52He is the Chi-Rho,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54the word sign,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57he's Jonah in the whale,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59he's the fish,
0:14:59 > 0:15:00the anchor.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04What we haven't seen yet is a Jesus
0:15:04 > 0:15:06we can all recognise.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09A Jesus who actually looks like Jesus.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16The truth is, no-one in early
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Christian art had a clue what
0:15:18 > 0:15:21he actually looked like.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25The Bible doesn't describe him, no-one does.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29So art took an extremely long time
0:15:29 > 0:15:31to come up with a face for Jesus.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37And I think, the search for that face is the greatest artistic
0:15:37 > 0:15:40tussle of the Dark Ages.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51The proof that no-one actually knew what Jesus looked like is
0:15:51 > 0:15:54this controversial relic.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55The Shroud of Turin.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00It is said to be the cloth in which
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Jesus was wrapped at his death.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06This haunting likeness is
0:16:06 > 0:16:08the true face of Christ,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12preserved miraculously in his blood,
0:16:12 > 0:16:13or so they say.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18The Shroud of Turin doesn't get shown very often, but
0:16:18 > 0:16:23when it does, thousands of pilgrims flock to Turin to see it.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Most of them believe they are looking at the true face of Christ.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30When I went to see it,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33there was such a powerful atmosphere in the church,
0:16:34 > 0:16:35so many people,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39so certain they were staring at the remains of Jesus.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48I am afraid they weren't, because Jesus Christ didn't look like that.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51At least, not according to the evidence left behind
0:16:51 > 0:16:54by the first Christian artists who described him.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58According to these first Christian artists,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Jesus actually looked...
0:17:01 > 0:17:03..like this.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Blonde, fresh-faced, boyish,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10the earliest images of Jesus looked
0:17:10 > 0:17:14nothing like the Jesus we know today.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18And nothing like the Jesus on the Turin Shroud.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Jesus at first is a happy-go-lucky character,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26curly-haired and handsome.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30He is usually shown waving his wand about,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33performing remarkable miracles.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36So here, he is turning water into wine at the wedding
0:17:36 > 0:17:38feast at Cana,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40and here
0:17:40 > 0:17:42he is curing the paralytic,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46who couldn't walk until he met the baby-faced Jesus.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49And over here,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53a blind man is being cured by Jesus again.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59And finally, with a wave of that Harry Potter wand of his,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03this is Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06You can always tell Lazarus in early Christian art,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10because he looks like an Egyptian mummy, all wrapped up.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22What you never see in these very first examples of Christian
0:18:22 > 0:18:25art is a Jesus who is suffering
0:18:25 > 0:18:27in pain,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29covered in blood like the one
0:18:29 > 0:18:31on the Turin Shroud.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36That Jesus doesn't turn up in art for 1,000 years or so,
0:18:36 > 0:18:42because the tortured Jesus is a creation of the Middle Ages,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46an expression of medieval guilt and terror.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53What horrible pains the artistic mind went on to
0:18:53 > 0:18:57inflict on the crucified Jesus in the centuries ahead.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01How harshly it whipped him
0:19:01 > 0:19:02and scourged him
0:19:02 > 0:19:04and punctured him.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13In the beginning, though, artists didn't do that.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16The first Jesuses in art
0:19:16 > 0:19:18are young, handsome, curly-haired
0:19:18 > 0:19:20and free.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24So, either Jesus deliberately
0:19:24 > 0:19:26misled his followers about what
0:19:26 > 0:19:27he actually looked like
0:19:27 > 0:19:29for the first 1,000 years or
0:19:29 > 0:19:32so of Christianity,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36or the Turin Shroud is a medieval fake.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40I know what I think.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48The first Christians weren't looking for a god who made them
0:19:48 > 0:19:50feel guilty.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53That would never have caught on.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56They were looking for a God who would save them,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58and fill them with hope.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04So as their model for the first Jesus, Christian artists
0:20:04 > 0:20:08selected the youngest and handsomest of the pagan gods.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13They chose Apollo, the god of the sun.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17Blond, and un-bearded,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19youthful and curly-haired.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Apollo was a God who made you feel good.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32So the first Jesuses were curly-haired and pretty,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35because they borrowed that look from Apollo.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37And it went further than that.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42When this mysterious Christian statue was dug up out of the
0:20:42 > 0:20:45ground it was thought to represent a woman,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48an unknown goddess, a muse.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Only later was it realised that this, too,
0:20:52 > 0:20:54was an early Jesus.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05In that wonderful museum in Cleveland,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07the one with the Jonah marbles,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10there is a carving of Apollo
0:21:10 > 0:21:13performing a miracle with Nike,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15the goddess of victory.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19Apollo is the robed figure on the left.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22And look how shapely he is.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26How easily we might mistake him, too, for a woman.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Pagan gods could be male and female.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37They could amalgamate the sexes, represent both genders at once.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Just like this Jesus here.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Extraordinary as it sounds,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45the first Jesuses were sometimes
0:21:45 > 0:21:48made to look feminine on purpose.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53They were given suggestions of breasts,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55beautiful faces,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57soft bodies and long hair.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01"There is neither male nor female,"
0:22:01 > 0:22:04wrote Saint Paul to the Galicians.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"You are all one in Jesus."
0:22:11 > 0:22:13The pagans had lots of goddesses to worship
0:22:13 > 0:22:14Venus,
0:22:14 > 0:22:15Isis,
0:22:15 > 0:22:16Diana.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18But Christianity had none.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Christianity believed in one true God
0:22:22 > 0:22:24and he was masculine.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27There was an entire feminine side missing.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32So the feminisation of Jesus was a deliberate artistic attempt
0:22:32 > 0:22:36to cater for both sexes.
0:22:36 > 0:22:42It produced some of the Dark Ages' most unexpected imagery.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46In Ravenna, in the magnificent Arian Baptistery,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49there is an un-bearded Jesus
0:22:49 > 0:22:51being baptised in the River Jordan.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56He is so soft and feminine.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59A podgy and delicate Christ
0:22:59 > 0:23:03with childbearing hips.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Before this girlish Jesus could become fully masculine,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11grow a beard and turn into a man,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Christianity needed to find a
0:23:14 > 0:23:17feminine presence of its own.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30The borrowing of Christ's face from Apollo shouldn't really surprise us.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34The early Christians borrowed from the pagans
0:23:34 > 0:23:36because that's what art does.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39It uses what's already there.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42It is important to remember, too, that for
0:23:42 > 0:23:45most of these early centuries of Christianity,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Christians and pagans lived together
0:23:49 > 0:23:51in reasonable harmony.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Those terrible periods of persecution,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58when the Romans murdered the Christians in terrible ways,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02those were rare, the exception, not the rule.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Later, when the Roman Empire became officially Christian,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11under the Emperor Constantine,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13aggressive Christian writers,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15looking back on these times,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19did what the victor always does in a war.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22They rewrote history from their point of view.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Dramatised it, exaggerated it.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34In most of the Roman Empire, particularly at the borders,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37like here, in Roman Syria,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39pagans lived next door to Christians,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Christians lived next door to Jews,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45and all of them muddled along together.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53The earliest known Christian church has been found in the Syrian
0:24:53 > 0:24:56border town of Dura-Europos.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01It was next to the earliest known synagogue.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02And around the corner
0:25:02 > 0:25:04was the temple of the bull-god,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Mithras.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09All these different religions
0:25:09 > 0:25:11swapped each other's converts,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14borrowed each other's gods,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16and influenced each other's art.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23Take the halo, that miraculous circle of light which you
0:25:23 > 0:25:26see around the heads of holy figures in Christian art.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29At first, there were no halos,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Jesus was the magician with
0:25:31 > 0:25:34the wand, and that was enough to differentiate him.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36But as Christian art grew busier,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40and more and more characters popped up in it,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Jesus needed to look more obviously divine.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48So Christian artists did what the pagans did,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51they gave him a halo,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53borrowed once again from Apollo.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Long before Jesus acquired
0:25:57 > 0:25:59his miraculous nimbus of light,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Apollo already had one.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05A circle of symbolic sunshine
0:26:05 > 0:26:07emanating from his head to
0:26:07 > 0:26:09signify his solar divinity.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Another crucial borrowing from pagans was the image of the angel.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21If you look at a typical Roman sarcophagus from the early
0:26:21 > 0:26:26Christian era, you will usually see a pair of winged figures
0:26:26 > 0:26:32carrying a portrait of the deceased upwards in glory.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34They look exactly like angels,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36but they're not.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39They're Roman figures of victory.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Nikes, pagan transporters of the soul.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52But the most significant of these pagan borrowings was a female
0:26:52 > 0:26:54figure adapted from Egyptian art.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59She became very popular in Christianity.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Indeed, she was central to it.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04But that is not how she began.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13The Egyptian earth mother, Isis,
0:27:13 > 0:27:17was one of the most revered of all pagan gods.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20She was the goddess of fertility,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22the mother goddess,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25from whom all life originally sprang.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31When you wanted babies,
0:27:31 > 0:27:32you prayed to Isis.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36When you wanted your crops to grow,
0:27:36 > 0:27:37you prayed to Isis.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Whoever you were, slave, servant,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45outcast, you prayed to Isis,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47because Isis would protect you.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52To emphasise her caring nature,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Isis was often shown with
0:27:54 > 0:27:56a baby on her knee
0:27:56 > 0:27:59whom she breastfeeds regally.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03He is Horus, son of Isis.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Horus was the god of the sky,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08the Egyptian Apollo,
0:28:08 > 0:28:09and his birthday
0:28:09 > 0:28:12fell at the winter solstice,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16sometime around December 25.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21When Christian art grew hungry for a distinct female
0:28:21 > 0:28:24presence to worship,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26a mother goddess who nurtured you and
0:28:26 > 0:28:28protected you.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Isis, the mother of Horus,
0:28:30 > 0:28:31was an obvious model, and the
0:28:31 > 0:28:34two of them were soon successfully
0:28:34 > 0:28:36transported into Christian art.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42This is the first known image of Mary,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45holding the baby Jesus on her lap.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50It was found in the Roman catacombs of Priscilla,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53a touching fragment of a mother and her child.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Mary, caring for the baby Jesus, became one of the most
0:28:59 > 0:29:02popular of all the Christian images
0:29:02 > 0:29:04of the Dark Ages.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07With such glorious results.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17This great artistic discovery, the Virgin Mary,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19had an important by-product
0:29:19 > 0:29:24because it did away with the need to feminise or soften Jesus.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28When Mary emerged as a powerful divine presence,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32Jesus no longer needed to be girlish.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35His image was free to become fully masculine.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41But where to put all this powerful new art
0:29:41 > 0:29:44that Christianity was inventing.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49It's all very well finding a new image for Jesus and Mary,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52but what also needed to be invented
0:29:52 > 0:29:55was the Christian church.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06The Roman Empire was huge.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09It stretched from the Middle East at one end
0:30:09 > 0:30:13to this primitive cultural backwater at the other.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17The place we now call Britain.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25When you're imagining the Roman Empire,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28you need to stop thinking about countries
0:30:28 > 0:30:30because there weren't any.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34No clear divisions, either, between Asia and Africa or Europe.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37All of them...
0:30:38 > 0:30:43..were part of this massive collar of power
0:30:43 > 0:30:46surrounding the entire Mediterranean.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49The mightiest empire the world has seen.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Christianity got to Britain quite early,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55all the way from over here
0:30:55 > 0:30:57right up to here.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59And just about there,
0:30:59 > 0:31:03in a village in Dorset called Hinton St Mary,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07they've dug up one of the earliest mosaic images of Jesus.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13He looks stately, doesn't he?
0:31:13 > 0:31:18More like a Roman senator than a Christian God.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Except for the large Chi-Rho that surrounds his head,
0:31:22 > 0:31:24the sign of Christ.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33This is Lullingstone in Kent.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37And we're here because I wanted you to see what's left
0:31:37 > 0:31:41of one of the earliest known Christian churches.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50If you're thinking to yourself that this looks more like
0:31:50 > 0:31:53the remains of a big house, not a church,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55you'd be absolutely right.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59The first churches were ordinary houses
0:31:59 > 0:32:02adapted for Christian use.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08Some Christians were richer and more active in the community than others.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13And their house became the neighbourhood house church.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16The house church they found in Dura-Europos,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19the one next door to the Jewish Synagogue,
0:32:19 > 0:32:25was just a small town house in which the Christians had done some DIY,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28knocked down a wall, roofed over a courtyard
0:32:28 > 0:32:31to create more space for their meetings.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36On the walls of this makeshift church,
0:32:36 > 0:32:41the Dura Christians painted Christ walking on water.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46And there he is again, healing a cripple,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49making him walk, too.
0:32:51 > 0:32:52Here in Lullingstone,
0:32:52 > 0:32:58the house church was on the first floor of this elegant Roman villa.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00It was just above
0:33:00 > 0:33:03that pagan shrine there.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Basically, it was a simple room
0:33:06 > 0:33:08with painted walls.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16Decorating it was a procession of praying Christians
0:33:16 > 0:33:18with crosses on their robes.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21There was also a Chi-Rho.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24And around this Chi-Rho,
0:33:24 > 0:33:28the two momentous letters of the Greek alphabet again.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Alpha and omega,
0:33:30 > 0:33:32the beginning and the end.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38If you put all those four letters together,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42alpha, rho, chi and omega,
0:33:42 > 0:33:44you get the word "arco",
0:33:44 > 0:33:46which means "I rule".
0:33:49 > 0:33:52From the outside, you wouldn't have known
0:33:52 > 0:33:54the Lullingstone house church was there.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58It was a modest Christian conversion
0:33:58 > 0:34:00and almost invisible.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06And for the first 300 years,
0:34:06 > 0:34:08all churches were like this.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Humble spaces in people's houses,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14wonky bits of DIY
0:34:14 > 0:34:17where Christians could worship and celebrate.
0:34:17 > 0:34:18And then...
0:34:19 > 0:34:22..in 313 AD,
0:34:23 > 0:34:28..Constantine the Great converted to Christianity,
0:34:28 > 0:34:29and everything changed.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Suddenly, this cryptic and secretive religion,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40with its instinctive fondness for codes and clues,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49And modesty was no longer an option.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Ooh, he's a big one, isn't he?!
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Constantine the Great -
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Roman Emperor, mighty warrior
0:35:09 > 0:35:11and defender of the faith.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17Constantine's mother, St Helena, was a Christian
0:35:17 > 0:35:21and he probably inherited the faith from her.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24In 313 AD,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27Constantine's famous Edict of Milan
0:35:27 > 0:35:31made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34And from then on, its power grew
0:35:34 > 0:35:35and grew...
0:35:36 > 0:35:37..and grew.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Constantine was a builder by instinct.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Look at this magnificent triumphal arch
0:35:46 > 0:35:49he plonked in front of the Coliseum.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56But his greatest achievement as a builder
0:35:56 > 0:35:58was the unexpected invention
0:35:58 > 0:36:01of the Christian church.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08Until Constantine,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Christian churches were small and makeshift,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13often hidden away,
0:36:13 > 0:36:18but when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Emperor,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20everything changed.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Suddenly, all the building resources
0:36:26 > 0:36:29of the mightiest empire the world has seen
0:36:29 > 0:36:32began to be lavished on Christian architecture.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39And a religion which hitherto had made do with wonky house churches
0:36:39 > 0:36:42found itself having to invent
0:36:42 > 0:36:44a grand new style of worship.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54These huge Christian basilicas that Constantine began building
0:36:54 > 0:36:58were another Christian achievement for which there was no precedent.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03The little house churches were useless as an example
0:37:03 > 0:37:07for these giant halls of worship.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11This was a completely new kind of architecture.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18This is Santa Sabina in Rome,
0:37:18 > 0:37:22the best preserved of the first Christian basilicas.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27It's a new type of religious space.
0:37:27 > 0:37:32No-one in any religion had worshipped like this before.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39Pagan temples worked very differently from a Christian church.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44Pagan temples were spaces for worshipping outdoors.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50In a pagan temple, the congregation stayed outside.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Only the priests of the cult could enter the holy sanctuary
0:37:55 > 0:37:58in which the sacred idol was kept.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Christian churches were the opposite.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09A Christian church was a huge assembly hall with a roof
0:38:09 > 0:38:12where people could worship indoors.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15And the style of worship was different, too.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20Nowadays, churches have these neat rows of pews
0:38:20 > 0:38:24where everybody sits quietly and piously.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28But in the first Christian churches, there were no pews.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36In the beginning, Christian churches were huge open spaces
0:38:36 > 0:38:39in which an ecstatic Christian crowd
0:38:39 > 0:38:42would heave and circulate.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46This was a space for moving
0:38:46 > 0:38:48and chanting and talking.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54At the start of the ceremony,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56the priests would enter
0:38:56 > 0:38:58in a magnificent procession
0:38:58 > 0:39:01that went all the way up to the front.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09You see them illustrated sometimes, high up on Christian walls.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14An ornate and stately priesthood
0:39:14 > 0:39:17progressing through these new naves
0:39:17 > 0:39:20in a magnificent wave of finery and colour.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29So these were spaces full of constant movement
0:39:29 > 0:39:31and chaotic crowding.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34And the only precedent for such a building
0:39:34 > 0:39:37was a useful Roman construction
0:39:37 > 0:39:39called a basilica.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44Basilicas were public meeting halls
0:39:44 > 0:39:47built to house big crowds.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50There was nothing religious about them.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55Every sizable Roman settlement had a basilica.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02Roman basilicas were entered from the side, somewhere about here.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05But when the Christians took over the shape...
0:40:07 > 0:40:11..they swivelled it around and put the entrance over here.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15So the entire building...
0:40:16 > 0:40:19..pointed that way.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25One of the most common uses of a Roman basilica
0:40:25 > 0:40:28was as a law court.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31The populace would mill about down here
0:40:31 > 0:40:34while the magistrate would sit up at the end,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37raised on a magisterial throne,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40sitting in a special rounded apse
0:40:40 > 0:40:42that signalled his importance.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52The Christians took over the magistrates apse as well.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55It's where they put their sacrificial altar,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58and above it, a great apse mosaic,
0:40:58 > 0:41:03the climactic moment of this magnificent religious journey.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11But you're looking up at this glorious apse mosaic
0:41:11 > 0:41:13and you're thinking,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17"Hmm, there's Jesus with a big beard.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20"hat happened to the curly-haired boy?"
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Well, he just wasn't grand enough
0:41:24 > 0:41:26for Constantine's new basilicas.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32So the early Christians wanted a god they could look up to,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35a God who was a match for all the other gods.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41And when the time came for a more imposing Jesus to emerge,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43Jesus the adult...
0:41:44 > 0:41:48.the Christians turned once again to that reliable source
0:41:48 > 0:41:52of raw materials that lay all around them.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56The art of the pagans.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03The most powerful and important of all the Roman gods was Jupiter,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06or in his Greek incarnation,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Zeus, King Of the Gods.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15Zeus, or Jupiter, was grand and bearded.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18In the great Temple of Zeus at Olympia,
0:42:18 > 0:42:22the most famous sculptor of the classical age, Phidias,
0:42:22 > 0:42:27had shown the King Of the Gods enthroned in Majesty,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31an image the Christians were determined to match.
0:42:32 > 0:42:37They took it all - the beard, the hair, the throne,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40that sense of omnipotent power.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42It was all borrowed from Zeus.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46And the curly-haired youth with the girlish body
0:42:46 > 0:42:48who'd buzzed around performing all those miracles
0:42:48 > 0:42:53was replaced by this manly, mature Jesus
0:42:53 > 0:42:56who sits in judgment on his flock,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59stern and unsmiling,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01wise and infallible.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Meanwhile,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13back down in the Roman catacombs,
0:43:13 > 0:43:17darker Christian forces were also stirring.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25When I said the persecution of the Christians has been exaggerated,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28I didn't mean it never happened. Of course it did.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Particularly under Constantine's predecessor, Diocletian.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37Though not perhaps in the numbers we've been led to believe.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44Some estimates say that only about 2,000 Christians
0:43:44 > 0:43:48were killed in the Roman persecutions.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51I think there must have been more than that.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55But the modern age is definitely better at killing Christians
0:43:55 > 0:43:58than the Romans ever were.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00In the Spanish Civil War,
0:44:00 > 0:44:037,000 priests, monks
0:44:03 > 0:44:06and nuns were murdered.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08And you'd never hear about them.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18But for the early Christians, death had a special significance.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21The idea took hold in their imaginations
0:44:21 > 0:44:25that suffering was a necessary part of redemption.
0:44:25 > 0:44:26It was crucial.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29And this belief in death
0:44:29 > 0:44:32had a profound influence on their art and their architecture.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40These are the catacombs of St Agnes of Rome.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44She's the patron saint of chastity -
0:44:44 > 0:44:47of teenage girls, engaged couples,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50rape victims and virgins.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00Agnes was a 13-year-old girl
0:45:00 > 0:45:03murdered in the reign of Diocletian.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08The story goes that a Roman prefect wanted her to marry his son
0:45:08 > 0:45:10but Agnes was a Christian.
0:45:10 > 0:45:11She refused...
0:45:13 > 0:45:14..so the Roman prefect...
0:45:15 > 0:45:17..condemned her to death.
0:45:22 > 0:45:27Roman law didn't permit the execution of virgins,
0:45:27 > 0:45:32so Agnes was stripped, paraded naked through the streets,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35and dragged to a brothel.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41Afterwards they tried to burn her, but the flames wouldn't touch her
0:45:41 > 0:45:48and everyone who looked at her naked body was blinded.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52In the end, a Roman soldier beheaded her,
0:45:52 > 0:45:58and her body - decapitated - was kept here in this church.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03But her skull... That's in Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona,
0:46:03 > 0:46:09where the faithful come to kneel before it and worship it.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18Martyrs like Agnes were believed to offer special protection for the early Christians.
0:46:20 > 0:46:25They were baptised in blood and sat next to God in the next world.
0:46:25 > 0:46:32If a martyr favoured you, you too were guaranteed a place in heaven.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37To improve their chances of salvation
0:46:37 > 0:46:39every Christian wanted to be buried
0:46:39 > 0:46:42as close to a martyr as possible.
0:46:43 > 0:46:49And so the catacombs became a very desirable piece of real estate.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58Directly above Agnes's tomb are the ruins of a giant funeral basilica.
0:46:58 > 0:47:05All this was once covered in Christian graves.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08But the building I really want to show you is this one.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11The one next door to the basilica.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15This is Santa Constanza.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18It's a Christian church now.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22But, originally, this was a Roman mausoleum.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29It was it was built by Constantine's own daughter, Constanza.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32This...is where she was buried.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35In this big sarcophagus here.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43The story goes that when Constanza was a little girl,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46she contracted leprosy.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51So she prayed to Saint Agnes, and Agnes saved her.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56That was the power that martyrs had.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Their miracles could change history.
0:47:59 > 0:48:07That's why Constanza wanted to buried here as close to St Agnes as she could be.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14These Roman mausoleums, as you can see,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18were a completely different shape from the basilicas.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Mausoleums were round.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27They weren't places for the crowds to charge up and down,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31these were places of burial and contemplation.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34Sacred spaces that enfold you.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40And these round Roman mausoleums were to have a profound effect
0:48:40 > 0:48:42on the Christian church.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59See this famous book.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04It's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.
0:49:04 > 0:49:09The history of Rome in 12 mighty volumes.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14This is the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Now, according to Gibbon here,
0:49:17 > 0:49:23Rome collapsed because the Romans grew decadent and soft,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27but I think you can see from this map here, what the real problem was.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31The empire was just too big.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36This way it went all the way to Scotland.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41And the other way - deep into the Middle East.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46There was just too much empire to govern efficiently.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50And when Constantine came along,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54he made the momentous decision to divide the empire in two -
0:49:54 > 0:49:58with a western empire over here,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01and an eastern empire over there.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06To govern this new eastern empire,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09which came to be called Byzantium,
0:50:09 > 0:50:14Constantine founded a new Christian capital on the Bosphorus.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18A grand ruling city designed from scratch,
0:50:18 > 0:50:23which he named after himself - Constantinople.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Though these days we call it Istanbul.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Here in the western half of the empire,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Rome was no longer cut out to be the capital either.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41It was living on former glories. A pretty collection of ruins.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45The empire needed somewhere more vigorous to be ruled from.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47Somewhere better-placed.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52Somewhere near the sea, perhaps, with good connections to the east.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Somewhere about here.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Ravenna.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06The mosaic lovers among you will know Ravenna already.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09You'll know that it's mosaic heaven.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Where the Christian mosaic excelled itself.
0:51:11 > 0:51:19How could anyone ever have thought any of this constituted a Dark Age?
0:51:45 > 0:51:49This is the church of San Vitale.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53It's one of the group of churches in Ravenna
0:51:53 > 0:51:57that's filled with these stunning mosaics.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02But the reason I brought you to this particular church,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05is because of its shape.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08As you can see, it's round.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Like a mausoleum.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Not long and thin like a basilica.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21These round churches of early Christianity
0:52:21 > 0:52:24have a particular effect on the visitor.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29They offer a 360 degree experience.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32A sense of enclosure and centring.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38The early Christians used round architecture,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41particularly for churches devoted to the martyrs.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43Like San Vitale up there.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48Who'd stood up to Diocletian and died for his faith.
0:52:54 > 0:53:00The basilicas were action spaces, where you met and assembled,
0:53:00 > 0:53:02and paraded.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05But these round churches -
0:53:05 > 0:53:08these are thinking spaces.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11They're like a protective bell jar
0:53:11 > 0:53:16dropped onto an important location, protecting it,
0:53:16 > 0:53:18and sanctifying it.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26You still get a sense here of a transcendental space,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29built around a precious relic.
0:53:29 > 0:53:35And that mysterious, magical effect of an interior sculpted from light.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41HEAVY CREAKING DOOR OPENS
0:53:43 > 0:53:45HEAVY DOOR CLOSES
0:53:48 > 0:53:51And it wasn't just the burial sites of the martyrs
0:53:51 > 0:53:53that had special power.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56Bits of their bodies had it, too.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Their hair. Their bones.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03And to house these precious relics,
0:54:03 > 0:54:08the Christians began to create marvellous jewelled containers.
0:54:08 > 0:54:09Relic boxes
0:54:09 > 0:54:12made from the finest materials
0:54:12 > 0:54:15with astonishing delicacy and beauty.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23Because these relics had the power too,
0:54:23 > 0:54:28every Christian altar had to have a relic inside it to validate it.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Make it sacred.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Relics were like pieces of portable magic
0:54:38 > 0:54:41that could be transported from church to church.
0:54:41 > 0:54:47And wherever they were placed, they made that space holy.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49BELL TOLLS
0:54:49 > 0:54:53DOOR CREAKS
0:54:53 > 0:54:57So by the time we get to this glorious Byzantine cathedral
0:54:57 > 0:54:59of Monreale in Sicily...
0:54:59 > 0:55:01DOOR CREAKS
0:55:04 > 0:55:08all the ingredients of Christian worship are in place.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Just look at it.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19By the time Monreale was finished, the Dark Ages were over.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24But all this was shaped by Dark Age achievements.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28At this end, the nave is like a basilica -
0:55:28 > 0:55:30long and thick,
0:55:30 > 0:55:34a space for assemblies and parades.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40At this end of the church, the east end,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42where the main altar is filled
0:55:42 > 0:55:44with precious relics,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46the magisterial apse
0:55:46 > 0:55:49has grown huge and enveloping.
0:55:49 > 0:55:50So at this end...
0:55:50 > 0:55:53this is like a round church,
0:55:53 > 0:55:59a special place filled with light and a golden magical air.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06But over here, it's like a basilica.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09A space for assemblies,
0:56:09 > 0:56:11and processions.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15So up there, a thinking space,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18and down here, an action space.
0:56:18 > 0:56:25All brought together in one magnificent piece of architecture.
0:56:27 > 0:56:28High up on the walls,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31scenes from Christ's miracles.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34There he is again, raising Lazarus from the dead.
0:56:35 > 0:56:41And over there, he's curing the paraplegic, making him walk again.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45And look what's above the altar -
0:56:45 > 0:56:49the Virgin and Child, borrowed from the Egyptian Isis.
0:56:49 > 0:56:55And on either side of her two angels borrowed from pagan victories.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00And above that, trumping them all,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02in size and magnificence,
0:57:02 > 0:57:07sitting so proudly in his golden apse,
0:57:07 > 0:57:12an enormous Byzantine Jesus -
0:57:12 > 0:57:16Zeus-like, and bearded - unmistakably divine.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23This is a proper divinity.
0:57:23 > 0:57:30A Byzantine ruler-god you can look up to, magnificent, all-powerful.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32And look also, on either side of Jesus,
0:57:32 > 0:57:37you can see his name spelled out in Greek letters.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43On the left, iota and sigma, J and S
0:57:43 > 0:57:47the first and last letters of Jesus.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52And on the right, chi and sigma, C and S -
0:57:52 > 0:57:55the first and last letters of Christos.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04It's that Christian word code again. Look at his fingers, too.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09Christ the ruler is spelling out this own name with his hands.
0:58:09 > 0:58:16There's iota and sigma, J and S, for Jesus.
0:58:16 > 0:58:22And chi and sigma for Christ.
0:58:23 > 0:58:28My fingers are a bit too stubby for it, but he's doing it perfectly.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36It's that secret religious language again
0:58:36 > 0:58:39that Christianity had employed from the beginning.
0:58:39 > 0:58:45Even in this giant Jesus, larger than any Roman emperor,
0:58:45 > 0:58:51Christianity couldn't resist a final moment of mystery.
0:58:53 > 0:58:57In the next film, I'll be looking at the artistic achievements
0:58:57 > 0:59:00of the so-called barbarians,
0:59:00 > 0:59:05and asking what the barbarians did for us.
0:59:05 > 0:59:07The answer is, plenty.
0:59:18 > 0:59:21Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd