1 Earliest Rome

4.15 The architecture of Christianity
continued in domestic use. The ho use-churches in Rome and elsewhere
(known almost entirely Irom literary evidence) probably followed much the
same pattern.
See further: Kraehling (1967).
1. Converted from two separate rooms in the earlier private house. Its exact (unction is
unknown - but it would accommodate up to about seventy-five people (with the leader
of the community perhaps using the platform at the eastern end). Much of the earlier
decoration of the private Jiuii^c (including a plaster frieze with Bacchic symbols) survived
the conversion.
2. The only room with distinctive Christian decoration. The walls are painted with scenes
from the Old and New Testament (including David and Goliath, Christ healing the par­
alytic, Christ walking on water). The presence of a font (itself decorated with figures of
the good shepherd and Adam and Eve) makes the identification as a baptistery certain.
3. The only upper room is above rhe baptistery, created at the time of the conversion, when
the ceiling of the baptistery was lowered.
Ill