The circus as location of victorious athletes and the basilicas as celebratory spaces
for the martyr-athletes led to the idea of erecting the new churches on the ground-
plan of a circus. Such a play with architecture was not unusual (Torelli 2002). The
playful nature of this approach explains also why, while the entrance wall of the
basilicas was placed at an angle to the main body of the building, like the section
of a circus which contained the starting gates, it was at varying angles, just as this
aspect was handled at will in pictorial representations of a circus.
If nothing else, this playfulness indicates a certain understanding of martyrdom.
The martyr as victorious athlete had been a toposof Christian publicity from the
start. “Athlete of Christ” and “Athlete of the Faith” became regular descriptions of
martyrs and confessors from the third century, especially when they were paraded
during circus games. The first letter of Clement, which was composed in Rome around
96, writes of the athletes of Nero’s persecutions of the Christians, who had fought
the agonof life and death in the arena (1 Clemens5–7). The apostle Peter endured
many “pains,” bore witness, and reached the place of glory he merited, which in
this context refers to the staging of the victor’s ceremony. Paul is also mentioned –
echoing 2 Timothy 3. 10 – 4. 8 – whose missionary activity takes on the appearance
of a contest, in that he is repeatedly taken prisoner and tortured, but finally obtains
the victor’s prize.
The Martyrs as Athletes of Christ
Many more such examples exist. However, what is important is that Constantine
introduces the metaphor of contest precisely at the point in his speech of 315 (316?)The Romanness of Roman Christianity 421Figure 28.3 Reconstruction of the presbyterium of the Constantinian Lateran Basilica
(Bisconti 2000: 186).