The Baptistery of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Politics of Sacred Landscape

Author(s): Annabel Jane Wharton

Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 46, Homo Byzantinus: Papers in Honor of Alexander
Kazhdan (1992), pp. 313-325
Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
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 The Baptistery of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the
Politics of Sacred Landscape
ANNABEL JANE WHARTON

he Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusa- I. LOCATING THE BAPTISTERY:

lem, founded by Emperor Constantine the STATE OF THE QUESTION

Great, is a much venerated and much studied
The form of the Holy Sepulcher, as it existed in
building. Archaeologists and scholars have de-
the second half of the fourth century, may be re-
voted considerable attention to the form, construc-
constructed on the basis of excavations, surviving
tion phases, and meanings of the Rotunda of the
fragments, and texts (Fig. 1). The atrium of the
Anastasis and the basilical Martyrium. However,
complex was entered from the colonnaded main
one important part of the complex, the baptistery,
street, the cardo maximus, to the east; farther to
has received only peripheral treatment. It hasthe west was a five-aisled basilica known as Con-
been assumed that the baptistery was part of the
stantine's church or the Martyrium; behind the
Constantinian foundation, although the implica-
apse at the west end of the basilica lay another
tions of such an assumption have not been ex-
open courtyard; terminating the procession of
plored. Scholarly debate has focused on the loca-
buildings was the Rotunda of the Anastasis or Res-
tion of the baptistery. Arguments on the siting of
urrection, built over the cave identified as the
this hall of initiation have depended exclusively on
empty tomb of Jesus. An outcrop at the west end
internal evidence. In contrast, I hope to show that
of the south aisle of the Martyrium was identified
the collation of the material remains and literary
as Calvary or Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion.
record of the Holy Sepulcher with evidence for the
To the north of the courtyard and Rotunda were
architectural setting of baptism elsewhere in the
administrative quarters. Although literary refer-
empire reveals not only the historical anomalies
ences indicate that the Constantinian complex also
produced by the current interpretation of the ar-
included a baptistery, there is no indisputable ar-
chaeological record, but also something of the
chaeological evidence for either its specific location
original ideological significance of the monument.
or its form. Excavations carried out in the vicinity
I argue that the character of Constantine's patron-
of the Rotunda, the Martyrium, and the area to the
age of the early Christian church and the politics
north of the complex have failed to uncover com-
of ritual spectacle in the late antique city are dis-
pelling evidence of its existence. Nevertheless, in
closed both in the building of the Holy Sepulcher
the only article exclusively devoted to the baptis-
and in the historical presentation of the discovery
tery, C. Tinelli argues for a site to the north of the
and veneration of Jesus' tomb and cross. Rotunda.

Tinelli bases his case for the site of the baptister

The research for this paper was generously supportedin partby a on the presence of a marble basin in t
National Humanities Center Fellowship and a travel grant from
patriarchal apartments to the north of the R
the Research Council of Duke University. Its perspective was
fundamentally shaped by the experience of working withtunda. Al- Visitors have noted the presence of th
exander Kazhdan on Change in Byzantine Culture. But abandoned
I am as font since the sixteenth century; it wa
deeply indebted to both Alexander and Musya for their removedhelp by V. Corbo in 1961 for restoration (Fi
with personal questions as for assistance with scholarly ones. I
want to thank my colleagues Kalman Bland, Elizabeth Clark,
Stephen Gorenson, Robert Ousterhout, Leonard Rutgers, and
I C. Tinelli, "Il battistero del S. Sepolcro in Gerusalemme
Byron Stuhlmann for their readings of drafts of this Liber
paper.Annuus 23 (1973), 95-104.

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 314 ANNABEL JANE WHARTON

sixth
2).2 Tinelli acknowledges that thecenturies.
basin For is
example,
notthe inpiscina
its of 597 in
original context. Now badly thefractured, the Moses
basilica of the prophet piscina
on Mount Nebo
was once a monolith, square on
replaced the outside
an earlier, (its
larger cruciform font.5 More-
sides are approximately 110 over,
cm since
in the basin in the
length) Holy Sepulcher com-
within
plex carved
which a quatrefoil basin was is smaller and shallower
(its than the surviving
approxi-
mate depth is 60 cm) (Fig. fourth-century
3). Tinelli argues
fonts that
of other major foundations,
such a large and heavy piece is unlikely
it is difficult toit have
to imagine how could have met the
ritual needssetting.
been moved far from its original of the prestigious
There-church of Constan-
fore, the original baptistery
tinianmust
Jerusalem.have been
In any case, lo-
it seems possible that
cated to the north of the Rotunda within the com- this font was a later addition or that it was trans-
plex's administrative space. Tinelli finds support ported to its site north of the Rotunda for reuse in
some capacity, ritual or nonritual.
for his hypothetical location of the first baptistery
in an inscription from Ps. 28:3 in one of the cis- Further, the drainage system recorded by Corbo
terns below the northern range of subsidiary struc- is similar to that found in domestic and public con-
tures. It reads: (IQNH K(uv(o)Y ELI TOQN texts throughout the late Roman world.6 The evi-
dence does not allow the reconstruction of the
YAATQN, or, "The voice of the Lord is upon the
waters."3 Tinelli associates the use of this phrase incomplex hydraulics of baptism of the sort found
Jerusalem exclusively with the baptismal liturgy,for example, in the excavations of San Giovann
and thus links the cistern to a baptismal hall. alle Fonti in Milan.7 And again, the inscriptio
In the latest monograph on the Holy Sepulcher,from Psalm 28:3 in one of the cisterns in the cour
Corbo follows Tinelli in siting the baptistery to the which Tinelli cites as evidence for the location of
north of the Rotunda, adding a more detailed dis-the baptistery, does not occur in the earliest ac-
cussion of the drainage system and cisterns in thatcounts of the baptismal ritual in Jerusalem. In the
area.4 Further, on the basis of a fragmentary floral later typikon of the Great Church of Constanti-
mosaic and a surviving threshold, Corbo offers a nople, Psalm 28:3 is read at Epiphany, appro-
definition of the space occupied by the projected priately associated with the Blessing of the Waters.8
baptistery-an enclosure within the reconstructed This rite sanctified water for domestic as well as
open court of the ecclesiastical apartments abut- lustral use, as John Chrysostom (ca. 350-407)
ting the external west wall of the north conch ofmakes clear to his congregation in Antioch:
the Rotunda. Neither Tinelli nor Corbo, however,
About midnight of this feast [of Epiphany], let all
offers a graphic reconstruction of the baptismal draw water and carry it into their houses, where it
hall that they propose. may be stored up all year, because on this day water is
Tinelli and Corbo's arguments raise several sanctified. And then it appears as a public miracle,
that this water, in spite of the length of time elapsed,
questions. They assume that the surviving basin is is not corrupted, but remains fresh for one, two, and
the baptismal font of the early Christian complex. often three years, equal in purity to freshly drawn
There is, however, no documentation for the date water.9
of the piece. Works of a similar shape and quality
Psalm 28:3, as an allusion to the Blessing of the
tend to appear somewhat later, in the fifth and
Waters, might then be appropriate in a cistern

2E.g., Bernadino Amico, Trattato delle piante et immagini dei5For the 6th-century font, S. J. Saller, The Memorial of Moses
on Mount Nebo, 3 vols., Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 1 (Je-
sacri edifici di Terra Santa (Rome, 1609), trans. T. Bellorini and
E. Hoade, Plans of the Sacred Edifices of the Holy Land, Studiumrusalem, 1941), I, esp. 84-91, 246-51. For the earlier baptis-
Biblicum Franciscanum 10 (Jerusalem, 1953), xxii, 24, in which tery, M. Piccirillo, "Campagna archeologica nella basilica di
the spot is labeled "fonte de Greci." For other references, Mos6 Ti- profeta sul Nebo-Siyagha," Liber Annuus 26 (1976), 281-
nelli, "Il battistero," 95-98. For Corbo's removal of the object318,
in esp. 298-99.
1961, V. C. Corbo, "Gli edifici della Santa Anastasis a Gerusa- 6The conduits under the Chapel of San Aquilino in Milan
lemme," Liber Annuus 12 (1962), 221-316, esp. 266-68. have similarly been identified as simply drainage pipes. D. Kin-
1J. Germer-Durand, "Epigraphie chretienne de Jerusalem," ney, "'Capella Reginae': S. Aquilino in Milan," Marsyas 15
RevBibl 1 (1892), 586. (1970-71), 13-35, esp. 23-24.
4V. C. Corbo, "Problemi sul Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme 7 M. Mirabella Roberti and A. Paredi, II battistero Ambrosiano di
in una recente pubblicazione," Liber Annuus 29 (1979), 279-92; San Giovanni alle Fonti (Milan, 1974), plan facing p. 22.
Idem, II Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme. Aspetti archeologici dalle8J. Mateos, Le Typicon de la Grande Eglise, 2 vols., OCA 166
origini al periodo crociato, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, col-(Rome, 1963), I, 186.16, 2, 182.7-8.
lectio maior 29 (Jerusalem, 1981), 132-34. For work carried out 9Chrysostom, De baptismo Christi, PG 49, col. 366; trans. in C.
since Corbo's monograph, idem, "Il Santo Sepolcro di Gerusa- Baur and M. Gonzaga, John Chrysostom and His Time, 2nd ed., 2
lemme. Nova et Vetera," Liber Annuus 38 (1988), 59-66. vols. (Westminster, Md., 1959-60), I, 199.

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 THE BAPTISTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER IN JERUSALEM 315

Christian world, the baptismal rite was addressed

holding water for a variety of liturgical purposes,
not just baptism. principally, if not exclusively, to adults.'5
Significant
The baptistery's literary record is no less ambig- references to baptism at the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher are made in three other
uous than its archaeological one.'" In the one elab-
orate ekphrasis or description of the Church of sources
the of the fourth and fifth centuries. St. Cyril,
Holy Sepulcher surviving from the fourthbishop cen- of Jerusalem between ca. 349 and 386, de-
scribes
tury-written shortly after 337 by Eusebius, the initiation ritual in some detail in his ca-
techetical lectures:
bishop of Caesarea, as part of his Life of Constan-
tine-no mention is made either of the baptistery First you have entered into the vestibule of the house
or the Rotunda of the Anastasis." The baptistery of baptism, and there facing to the West, . . . as in the
presence of Satan, you renounce him.... When you
is alluded to, however, in the earliest surviving ac-
had renounced Satan ... there is opened to you God's
count of a pilgrim's journey to the Holy Land, writ-
paradise, which he planted to the East; and a symbol
ten in 333 by an anonymous traveler from Bor-
deaux: of this was your turning from West to East, the place
of light. And you were taught to say, "I believe in the
Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
To the left is the hill of Golgotha, where the lord was
one baptism of repentance."... And these things
crucified. About a stone's throw away is the crypt, were done in the outer chamber .... As soon as you
where his body was laid and, after three days, resur-
entered [into the inner chamber] you put off your
rected. There now, at the order of the emperor Con- tunic.... Then you were stripped, you were anointed
stantine, was built a basilica, that is a church, of won-
with exorcized oil from the hair of your head to your
derful beauty, having to the side pools from which feet, and were made partakers of the good olive tree,
water is raised, and a bath behind, in which the newly
Jesus Christ.... After that, you have been brought to
born [infantes] are washed.12
the holy pool of divine baptism, as Christ from the
cross was carried to his tomb which is before our
Although the infantes in this passage is often trans-
eyes. 16
lated as "children," ' it may be noted that the in-
Theinpilgrim Egeria, whose account is dated be-
nocence of all baptizands is often alluded to
tween 383 and 385, made a careful record of the
early texts by referring to them as "children," in-
liturgical
fantes.'4 In Jerusalem, as elsewhere in the early practices of Jerusalem, including its bap-
tismal rites."

There is no service, however, at the ninth hour on Sat-

10For collections of texts relevant to the Holy Sepulcher, see
urday, for preparation is being made for the Easter
H. Vincent and F.-M. Abel, ,Jrusalem nouvelle, vol. 2, Jrusalem. vigil in the major church, the Martyrium. The Easter
Recherches de topographie, d'archeologie et d'histoire (Paris, 1914);
E. K. H. Wistrand, Konstantins Kirche am Heiligen Grab nach den vigil is observed here exactly as we observe it at home.
iiltesten literarischen Zeugnissen, G6teborgs Hogskolas Aarskrift 58 Only one thing is done more elaborately here. After
(G6teborg, 1952); D. Baldi, Enchiridion Locorum Sanctorum (Je- the neophytes have been baptized and dressed as soon
rusalem, 1955; repr. 1982), 617-705; J. Wilkinson,Jerusalem Pil- as they came forth from the baptismal font, they are
grims before the Crusades (Warminster, 1977). led first of all to the Anastasis with the bishop. The
" Eusebius of Caesarea, Vita Constantini, ed. F. Winkelmann, bishop goes within the railings of the Anastasis, a
GCS 7, Eusebius 1.1 (Berlin, 1975), iii, 25-40, 92.24-101.6. A hymn is sung, and he prays for them. Then he returns
new translation of Eusebius' Life of Constantine is being prepared
with them to the major church, where all the people
by A. Cameron. For a discussion of Eusebius' presentation of
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, see J. G. Davies, "Eusebius'
are holding the vigil as is customary.'18
Description of the Martyrium at Jerusalem," AJA 61 (1957),
171-73. The procession from the baptistery to the Anas-
12"A sinistra autem parte est monticulus Golgotha, ubi Dom- tasis and the Martyrium is again mentioned in the
inus crucifixus est. Inde quasi ad lapidem missum est cripta, ubi
corpus eius positum fuit et tertia die resurrexit; ibidem modo 'In the later 4th and early 5th centuries, adult baptism con-
iusso Constantini imperatoris basilica facta est, id est domini-
tinued to be dominant, though infant baptism, known from th
curn, mirae pulchritudinis habens ad latus excepturia, unde earliest Christian times, seems to have become increasingly pop
aqua leuatur, et balneum a tergo, ubi infantes lauantur." Itiner-
ular. See J. Jeremias, Die Kindertaufe in den ersten vierJahrhunder-
arium Burdigalense, ed. P. Geyer and 0. Cuntz, in Itineraria etten
alia (G6ttingen, 1958).
geographica, CCSL 175 (Turnhout, 1965), 1-26, esp. 593.4-
'6Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis de Baptismo, PG 33, cols. 1068-
594.4. 80.
"3John Wilkinson has translated the passage: "[The basilica
7 For the date of Egeria's visit, P. Devos, "La date du voyage
(i.e., the Martyrium)] has beside it cisterns of remarkable
d'Egerie," AnalBoll 85 (1967), 165-94; for some of the architec-
beauty, and beside [behind] them a bath where children are implications of this date, E. Clark, The Life of Melania th
tural
baptized." Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land (Jerusalem, 1981),
Younger (New York, 1984), 220-21.
158-59.
'8ltinerarium Egeriae, 38, 82.2-11; trans. by G. E. Gingras,
14 For example, Itinerarium Egeriae, ed. E. Franceschini Egeria:
and R. Diary of a Pilgrimage, Ancient Christian Writers 38 (New
Weber, in Itineraria et alia geographica, 38.1. York, 1970), 114.

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 1. Patriarchate
2. Anastasis Rotunda
3. Tomb Aedicula
4. Courtyard
5. Calvary
6. Basilica
7. Atrium

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1 Jerusalem, Holy Sepulcher, reconstructed pl

(redrawn by R. Ousterhout after Corbo)

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 LACALVARIO
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2 Jerusalem, Holy Sepulcher, plan drawn by Fra Bernardino Amico and published in 1609.
The "fonte de Greci" is marked on the plan at 24, in the patriarchal apartments

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 2 5 8n

4, 1

35. Omphalos

1. Patriachate
2. Anastasis Rotunda

3. Tomb Aedicula
13 4. Courtyard
5. Omphalos
6. Holy Prison
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8. Chapel of the Crown o
9. Chapel of the Division
10. Crypt of the Inventio
11. Calvary
12. Chapel of St. Mary
13. Baptistery Wing

4 Jerusalem, Holy Sepulcher, plan of the complex after 1048 (redrawn by R. Ousterhout after Corbo)

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5 Jerusalem, Holy Sepulcher, whole of the Constantinian complex ac

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6 Jerusalem, Holy Sepulcher, detail of the building complex to the south
of the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher according to Vincent and Abel

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 THE BAPTISTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER IN JERUSALEM 317

so-called Armenian Lectionary, a work which Typikon,

re- a work of the tenth century, follows the
flects ritual practice in Jerusalem during theArmenian
first and Georgian Lectionaries in plotting
half of the fifth century.'9 the movement of the rite: "Directly the patriarch
All three works attest to the importance gives
of the the blessing and enters into the baptistery in
role of baptism in the celebration of Easter, ordertheto baptize, then returns to the [basilica of]
central feast of the liturgical calendar.20 More spe-
St. Constantine and the liturgy begins."'23
An unambiguous literary testimony to the bap-
cifically, the Bordeaux pilgrim's account indicates
both that the baptismal hall was constructed prior location finally occurs in the pilgrimage ac-
tistery's
to the Rotunda, as part of the first Constantinian
count of Saewulf from 1102. The relevant passage
program of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, reads:
and
that it was a distinct structure. Cyril's text adds cor-
At the sides of the church [i.e., the Rotunda] itself two
roboration, suggesting that the baptistery was a siz-
most celebrated chapels cluster, one on either side,
able space, independent if not detached from namely, the in honor of Holy Mary [to the north] and St.
Anastasis and Martyrium, and preceded by an[to the south], as they were themselves partakers
John
ample vestibule. The separate situation of the of our Lord's Passion and stood at His side, one on the
bap-
tistery is confirmed by Egeria and the Armenian right and one on the left. .. . On the other side of the
Lectionary. These early literary sources doChapel not, of St. John is the most beautiful monastery of
the Holy Trinity, wherein is a baptistery, to which is
however, offer any clear indication of the specific
attached a chapel of St. James the Apostle, who was
location of the Constantinian baptistery. granted the first episcopal chair of Jerusalem. All
By the sixth century, baptism had lost its ritual
these places are so arranged and ordered that anyone
centrality. The almost complete Christianization of at the very end of the church can clearly see
standing
the empire with the attendant cessation of all five churches from door to door.24
adult
conversion and the prevalence of infant baptism
This document describes the Holy Sepulcher after
eroded the status of baptism in the Easter celebra-
its destruction in 1009 by the fanatic Fatimid cal-
tions.21 Further, the place of Easter as the civic feast
of Jerusalem declined dramatically in the after- iph al-Hakim and its rebuilding by the Byzantine
math of the Arab conquest of 638. With Jerusalem
emperor Constantine IX Monomachus in 1048
under Islamic authority, the public expression of
(Fig. 4). Other pilgrimage accounts indicate that
the baptistery to the south of the Rotunda contin-
the Christian cult in Jerusalem was curtailed. Al-
ued to be used in the refashioned Crusader
though the ritual presence of initiation in the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, dedicated
Easter liturgy was much diminished, literary ref-
1149.25 The question remains: is this a newly s
erences indicate, nevertheless, that baptism contin-
baptistery or does it incorporate its Constantin
ued to be administered in a separate space at the
Holy Sepulcher. Among the functionaries predecessor?
of the
R. Ousterhout,
Holy Sepulcher listed in the Commemoratorium de in his recent analysis of the By-
casis Dei is a custodian of the font.22 The Anastasis zantine contribution to the Holy Sepulcher, as-
sumes that the three chapels to the south of the
'9Le Codex arminien Jerusalem 121, ed. A. Renoux, PO 35:1,
Rotunda, including the large, centralized baptis-
36:2 (Turnhout, 1969, 1971), 297, 307. For a description of the
mal hall, were new additions of the eleventh cen-
unfolding of this vigil, G. Bertoni"re, The Historical Development
of the Easter Vigil and Related Services in the Greek Church, OCA
193 (Rome, 1972), 58-71. Also see F. C. Conybeare, Rituale Ar- 23 Typikon tes en Hierosolymois ekklesias, ed. A. Papadopoulos-
menorum (Oxford, 1905), appendix. Kerameus, Analecta Hierosolymitikes stachyologias, II (St. Peters-
20 For a discussion of the order of service in Jerusalem, R. Zer- burg, 1894), 1-254, esp. 186.22-24.
fass, Die Schriftlesung im KathedraloffiziumJerusalems, Liturgiewis- 24"In lateribus vero ipsius ecclesiae duae capellae sibi adhaer-
senschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 48 (Mtinster, 1968); ent preclarissimae hinc inde, Scae Mariae scilicet Scique Johan-
more generally on the importance of Easter and the role in its nis in honore, sicut ipsi participes Dominicae Passionis sibi in
development played by Jerusalem, T. J. Talley, The Origins of the lateribus constiterunt hinc inde..... Ex altera vero parte sancti
Liturgical Year (New York, 1986). Johannis ecclesiae est monasterium sanctae Trinitatis pulcher-
21Bertoniere writes of the evidence of Codex Jerusalem Pa- rimum, in quo est locus baptisterii, cui adhaeret capella sancti
triarchate Hagios Stauros 43, which provides information on Jacobi apostoli, qui primam cathedram pontificalem Jerosolimis
the Easter liturgy of Jerusalem before the Crusades: "One has obtinuit; ita compositae et ordinatae omnes, ut quilibet in ul-
the definite impression that baptism, by this time, had lost its tima stans ecclesia omnes quinque ecclesias perspicere potest
practical significance at the vigil." Easter Vigil, 66. For the same clarissime per ostium ad ostium." Cited by Vincent, 257-8;
phenomenon in Alexandria, H. Brakmann, "Synaxis katholike trans. the Bishop of Clifton, Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society 4
in Alexandreia,"JbAC 30 (1987), 74-89, esp. 88-89. (London, 1896), 13-14.
22T. Tobler, Descriptiones Terrae Sanctae (Leipzig, 1874; repr. 25E.g., Theodoric, Libellus de Locis Sanctis, ed. T. Tobler (Paris,
Hildesheim-New York, 1974), 78. 1865), xi, 27.13-21.

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 318 ANNABEL JANE WHARTON

tury, as do Tinelli and Corbo.26 A review

In of these current scholarly
contrast, H. Vin-arguments
cent claimed to recognize suggests
enough that it isConstantinian
impossible to determine with as-
masonry in the cluster of three
surance chapels
the location to the
of the fourth-century baptis-
south of the Rotunda on the terywest side
of the Holy of exclusively
Sepulcher the parvis on the inter-
nal evidence
to identify this as the original site ofof the site
the and related texts. However,
baptistery
of the Holy Sepulcher.27 aHe reconstructed
broader consideration of early Christianthebaptis-
form of the fourth-centurymal practice both problematizes
baptismal complex the attribution
as a of
domed, apsed chapel flankedtheby Holy oblong
Sepulcher's baptistery
rooms to the
andeleventh
linked by a western corridorcentury (Figs. 5 support
and lends some and to 6). He re-
Vincent's
construction.
also argued that the orientation of There
the arecomplex,
late antique parallels
asto
determined by the axis of Vincent's proposed baptismal hall.
the surviving Although the
central
chapel, is aligned not withhypothesized the eleventh-century
three-chambered baptistery with a
Byzantine reconstruction vestibule of the differs Rotunda
from the familiar freestanding,
but
rather with the original Constantinian centralized baptisteries ofstructure,
the early Christian West,
suggesting that it was part such of asthethat built by Constantine for the Lateran
fourth-century
complex.28 The space to thecathedral south of Rome,
of differences
the complex,in eastern ritual
now largely under Greek Orthodox control,
practice may have determined has
a distinct baptismal
never been systematicallytype. excavated. However,
In the early fourth century, Jerusalem was in
Corbo's 1980 survey drawings the ecclesiastical
seem province
toofconfirm
Oriens, which was
Vincent's claim that the chapels controlledwereby the patriarchate
aligned of Antioch.
withAl-
the Constantinian basilica and south colonnade, though nothing remains of the baptistery at Anti-
not with the eastern apse and three eastern chapels och, some episcopal churches under its sway take
with which the Byzantines replaced the Martyr- a form very distinct from that of the principal Ital-
ium. The matter of the masonry is more ambigu- ian examples. For example, the baptistery exca-
ous. The ubiquitous appearance of the warm local vated at Side, on the south coast of Asia Minor,
limestone that has been used for construction in bears a close resemblance to that extant in Jerusa-
Jerusalem from early antiquity and which is lem (Fig. 9). Side was a flourishing port until the
still
the facing material required by modern building end of the third century A.D.; it experienced a re-
codes makes it difficult to distinguish building vival at the end of the fourth century.30 The cathe-
phases (Figs. 7 and 8). However, if these buildings dral of the city, one of the three large basilicas
were purely eleventh-century productions,within it is its walls, was constructed on the main
north-south
odd that there is no evidence of the distinctive By- colonnaded street. Attached to the
east wall of its north transept is a large (27 m x 22
zantine masonry technique which so clearly labels
m externally), elaborately articulated and deco-
their contribution elsewhere in the Holy Sepulcher
complex.29 rated baptistery which has been variously dated to
between the fourth and sixth centuries.31 Like the
26R. Ousterhout, "Rebuilding the Temple: Constantine Mon- baptistery still surviving in Jerusalem, the Side
omachus and the Holy Sepulchre,"JSAH 48 (1989), 66-78.
27Vincent, note 10 above, 138-44. baptistery is made up of a domed, apsed hall hous-
28Vincent finds further support for his hypothesis in the lo- ing the font flanked by secondary apsed rooms, all
cation of a cistern opening on the central axis of the central linked by a substantial western corridor. In form,
space. Coiiasnon accepts Vincent's siting of the baptistery and scale, and even relative location, the Side baptis-
adds further arguments, including his own reading of the Mad-
aba mosaic map of Jerusalem and of the Bordeaux pilgrim's tery resembles that of the Holy Sepulcher, indicat-
narrative. C. Cofiasnon, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeru- ing that such an arrangement was known in late
salem, The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1972,
antiquity.32
translated from French by J.-P. B. and Claude Ross (London,
1974), 46-50. The Madaba Map, like the Bordeaux pilgrim's
account, is flexible enough to support just about any topograph-
ical hypothesis. There is nothing so distinct about the square 30S. Eyice, "La ville byzantine de Side en Pamphylie," Actes du
structure with a red roof to the right (south) of the Rotunda in X Congres international des Etudes Byzantines, 1955 (Istanbul,
this image of ca. A.D. 570, that it must be read as a representa- 1957), 130-31.
tion of the baptistery. M. Avi-Yonah, The Madaba Mosaic Map 31S. Eyice, "Un baptistere byzantin ' Side en Pamphylie," Actes
(Jerusalem, 1954); J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Cru- du Ve Congres international d'archgologie chritienne. Aix-en-Provence,
sades (Jerusalem, 1977), provides a useful diagrammatic analy- 1954 (Vatican City, 1957), 577-84; A. M. Mansel, Die Ruinen von
sis on his endpapers. Side, Deutsches Archiologisches Institut, Abteilung Istanbul
29Ousterhout, "Rebuilding the Temple," 74-76, explains the (Berlin, 1963), 167-68, fig. 134.
discrepancy by postulating a local workshop working contem- 32A. Khatchatrian, Origine et typologie des baptistOres paldochrg-
poraneously with their Byzantine colleagues. tiens (Paris, 1982), 40.

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 THE BAPTISTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER IN JERUSALEM 319

In contrast, it would be difficult if not impossible

the importance of the baptistery is marked by its
to cite a middle Byzantine parallel to such a baptis-
architectural complexity and relative autonomy.38
tery. Large baptisteries do not seem to have been The baptistery does not appear as an unimportant
built in the Orthodox East in the high Middle side chamber. How could the baptistery have been
Ages. This part of the complex, like the other sur-
given less prominence in one of the great ecclesi-
viving parts of the early Christian monument, astical
has centers of the empire? The space in the pa-
certainly been thoroughly rebuilt. Nevertheless, it
triarchal apartments allocated by Corbo to the
baptistery is inadequate to its social and ritual im-
is difficult to reconcile a de novo eleventh-century
construction of a large baptismal hall at the Holyportance. It appears that both the arguments for
Sepulcher with the liturgical evidence of baptism's
locating the baptistery within the administrative
greatly diminished ritual role at that time.33 rooms
Al- to the north of the Rotunda and the as-
though great baptismal halls begin again tosumption
be that the present baptistery complex was
built in the West in the eleventh century, thenewly
re- constructed in the eleventh century involve
emergence of the form can be associated with serious
the historical anomalies.
growth of communes,34 a development which had
no parallel in the East.35 II. BAPTISM AND THE SACRED TOPOGRAPHY OF
Observation of late antique baptismal practice JERUSALEM
elsewhere in the empire yields even more signifi-
Baptism was a central sacrament of the early
cant argumentation in favor of positioning the
church. It constructed the initiates' magical reex-
baptistery to the south of the complex and against
periencing of Christ's passion. According to St.
locating it to the north. To the north, the baptismal
hall would have been embedded in the administra- Paul, the believer was cleansed of his sins and ad-
tive wing of the church; to the south, it would mitted
have into the body of the church by participating
in Christ's entombment and resurrection through
occupied a prominent, public site. In the fourth
baptism: "Do you not know that all of us who have
and fifth centuries, baptisteries associated with ma-
been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
jor ecclesiastical complexes do not occur as second-
his death? We were buried therefore with him by
ary elements buried within ancillary structures. In
baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
the imperial residences of Rome, Milan, and Ra-
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
venna, baptisteries were large, centralized struc-
might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:3-4)39 To
tures, independent of both the cathedral church
evoke the correspondence between baptism and
and the bishop's quarters, prominently and pub-
the resurrection, the culmination of the Easter
licly positioned.36 No evidence of the early baptis-
feast, the climax of the liturgical calendar, was the
tery of St. Sophia in Constantinople survives, al-
chosen moment for initiation.40 The spiritual and
though the one extant baptistery from Justinian's
sixth-century rebuilding of the church is a domed,
38 For Salamis, C. Delvoye, "La place des grandes basiliques de
freestanding rotunda, again independent ofSalamine
the de Chypre dans l'architecture paleochretien," Sala-
episcopal rooms.37 In sees as diverse as Salamismine
andde Chypre: Histoire et archeologie. Lyon, 1978 (Paris, 1980),
Kourion in Cyprus, Ephesus and Side in Asia313-28;
Mi- for Kourion, A. H. S. Megaw, "Excavations at the Epis-
copal Basilica of Kourion in Cyprus," DOP 30 (1976), 345-71;
nor, and Carthage and Sufetula in North Africa, for Ephesus, M. F. Castelfranchi, Baptisteria (Rome, 1980), 31-
65; for Sufetula, N. Duval, "Le groupe episcopal de Sbeitla,"
BAntFr (1964), 50-57; for Carthage, I. Vaultrin, "Les basiliques
S3See above, note 22. chretiennes de Carthage. Etude d'archeologie et d'histoire,"
34E. Cattaneo, "II battistero in Italia dopo il Mille," in Miscel-
RAfr 63 (1932), 291-307; for Side, see below.
lanea Gilles Gerard Meersseman, Italia sacra. Studi e documenti di39Trans. The Oxford Annotated Bible, ed. H. G. May and B. M.
storia ecclesiastica XV, 2 vols. (Padua, 1970), I, 171-95. Metzger (Oxford, 1962), 1365.
35A. P. Kazhdan and A. W. Epstein, Change in Byzantine Cul- 40 Pentecost both as the time at which the first 3,000 were bap-
ture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Berkeley, 1985), 46-56.tized and with its clear reference to the outpouring of the Holy
36For the Lateran, G. Pelliccioni, Le nuove scoperte sulle origini
Spirit was also allowed as a legitimate moment for baptism, East
del battistero Lateranense, Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana
and West. The best summary of the reasons for baptism at
di Archeologia, ser. III, Memorie, vol. 12.1 (Vatican City, 1973); Easter and Pentecost is provided by Leo the Great, Letter 16,
for Ravenna, S. Kostof, The Orthodox Baptistery of Ravenna (New PL 54, cols. 695-704. In the east, Epiphany was also a possible
Haven, 1965); for Milan, G. De Angelis d'Ossat, "Origine e for-feast on which to be baptized. See K. Holl, "Der Ursprung des
tuna dei Battisteri ambrosiani," ArtLomb 14 (1969), 1-20; E. Cat-
Epiphanienfestes," in his Gesammelte Aufsiitze zur Kirchenge-
taneo, "Appunti sui battisteri antichi di Milano," RendlstLomb schichte, II, Tilbingen, 1928, 123-54. In addition, in Jerusalem,
103 (1969), 849-64; Roberti and Paredi, Il battistero Ambrosiano
the liturgy of the feast of the dedication of the Holy Sepulcher
(note 8 above).
followed that of Easter and included baptism. E.g., Sozomen,
37 R. J. Mainstone, Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure and Lit- Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. J. Bidez, SC 306 (Paris, 1983), 11.26,
urgy ofJustinian's Great Church (New York, 1988), 122-24. 346-48.

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 320 ANNABEL JANE WHARTON

repeatedly
liturgical centrality of baptism emphasize
derives that baptism
from is a reenact-
its so-
cial power: baptism functioned in
ment of the the
passion:early Chris-
tian period as the principal
Youmeans of
descend dead in sin, defining
you come up alive in righ-
membership in the newly empowered
teousness, for if you werereligious
united by likeness to the
group. Baptism, admittance into Saviour'sthe community,
death, so also you shall be counted worthy of
was controlled by the bishop.hisFor resurrection. For as Jesus died
example, in taking away the
Tertul-
sins of the world, that, by putting sin to death, he
lian (ca. 200) states: "The supreme right of giving
might rise in righteousness, so, too, when you go
it [baptism] belongs to the high down priest,
into the waterwhich
and are, in ais the
fashion, entombed
bishop; after him, to the presbyters
in the water, as he and
was in deacons,
the rock, you may rise again
yet not without commission to walk in the the
from newness of life.44
bishop, on
account of the Church's dignity." 41 In Aelia, as else-
In Jerusalem particularly, the sacred topography
where in the early Christian world, the bishop was
of the city was incorporated in the initiates' reen-
identified with initiation. Egeria's account of the
actment of the passion. Cyril makes clear that the
enrollment for initiation manifests
sites of the historical the bishop's
crucifixion, entombment, and
tight control of access to the Christian community:
resurrection were concretely linked with the rite:
I must also describe how those who are baptized at
There are, beloved, many true testimonies to Christ.
Easter are instructed. Whoever gives his name does so
the day before Lent, and theThe Father testifies
priest notes of the Son fromall
down heaven. .... The
holy wood of the cross, seen to this day among us, and
their names; ... on the following day, the first day of
taken away by those who have received portions with
Lent,... a throne is set up for the bishop in the center
faith to places that now cover almost the whole world,
of the major church, the Martyrium. The priests sit
bears witness.... This Golgotha, sacred above all
on stools on both sides, and all the clergy stand
such places, bears witness by its very look. The most
around. One by one the candidates are led forward,
holy Sepulchre bears witness, and the stone that lies
in such a way that the men come with their godfathers
there to this day....45
and the women with their godmothers. Then the
bishop questions individually the neighbors
Thus the of was
rite of initiation the one
theatrically staged
who has come up.... 42
within a liturgy which exploited historically
The more powerful the ritual, the
charged space greater
as a means thetime. Cyril
of telescoping
authority of its officiant;43 fully
by the employs the immediate
end of the material
third evidence of
century, the bishop providedthe thepassion to empower
focus of ritual, moving his hearers
structure
to an identificationcommunity.
and control of the urban Christian with foundational Christian
Consequently, the prestigedogma,of the the resurrection
bishop ofand Jesus.his
see may often be inferred from Although
theinitiation
size and into the cult is commonly as-
lavish-
ness of his baptistery. Thus,sociated with the physical intimacy
the prominence of the and spatial pri-
vacy required
baptismal hall in the ecclesiastical by the nudity of anointment
architecture of and im-
mersion,
the late empire is the material a broader audience
expression of was
both involved in other
sequences of the of
the spiritual and social significance rite. initiation
Not only were the neophytes
into the cult. introduced to all of the members of the church in
The recognition of the central importance of the the Martyrium at the conclusion of the ceremony
rite of initiation in the fourth century, of its exe- at the dawn of Easter, but they were also an-
cutant and of its architectural staging is crucial to nounced to the wider urban public by the stational
understanding the remodeling of the sacred to- liturgy. Through religious processions, the church
pography of Jerusalem. There the ritual of initia- of Jerusalem usurped the urban landscape as stage
tion and site converge with particular force. As and the entire population, Christian and non-
Egeria's text attests, catechumens were enrolled at Christian, as audience. Further, descriptions of the
the beginning of Lent, catechized and exorcized stational liturgy of Jerusalem suggest the scale and
through Lent, and baptized at the moment of importance of the baptismal rite in the city. Ac-
Christ's resurrection at the dawn of Easter Sunday. cording to Egeria, the bishop, accompanied by the
St. Cyril's lectures on baptism to the newly baptized newly baptized, went in procession, "singing

41Tertullian's Homily on Baptism, ed. and trans. E. Evans (Lon- 44PG 33, col. 444A.
don, 1964), 17.2-5. 45PG 33, cols. 685B-688A; trans. with amendments, E. H. Gif-
42ltinerarium Egeriae, 45, 87.1-13; trans. Gingras, Egeria, 122. ford, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, VII (repr. Grand Rapids,
43E.g., J. S. La Fontaine, Initiation (Manchester, 1966). Mich., 1989), 62-63.

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 THE BAPTISTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER IN JERUSALEM 321

hymns," from the Eleona on the Mount of Olives

Venus. They succeeded in their plot until, "with
to the Anastasis every afternoon during thethe guidance of the divine spirit," the emperor
eight
days of Easter.46 Thus the stational liturgy Constantine
of Je- began construction on the site. Then,
rusalem presented the spiritually charged initiates
"contrary to all expectation, the venerable and hal-
lowed monument of our Saviour's resurrection was
to the broader community at the same moment
that it absorbed the aura of the other sacralized discovered." 50
Eusebius' narrative invites its readers to make
sites of the city.47 The bishop's authority, incorpo-
rating the sacred power of his setting, was two dis- historically problematical assumptions. First,
since the text fails to indicate how Constantine,
played and thereby perpetuated by the civic litur-
gies associated with baptism. apart from the revelation of the divine spirit, knew
The acknowledgement of the social significance the location of the Holy Sepulcher, rationalist apol-
of baptism and its officiant invites an assessment of have been tempted to argue that the site was
ogists
the urban context of the Jerusalem baptistery, identified by local tradition.51 However, there is no
which in turn provides the basis for a revisionist
evidence that this site of the sepulcher was recog-
nized and visited in pre-Constantinian times,
reading of the function of the site and its politics.
Jerusalem was remodeled as a small gentile citythough
by other sacred spots were venerated. The
Hadrian after the suppression of the second Jew- cave of the Nativity was known to Justin and Ori-
ish revolt of A.D. 132-135 and the expulsion of gen;52
the the cave on the Mount of Olives was appar-
Jews. Hadrian dedicated it to himself and Jupiterently a pilgrimage site by 314, before Eusebius
Capitolinus, with the name Aelia Capitolina. wrote
The his Demonstration of the Gospel.53 Also, an un-
new Jerusalem had its center outside the holy city interrupted oral or literary tradition in Jerusalem
of the Jews, some distance to the west of the deso- between the first and fourth centuries identifying
lated Temple Mount.48 There, set at the junction the site is questionable in view of the discontinuity
of the new cardo maximus and the decumanus, of the Christian community itself. In his Ecclesias-
Hadrian constructed the main forum of the city, tical History Eusebius notes that the earliest Chris-
which doubtless included the conventional collec- tian community in Jerusalem was ethnically Jew-
tion of commercial, administrative, and religiousish: ". . . up to the siege of the Jews by Hadrian the
buildings. It was the north side of this center of the
successions of bishops [in Jerusalem] were fifteen
"New Jerusalem" that Constantine appropriated in number. It is said that they were all Hebrews by
for himself and for Christianity after his victory origin. .... For their whole church at that time con-
over Licinius in 324. sisted of Hebrews . . ."54 It is, consequently, quite
A recognition of the topographic prominence of reasonable to suggest that any surviving local tra-
the building site of the Holy Sepulcher affects the dition might well have been severed by Hadrian's
reading of Eusebius' description of the complex. dispersal of the Jews.55 For example, on the basis
Eusebius, who as metropolitan bishop of Caesarea of his study of the episcopal lists, C. H. Turner
would have been fully aware of the architectural writes:
enterprises of his suffragan at Jerusalem, is the The break in continuity between Jerusalem and Aelia
first and most important witness to Constantine's must have been absolute. The Christians of Jerusalem
building activities. Eusebius claims that the site of must have been ... of the most conservative type of
the sepulcher was consciously buried beneath pa-
gan appurtenances.49 Evil men attempted to ob-5oVita, iii, 26, 96.6-7; 28, 96.19-22.
scure the truth revealed by the tomb by covering it51 For example, D. Bahat, "Does the Holy Sepulchre Mark the
Burial Place of Jesus?," Biblical Archaeology Review 12, no. 3
over with a great mound of earth and a temple of (1986), 26-45, esp. 37.
52Dialogue with Trypho, PG 6, col. 657; Against Celsus, ed. M.
46Itinerarium Egeriae, 39, 83.14-24. Borret, SC 132-136 (Paris, 1967-1968), 1.51.
47 For an excellent description and analysis of the stational lit- 51 Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims, 166.
urgy, J. F. Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship. The 54Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. and trans. K. Lake and
Origins, Development and Meaning of Stational Liturgy, OCA 228 J. E. L. Oulton, Loeb (London, 1926, 1932), book IV, v; I,
(Rome, 1987). 308.2-310.3.
48See Y. Tsafrir, "Jerusalem," RBK, III (Stuttgart, 1975), 544- 55For the recent bibliography and restatement of this ques-
51; N. Avigad, Discovering Jerusalem, rev. Eng. ed. (New York, tion, J. E. Taylor, A Critical Investigation of Archaeological Material
1983), 205-7, 226. Assigned to Palestinian Jewish-Christians of the Roman and Byzantine
49Vita, iii, 26-27, 95.5-96.19; also see Jerome, ep. 58, ed. I. Periods, Ph.D. diss. (University of Edinburgh, 1989), esp. 203-
Hilberg, Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, I, CSEL 54 (Vienna, 30. I am grateful to Dr. Steven Gorenson for bringing this dis-
1910), 531.5-532.4. sertation to my attention.

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 322 ANNABEL JANE WHARTON

importance of the
Jewish churchmanship: the Christians ofsite of the resurrection.58
Aelia, if at In-
first there were any of themdeed,
at the
all, would
coeval have
appearance been
of the baptistery and
not only gentiles by race, but inimical, by the very fact
the basilica, evident from the Bordeaux pilgrim's
of their consenting to settle in the pagan city, to all
that pertained to Judaism or testimony, reinforces the
even Jewish hypothesis that the eccle-
Christian-
ity.56 siastical complex was intended as a cathedral. If
the present baptistery represents the fourth-
In view of the historical circumstances of Jerusa- century structure, it was allotted a particularly
lem, readers should take more seriously Eusebius' prominent site. It directly abutted Aelia's public
own acknowledgement that the site of the Passion center and stood on the axis established by the
"had remained unknown for a long series of great Hadrianic arch marking the east entrance of
years"'57 the forum (Fig. 10). It would thus have occupied a
The second dubious assumption concerning the position as conspicuous as that of the baptisteries
founding of the Holy Sepulcher has not been im- of the other great fourth- and fifth-century foun-
posed on Eusebius' narrative by its interpretants, dations.
but lurks undisclosed in his text. Eusebius claims
The identification of the Holy Sepulcher as a ca-
that the new Jerusalem was built over the site of clarifies the politics of Constantine's build-
thedral
Jesus' resurrection in order to obscure it. Such a
ing program. Its transformation into Christen-
claim requires the reader to believe that Hadrian's
dom's major pilgrimage shrine complemented
town planners, in the aftermath of the destruction
both imperial and local ecclesiastical projects. The
of Jerusalem and dispersal of the Jews, located the
emperor Constantine began construction of his
center of their new city not with a view to thenew
con-
church in Jerusalem in 324, soon after his de-
venience, water supply, and geology of the site, but
feat of his former colleague, Licinius, and eleven
rather with the sole end of covering up the un- after the issuance of the so-called Edict of
years
marked shrine of a dispersed heretical Jewish Toleration
sect. ending the persecution of Christians. It
A less historically improbable reading ofhas the
been suggested that Constantine's victory over
source is possible. As in Rome, Antioch, and per-
Licinius had been in part-perhaps in large part-
haps Constantinople, Constantine's first ecclesias-
sustained by the Christian population of Oriens.59
tical construction in Aelia was to be a cathedral. A
Constantine's building project in Jerusalem was
site in the center of the city was selected: archaeo-
part of an extensive program of reconstruction in
logical evidence indicates that the church complex the cities in the eastern provinces undertaken in
was constructed on the north side of the main Ro-
the aftermath of his unification of the empire.
man forum of Aelia. Several buildings were de-This program included a number of ecclesiastical
molished, including a temple. Only in the course
foundations. According to Eusebius, Jerusalem
of leveling the area for the construction of the ca-and Antioch were the two major objects of his lar-
thedral complex was the rock-cut tomb from an gess.60 In Antioch he adorned the "new city" with
earlier Jewish cemetery on the site serendipitouslya grand cathedral, the MEydkX~ ExxhXoaL or "great
revealed. It was immediately identified as the locuschurch," known also as the Golden Octagon.61 It
of Jesus' entombment and resurrection. With thisappears that he had similar intentions for Jerusa-
discovery came Constantine's order to Macarius,lem. Rome also reveals Constantine's concern with
bishop of Jerusalem, to make the church of theecclesiastical administrative centers. The Lateran
complex the most glorious in the empire. What
was initially begun as an episcopal complex be- 5"E.g., Ze'ev Rubin, "The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and
came, in addition, a great martyrium. It is this lat-the Conflict between the Sees of Jerusalem and Caesarea," The
ter function on which historians, ancient and mod- Jerusalem Cathedra, ed. L. I. Levine (Jerusalem, 1982), 79-105,
who gives an interesting if tendentious reading of Eusebius' la-
ern, have exclusively concentrated. cunae.

The supposition that the Holy Sepulcher was in- 59T. D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (C
tended to function as a cathedral explains the ap- 1981), claims, for example, that "Licinius' ul
intimately connected with his religious polic
pearance of both the basilica and the baptistery 6o Eusebius, Eis Konstantinon Triakontaeterik
prior to the Rotunda, a construction sequence thatGCS 7 (Leipzig, 1902), ix.14-17, 220.30-22
scholars have found anomalous, given the focal 61F. W. Deichmann, "Das Oktogon von An
Martyrion, Palastkirche oder Kathedrale?,
56. For a more detailed discussion of the sour
"Die Kirchen Antiochias im IV. Jahrhunder
56C. H. Turner, "The Early Episcopal Lists, II: TheJerusalem
List,"JTS 1 (1900), 529-53, esp. 550. 251-86, from which G. Downey, A History o
57Vita, iii, 30, 97.13-15. (Princeton, 1961), 342-49, derives his histori

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 THE BAPTISTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER IN JERUSALEM 323

complex, including as in Jerusalem the bishop'syet achieved the celebrity that it later enjoyed.65 By
apartments and baptistery, was begun as early as the middle of the fourth century, however, the
312-313 and seems to have been Constantine's True Cross was very much in place, generating
first major Christian building project. The emper- partible witnesses to the site's importance. Cyril, in
or's monumental commemoration of Rome's mar- the passage quoted above, indicates that fragments
tyrs apparently began only later.62 Constantine'sof the holy cross were already widely distributed:
foundation of cathedrals, like his calling of church"The holy wood of the cross, seen to this day
councils, suggests that he believed his political andamong us, and taken away by those who have re-
spiritual interests would best be served through ceived portions with faith to places that now cover
conspicuous contributions to the cohesion of the
church's administrative infrastructure. almost the whole world, bears witness ... ."66 In the
course of the century, the narrative of the discov-
The Holy Sepulcher, as locus of the throne and ery of the True Cross was also elaborated. The first
power of the bishop, also played a central role in surviving associations of the cross with St. Helena
defining his status and authority. As is well docu- were made by the great Milanese churchman and
mented, the bishop of Jerusalem periodically en- relic finder, St. Ambrose, in the later fourth cen-
gaged the metropolitan of Caesarea and, later, the tury, and the early fifth-century historian, Sozo-
patriarch of Antioch in a struggle for station men, a Palestine native writing in Jerusalem.67
within the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Implicated in In addition to the True Cross, Egeria attests to
these political rivalries is a development that might the presence at the Holy Sepulcher of the ring of
be called "the commodification of the holy." Jeru- Solomon and a phial of oil used in the anointment
salem, and particularly the site of the Holy Sepul- of Old Testament kings.68 Concurrently the num-
cher, became progressively enriched and legiti- ber of sacred sites in and around Jerusalem were
mated through the material signs of its particular recognized and commemorated. For example, the
sacredness.
cave associated with the teaching of the apostles
Perhaps the most remarkable object of this new and the Ascension was marked by the Eleona, built
set of practices is the True Cross. Eusebius neglects by Constantine apparently at his mother's behest
to mention the invention of the cross. Moreover, after her visit there.69 By the later fourth century,
although he records the dowager empress He- a second site on the Mount of Olives was identified
lena's visit to Palestine in 326, Eusebius fails to as-
as the locus of the Ascension. Still later, feet ap-
sociate her either with the finding of the cross peared
or to confirm the site's sacredness. The
indeed with the Holy Sepulcher.63 In his account,
growth of the stational liturgy during the fourth
Eusebius attributes to Helena only the foundation
and fifth centuries reifies the progressive sanctifi-
of two churches over sacred caves, the Church ofcation of the city.
the Nativity in Bethlehem in which Jesus was bornThe sacralization of the topography of Jerusa-
and the Eleona outside the walls of Jerusalem lem,
on as witnessed in the multiplication of relics, the
the Mount of Olives, which was originally asso- evolution of the stational liturgy, and the distribu-
ciated with the Ascension and the revelation of the
tion of the cross, corresponded to Jerusalem's reas-
mysteries to the apostles.64 Eusebius' silence,sertion
as of its position as a city of ecclesiastical sig-
well as the absence of reference to the True Cross
nificance after nearly two centuries of obscurity. As
in the Bordeaux pilgrim's account, suggest that the
early as 325, just as construction on Constantine's
relic had either not yet appeared or that it had not
new basilica was beginning, canon 7 of the Council
of Nicaea ambiguously acknowledged the incon-
62Work on San Lorenzo on the Via Tiburtina and the great
basilica of San Pietro is commonly held to have started in the 65 For the interesting suggestion that the narrative of the True
mid-320s. A pre-320 date has been argued only for the basilica
Cross developed in association with the placement of the mon-
of Santi Marcellino e Pietro on the Via Labicana. J. Guyon, umental
"La jeweled cross on Golgotha, H. Goussen, Uber Georgische
topographie et la chronologie du cimeti"re 'inter duos lauros',"
Drucke und Handschriften: Die Festordnung und der Heiligenkalender
in J. G. Deckers et al., Die Katakombe "Santi Marcellino e Pietro."
des altchristlichenJerusalems (Munich, 1923), 32.
Repertorium der Malereien, Roma sotterranea Cristiana VI,66See above, note 46.
Textband (Vatican-Miinster, 1987), 91-131. Also see, R. Kraut-
67Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, PL 16, cols. 1462B-65B;
heimer, Profile of a City (Princeton, 1980), 21-28; G. T. Arm-
Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, II. 1, 226-32. For a discussion of
strong, "Constantine's Churches," Gesta 6 (1967), 1-9. the texts, see J. W. Drijvers, Helena Augusta: Waarheid en Legende
63Vita, iii, 41-43, 101.7-102.22.
(Groningen, 1989) [my thanks to Leonard Rutgers for his trans-
64 Vita, iii, 43, 102.8-12. This is most likely a reference to Matt.
lation of the Dutch text], and S. Borgehammar, How the Holy
24. This passage related not only Jesus' preaching to theCross Was Found (Uppsala, 1991).
apostles on the Mount of Olives, but also the prophecy of the
68Itineraria Egeriae, 37, 81.24-25.
destruction of the Temple. 69Vita, iii, 41-43, 101.7-102.22.

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 324 ANNABEL JANE WHARTON

gruity of the Holy City beingeration a small to

subordinated fragment
Cae- of t
sarea: "Since prevailing custom and with
gether ancient
the tradi-
eulogia of your
tion have established that thethespecial
bishop of Aelia
relationship with th
Jerusalem] should be honored, let him
Jerusalem have
and, the
through exten
succession of honor, yet protecting
materially the domestic
reified.
right of the metropolis [Caesarea]."70 In his dis- of the E
Thus the construction
putes with Acacius, bishop of Caesarea,
baptism as Cyril
a spectacleof Je- of sacred
rusalem made explicit claims icantfor the primacy
political of
implications. The
Jerusalem on the conventional tion of grounds
the memoriae that his of Jesus
rated
bishopric was an apostolic see." Butin justand as thepromoted
in- by c
vention of martyrs' relics memoriae
by St. Ambrose not only later
made Jerusa
helped him consolidate the privileges
pilgrimage, of the
but bishop
also the locus o
pal authority.
in Milan, Jerusalem's possession of the True Greatest
Cross among
and other artifacts of the passion
empty contributed
tomb of theto resurrection
the legitimation of that see'sthe ecclesiastical
ambitions.72 complex with w
Spurious
or not, Cyril's letter to Constantius recording
ciated. Pilgrims' a vi-
accounts trace t
sion of the cross in the sky veneration.
also bespeaks Inepiscopal
the Bordeaux pi
claims for the divine sanctionthe of Holy Sepulcher
Jerusalem's privi-is promine
leged position.73 sites which are described rather
In 415, the relics of the protomartyr
but it is not accorded Stephenparticular
were discovered just outside sition
the in walls the oforder of the text, t
Jerusa-
lem, and in 452 the head of allocated
John theto it, or was
Baptist the terms of
contrast, from
also revealed."4 Contemporaneously, through the latethe fourth c
stratagems of Juvenal, bishop Church of the Holy
of Jerusalem from Sepulcher i
ca. 422 to 458, Jerusalem realized
leged place a dramatic
in almostin- all accounts
reauthorization
crease in episcopal status. At the so-calledof the Dome of the Rock as the
Robber
Council of Ephesus in 449, Jerusalem
Templum Christi by thegained
Crusadersain the twelfth
century is the Holy
rank above its former metropolitan, Sepulcher displaced
Caesarea, ri- as the first
object of piousof
valing in power the metropolitan homage in the Christian itinerary
Antioch.75
Soon after, at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and
of Jerusalem.78
Jerusalem provides
by the revolt of Palestinian monks which a late antique model for the
followed
it, Juvenal was theologically syncretism of locus, ritual,
and politically and belief in the con-
humili-
struction
ated. The bishop depended on theof spiritual and political
support of power. Both
Pope Leo of Rome to salvageConstantine's
something moral of authority
his re- and his administra-
tive control
cently achieved status. Leo's letters acknowledgewere legitimated by his patronage of
the power that Jerusalem's holy shrines might ex-and his moth-
the cathedral of the city and by his
ert in the doctrinal disputes er's
thatassociation
enmeshed with the discovery
Juven- of the most im-
al's metropolitan pretensions. More tellingly, at the
76This sentence is included in three of the nine main manu-
end of a letter elaborating this point, Leo mentions
scripts. Leonis papae Epistolae, PL 54, cols. 1103-10, letter 139.
a gift sent to him by Juvenal: "I
Letters 109received
and 113 also allude with ven-
to the didactic value of the holy
sites of Palestine.
77E.g., St. Jerome's description of Paula's visit to the Holy
70 Mansi, II, col. 672. Land in his ep. 108 of 404 to Eustochium, Epistulae, CSEL 55
(1912), 306.1-351.8. Rufus' life of Peter the Iberian, written ca.
71Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, PG 67, IV.25, col. 1196A.
72E. Dassmann, "Ambrosius und die Martyrer," JbAC 500,18
Petrus der Iberer, ed. and trans. R. Raabe (Leipzig, 1895),
(1975), 49-67, connects the invention of relics with Ambrose's 32/27. Wilkinson's selection in Jerusalem Pilgrims, 57-58, of a
conflicts with the Arians and the Arian members of the imperial later passage in the narrative for translation is somewhat mis-
family. leading. In it Peter is criticized for not visiting the Holy Sepul-
73 PG 33, cols. 165A-176A. On the question of the authenticity cher, but this is some while after his initial veneration of the
of this letter, W. Telfer, ed. Cyril of Jerusalem and Nemesius of church. Breviarius, ed. R. Weber, 109-12.
Emesa, Library of Christian Classics 4 (Philadelphia, 1955), 199, 78 H. Busse, "Vom Felsendom zum Templum Domini," in Das
note 25. Heilige Land im Mittelalter: Begegnungsraum zwischen Orient und
74 P. Peeters, L'Orient et Byzance: Le trifonds oriental de l'hagiogra- Okzident, ed. W. Fischer and J. Schneider (Neustadt, 1982); S.
phie byzantine (Brussels, 1950), 53-58. Schein, "Between Mount Moriah and the Holy Sepulchre: The
75E. Honigmann, "Juvenal of Jerusalem," DOP 5 (1950), 209- Changing Traditions of the Temple Mount in the Later Middle
79. Ages," Traditio 40 (1984), 175-95.

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 THE BAPTISTERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER IN JERUSALEM 325

portant relics of Christendom.79 The bishopsaof period

Je- in which analogical thinking elided differ
rusalem, in their turn, promoted their church encesbybetween the spiritual and material world
the
its unique topographical potential to elide the dis- animated "thingness" of the holy exerted
tance between the human and divine through spa-powerful emotional force.80 This sense of the sit
tial proximity. The centrality of the rite of as the material anchor of the divine not only per
initia-
tion to these projects makes it unlikely that vadesthe
all premodern Christian accounts of the city
baptistery of the Holy Sepulcher was a small but has asserted a remarkable control over modern
room
with a minute font set in the courtyard of thediscussions
pa- of its monuments. The study of the lo-
triarchal apartments. Whatever the form and cation of the baptistery reveals the congregational
spe-
function of the complex, allowing the exploration
cific location of the original Constantinian baptis-
tery, its prominence would seem to be dictatedof thebymonument's history from a new perspective,
its ideological significance. a perspective from which the politics of architec-
The social and political importance of the ture
mar-might be more clearly witnessed.
tyrial function of the Church of the Holy Sepul-
cher has obscured its congregational origins and Duke University
remodeled its history. Particularly in late antiquity,
soThe material character of spirituality has perhaps been
most thoroughly explored by P. Brown, in such works as The
79For the Holy Sepulcher's absorption of the sanctity of the Cult of the Saints (Chicago, 1981), and The Body and Society: Men,
Jewish Temple, R. Ousterhout, "The Temple, the Sepulchre, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (New York,
and the Martyrion of the Savior," Gesta 29.1 (1990), 44-53. 1988).

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