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Italy,
Rome, St. Peter's Basilica | Inscriptions
Professor Dale Kinney
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Buildings
often document their own origins, and sometimes their intentions,
with inscriptions. St. Peter's had at least three: two lines
in niello
(black enamel) incised in a large gold cross that stood or hung
over St. Peter's tomb; two lines on the triumphal arch (that
is, the arch opening into the transept) recorded in the 15th
century; and four lines in the apse, recorded by a Carolingain
monk around 800. The inscriptions read:
1. (on the cross) EMPEROR CONSTANTINE AND EMPRESS HELENA / THE
HALL SURROUNDS THIS REGAL HOUSE GLEAMING WITH LIKE SPLENDOR.
(Constantinus Augustus et Helena Augusta/hanc domum regalem
simili fulgore corruscans aula circumdat.)
Helena, mother of Constantine, was proclaimed empress ("augusta")
in 324 or 325, and died around 328. This inscription must have
been made in those four years, and it is evidence that at least
the transept was already built by then. Helena had a particular
association with the relic of the cross, and it is tempting
to relate this association to St. Peter's cruciform shape.
2. (on the triumphal arch) BECAUSE WITH YOU AS LEADER, THE WORLD
TRIUMPHANT AROSE TO THE STARS / VICTORIOUS CONSTANTINE DEDICATED
THIS HALL TO YOU.
(Quod duce te mundus surrexit in astra triumphans/hanc Constantinus
victor tibi condidit aulam.)
The "you" of this inscription must be Christ; it indicates
that the church was dedicated to him rather than to St. Peter,
credits the foundation of the "hall" (the transept?
the nave? the whole basilica?) to Constantine, and implies some
association with a (military?) victory.
3. (on the apse wall) SEAT OF JUSTICE, HOUSE OF FAITH, HALL
OF MODESTY / THIS WHAT YOU SEE, WHICH ALL PIETY POSSESSES /
WHICH REJOICES, RENOWNED, IN THE VIRTUES OF THE FATHER AND THE
SON / AND EQUALS ITS AUTHOR IN THE PRAISES OF HIS PARENT.
(Iustitiae sedis fidei domus aula pudoris/haec est quam cernis
pietas quam possidet omnis/quae patris et fili virtutibus inclyta
gaudet/auctoremque suum genitoris laudibus aequat.)
There has been much discussion over the identity of the father,
the son, and the "author" in this inscription. Some
have argued that the father is Constantine and the son Constantius
II (reigned 337–361); the inscription would thus indicate
that the building begun by Constantine was finished (decorated?)
by his heir. Others interpret these terms as references to Jesus
and God the Father; in that case the "parent" of the
author [of the building] might also be God, thus a spiritual
parent. Krautheimer believed that the inscription referred to
the installation of a mosaic in the apse by Constantius II between
352 and 361.
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