ROMAN SPECTACLES BUILDINGS AS A SETTING FOR MARTYRDOM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN THE CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE by Jordina Sales Carbonell

“…Although this ludic substrate is not the only factor to be considered, it’s the one that allowed the hagiographers composing stories —some with more historical veracity than others— with architectural settings charged with symbolism, where the victory of the martyrs as “athletes of Christ” was equated to the victory in secular games. All this greatly contributes to explain the subsequent relationship between Christian building and playful architecture occurred from the late fourth and early fifth century, and detected in the late antique and early medieval topography of some Roman cities. …”
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