Early Christian Mosaics: A Floating World of Abstract Associations

The much debated question of the influence of the pagan basilica on the Christian basilica is concerned with architecture while the wall mosaic has never been included into this discussion. This is the issue that I would like to discuss in this paper. The elevation of the Early Christian basilicas of Rome is organized in an analogous way to the elevations of certain Roman basilicas in Asia Minor (Aphrodisias) and of Rome (Basilica Aemilia). The exclusion of statues and reliefs in the Christian basilica created a vacuum which perhaps favoured the choice of the mosaic and fresco.