Baptistery

Photo Comments

View looking from west to east at the Baptistery of the Basilica Church that is located in the northeast corner of the front of the church.  In the foreground, on the right and the left, are the west walls of the room that outline doorway that we are looking through.  The floor is made out of cut marble (opus sectile) in a variety of colors.  The shapes include squares, rectangles, triangles, and octagonals.  The walls were covered with marble facing slabs, a few visible on the far wall near the floor. In the upper right quadrant of the photo, there is a semicircular niche in the wall.

In the center is the baptismal font which is roughly in the shape of a cross with a circular pool in the center.  Overall, the fount is 12 feet long, and the pool has a diameter of 5 feet and a depth of 3 feet.  It was lined with marble.  Steps lead down into the pool from the west and out of the pool on the east side.

During the ritual, a priest would stand on the far (east) side of the font.  One cleric was stationed on each side of the pool.  The initiate would descend into the pool from the west and ascend to the east.  This baptistery, and many Byzantine baptisteries, is located outside the main sanctuary of the church—the symbolism being that after baptism the person was now a full member of the congregation and could participate in all the rites that took place within the church.

Compare the Baptisteries in Saint Mary's Church in Ephesus, Saint John's Church in Ephesus, and the one at Mampsis in the Negev of Israel.

This church is located in the northeast section of the city.  According to a sign at the site (= excavator's view?), it was built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine (d. AD 337).  It was destroyed by an earthquake during the reign of Focas (r. AD 602-610).