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→I. Art and Architecture
As to the basilica style of most Western churches Constantine built, one asks: what else? One discovers that many, if not most, Jewish synagogues of the day were a basilica. Varieties of synagogues either adapted the basilica or took another form too. The basilica was used for housing as well; a “hall,” as we might say today.
Constantine had other types built (octagonal in Antioch), and so it was in the East that the cruciform church was predominant. One remembers that cultures and religions influence each other. He had a pagan temple torn down so a Christian church could be built over the holy tomb. Thus, while the Christian use of the basilica or "great hall" was a popular one in the Western Empire for Jewish, Christian, pagan, and secular structures it was in the Eastern Empire where the Christian church took on its special form. At this point there appears to be no external vestiges of Jewish influence, though the internal working of the church may have similar similarities to that of the synagogue.
'''Moses' Seat'''
