ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes a pair of issues related to the Constantinian building of the Christian basilicas. The Liber Pontificalis lists a series of records, each one concerning the building and endowment of a basilica of Rome at the expense of the emperor. The pattern follows an extremely regular scheme, recording the furniture and liturgical vessels according to fixed headings and distinguishing between instrumentum and ornamentum. Secondly, the list enumerates estates and domus of the endowment. This order reveals some of the administrative principles and traditions of the imperial chancellery. A further series of imperial letters and administrative documents informs us about the building of the basilicas, and the general lines of the administrative procedures, with a clear division among the political and financial responsibility, the architectural project, the administration, and the involvement of the final users of the building – mostly the bishop and the Christian community.
