Welcome to On Verticality. This blog explores the innate human need to escape the surface of the earth, and our struggles to do so throughout history. If you’re new here, a good place to start is the Theory of Verticality section or the Introduction to Verticality. If you want to receive updates on what’s new with the blog, you can use the Subscribe page to sign up. Thanks for visiting!
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Stylites and the Power of Will
In all my studies on the human need for Verticality, I have yet to come across anything as extreme as the Byzantine stylites. A stylite is a Christian ascetic who chooses to live atop a pillar or column, in an attempt to achieve spiritual salvation. They do this by way of Verticality, by climbing up and away from the surface in order to get closer to the sky, or in this case, God.
Verticality, Part VIII: God versus Ego
The human world becomes as important as the world of God
The rise of Christianity in the Western world would have profound effects on the built environment and human culture. Two major threads would combine to influence Early Christian architecture and culture. The first is the architecture of the Ancient Romans, who were already wrestling with Verticality. The second is the Book of Genesis and its central theme of Heaven (the above) and Hell (the below). Combine these two, and you get an ongoing battle between God and Ego that would see some of the most impressive structures of all time get built.