**ABSALOM** (Hebrew: 'Abšalōm' = "the father is peace"). — Third son of David, endowed with natural charms but unrestrained ambition. Eager to excel, he took pretext from the rape of his sister Tamar by Amnon (q.v.) to kill the latter two years later. Having taken refuge in Gessur with his maternal grandfather Tholomai (Talmai), he won David’s forgiveness through a wise woman of Tekoa, and after two years in Jerusalem, with Joab’s self-interested favor, he regained his father’s friendship and the long-awaited entry into the palace.
Once obstacles were removed, he methodically and persistently prepared his ascent to the throne, exploiting the sympathy he had won both by his beauty (admirers paid 200 shekels to possess a lock of his magnificent hair, cut once a year) and by the affability with which he received even commoners who came to him, siding with those seeking justice from the king and lamenting the unlikelihood of a favorable hearing at court. After four years he proclaimed himself king at Hebron, rebelling against his father, who, seeing little chance of resistance with his few loyal troops, fled across the Jordan. Though Absalom’s public entry among his father’s concubines made reconciliation impossible, his refusal to pursue the fleeing troops at once (q.V. TOFEL Acch.) marked the beginning of his downfall. When he faced David’s army reinforced by Transjordanian contingents and reorganized into three divisions under Joab, Abishai, and the Gittite Ittai, Absalom’s forces, led by Amasa, were routed near Mahanaim in Gilead. In his headlong flight through the surrounding forest of Ephraim, the rebellious son became entangled by his head (not merely his hair) in the low branches of a terebinth, while his mount continued on. There he was slain by Joab against David’s orders, struck by three arrows and finished off by his servants with lances, and buried, like a malefactor, beneath a heap of stones, though he had already erected a funerary monument for himself in the King’s Valley while still alive. David mourned him long afterward (2 Sam 13–18). Today in the Kidron Valley a strange and undated monument is pointed out as “Absalom’s tomb”; in the time of Flavius Josephus a marble stele two stadia from Jerusalem was shown as Absalom’s tomb (Antiq. Jud. VII, 10, 3).
**APSE** (from Greek ἀφίξις = “junction”) — later also “arch, vault,” i.e., exedra. — A semicircular vaulted structure, used in Roman architecture both in public buildings (shrines of temples, basilicas, libraries, baths, etc.) and private ones (halls or porticoes of palaces and villas, nymphaea, tombs). Besides single-apsed buildings, there are also those with two apses facing each other, and even three (trichorum), four (tetrachorum), five (pentachorum), six (hexachorum), seven (heptachorum), and eight (octachorum).
1. CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY. — The apse is employed in Christian basilicas as the terminal part of the central nave, opposite the entrance, and often also in centrally planned buildings. Besides the main nave, the two smaller side aisles may also have their own apses, called by Paulinus of Nola conchulae (Ep. 32, 13), commonly used for the storage (diaconicon) and preparation (prothesis) of items needed for worship. If the apses were raised above the level of the church and therefore provided with steps, they were termed gradate (St Augustine, Ep. 203). The semicircular form sometimes varies from region to region. In general the term apse is also used when the terminal part is square or polygonal. In some basilicas the building ends in an ambulatory with open arches, as in Rome at the Basilica Apostolorum in Catacumbas and in the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian, or at Nola (q.v.) in S. Felice.
In the Christian basilicas of Rome the apse is semicircular, often without windows, projecting from the rear wall of the nave. In certain buildings of Eastern influence, such as S. Pietro in Vincoli, S. Stefano in Via Latina, S. Giovanni a Porta Latina, or those served by Eastern clergy, such as S. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Maria in Domnica, and S. Saba, there are also two lateral apses. The apses are decorated inside with mosaics or frescoes.
In the Christian basilicas of the Ravenna region and the Adriatic coast, the apse is very deep, generally with large windows and rich mosaic decoration, polygonal on the exterior and flanked by the diaconicon and the prothesis. In the basilicas of Gaul and Spain there is either a single apse or three deep apses with polygonal exteriors. In Greece and Constantinople the type is either semicircular or set within the rear wall or supported by buttresses. Greater variety is found in North Africa, where there are isolated semicircular apses, square apses, and buildings with two facing apses.
of S. Michele Arcangelo near Civitella del Tronto, of S. Angelo near Balsorano, of S. Colomba on Gran Sasso and others. Some sites lie beyond the borders of Abruzzo, such as the Holy House of Loreto and the sanctuary of the Archangel S. Michael on Monte Gargano. — See Ta
at both ends, in which case the two spaces can be large and extend beyond the outer wall; sometimes the entire building is inscribed within the perimeter rectangle: inside, the apse may be adorned with niches and small columns. In Syria the system generally consists of a central apse flanked by the diaconicon and the prothesis, though it often does not project beyond the perimeter wall; sometimes the exterior is decorated with pilasters and half-columns. Asia Minor presents various types: semicircular, horseshoe-shaped, polygonal, projecting, or set into the rear wall, often with diaconicon and prothesis.
Apses decorated with mosaics or frescoes are also found in Christian baptisteries and tombs, both above and below ground; for the former the forms derive from thermal halls or nymphaea, for the latter from pagan mausolea.
2. MEDIEVAL AND MODERN ART. — In the Romanesque churches of Italy the apse generally retains the form it had in the basilicas; often it is flanked by two smaller apses that repeat the structure of the central one. The church of S. Fedele in Como features a large tripartite body reminiscent of the great halls ending in tricora (a square space open on three sides to semicircular apses) seen in classical buildings. Some Rhenish structures (S. Maria im Kapitol in Cologne) imitate this type, which was later taken up in S. Maria del Fiore and in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Some buildings have a single apse; more often there are three. In the cathedral of Acqui there were once five apses, though the building had only three naves; the Cistercian church of Chiaravalle della Colomba has seven. Apses also arose at the ends of the transept, as in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Milan and in the cathedral of Parma. Opposed apses also occur, as in S. Pietro at Civate and in S. Giorgio in Valpolicella.
In centrally planned buildings, whether circular or polygonal, in northern Italy, one sees a main apse, which may be replaced by a large niche, alternating with niches along the polygonal perimeter (e.g., S. Ponso Canavese; the baptistery of the cathedral of Novara).
In a few churches, a layout due to foreign influences appears: in the church of S. Antimo in Tuscany, in S. Maria a piè di Chienti (Marche), in the Holy Trinity of Venosa, and in the cathedral of Acerenza, there is a deambulatory around the apse, a motif limited among us to these examples and a few others, such as the cathedral of Aversa, where the deambulatory has ribbed vaults, different therefore from those of other deambulatories, covered by groin vaults. This motif will find very extensive application in the Gothic age.
Externally, the decoration of the apse resembles that of the other parts of the church and features small arcades, hanging arches, pilasters, and other motifs typical of local schools. Among many, we recall the central trilobate apse with an external small arcade of the church of the Sagra di S. Michele in Val di Susa; the three finely decorated apses of S. Secondo di Cortazzone (Piedmont); the apse of the cathedral of Verona, divided throughout its height into rectangular zones by pilasters running parallel to one another; that of S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, opened by narrow arched windows containing the windows and adorned at the top by an elegant gallery; that of the cathedral of Murano, decorated in the first order by Byzantine-style niches and in the second by Lombard loggias. In Sicily, the cathedral of Monreale has three apses featuring an extremely rich and lively polychrome decoration. In Rome, the only existing example is given by the apse with a small arcade of the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
Internally, the apse continued to be adorned with mosaics and paintings; we recall the fresco in the apse of the church of S. Elia near Nepi (11th century); the mosaic in the apse of S. Maria Nova in Rome (12th century); that in the apse of S. Clemente in Rome (12th century); those in the apses of S. Maria in Trastevere (12th century); of S. Maria Maggiore, of S. Giovanni in Laterano (12th century), likewise in Rome. Also the Byzantine-style apse mosaics of Cefalù and Monreale, those of the cathedral of Trieste (12th century), the frescoes in the apse of S. Vincenzo at Galliano (11th century), the mosaic of S. Miniato in Florence (13th century), and the frescoes of S. Silvestro at Tivoli (13th century).
Gothic architecture develops further the motifs employed by the Romanesque, and the sanctuary in the larger churches gains great breadth. There are, however, churches without apses, ending simply in a flat wall. The deambulatory around the apse, with or without chapels, becomes very common. A square apse flanked by chapels is characteristic of Cistercian churches. In Italy, where Gothic took on particular forms responding to the genius of the people, the layouts of foreign buildings are not often found even in the apse. The cathedral of Milan, S. Francesco in Bologna (with nine radiating chapels), S. Antonio in Padua, and S. Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples (both with radiating chapels) have a deambulatory.
From the Renaissance onward, with the disappearance of Romanesque and Gothic forms, the apses take on characteristics that are essentially those of the ancient Christian basilicas, but with a greater development of forms and often with rich internal decoration (e.g., S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan), in harmony with the rest of the building. The church of S. Carlo al Corso in Rome, of the Baroque period, presents a singular example of a deambulatory.
The apse, especially when it assumes considerable architectural development, is a very important part of the aesthetics of the building: often the apse terminations of churches equipped with a deambulatory and radiating chapels are striking and imposing. Even in the Renaissance, the Bramantesque apses of S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan and those of S. Pietro in Vaticano achieve grand effects; in the Baroque period, notable is the apse of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, which features a beautiful example of an apse façade.