[MondayBlues]

Cathedral designs came from the Nile Valley. British astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer, wrote a book about it
St Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican

"In regard to St. Peter's at Rome, we read that so exactly due east and west was the Basilica, that on the vernal equinox the great doors of the porch of the quadriporticus were thrown open at sunrise, and also the eastern doors of the church itself, and as the sun rose, its rays passed through the outer doors, then through the inner doors, and penetrating straight through the nave, illuminated the High Altar."

Your links cover orientation, not floorplan. And they're talking about Gothic and later churches.

Of the four Constantinian churches still standing, none of them are oriented on a due east/west axis as later churches are.

The men responsible for building the cathedrals in medieval Europe were "operative mason". These men viewed Egypt as the birthplace of Masonry
That's interesting, but again, I'm talking about early Christian architecture. We can do architecture of the Middle Ages next semester.

Here's the floorplan of Old St Peter's (San Pietro in Vaticano):



Here's the floorplan of the Basilica (law court) of Maxentius:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Floor_plan.jpg (too big to post)

The two buildings are very close in age, and it is easy to see how the form of one was adapted for the other.