Architectural history[edit]
Roman era[edit]
About 280, an early Christian house of worship was established on this site, which, like many of the earliest Christian meeting places, was in a house (domus ecclesiae). According to the 6th-century acta of Susanna, the domus belonged to two brothers named Caius and Gabinus, prominent Christians. Caius has been identified both with Pope Saint Caius and with Caius the presbyter, who was a prefect and who is a source of information on early Christianity.[1][2] Gabinus or Gabinius is the name given to the father of the semi-legendary Saint Susanna. Her earliest documented attestations identify her as the patron of the church, not as a martyr[3] and previously the church was identified in the earliest, fourth-century documents by its title "of Gaius" by the Baths of Diocletian or as "ad duas domos" ("near the two houses"). It is mentioned in connection with a Roman synod of 499.