Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

BASILICA. BASILICA. 199
(Tacit. Ann. i. 75.) The two side aisles, as has
been said, were separated from the centre one by a
en / / ]t ] 1'\ \row of columns, behind each of which was placed
Xr i a square pier or pilaster (parasstaa, Vitruv. 1. c.),
*i i: which supported the flooring of an upper portico,,wr>* P ~~similar to the gallery of a modern church. The
la0 c A X upper gallery was in like manner decorated with
the columns were confined to the interior; or, if o o o o a
used externally, it was only in decorating the o o a Q D
7rpnJaos, or vestibule of entrance. This was the
only change which took place in the form of these
buildings, from the time of their first institution, 0 a
until they were converted into Christian churches. 0 0 0
The ground plan of all of them is rectangular, and W * l *
their width not more than half, nor less than one-,. l
third of the length (Vitruv. 1. c.); but if the area,,
on which the edifice was to be raised was not proportionally long, small chambers (chalcidica) were 0 *
cut off from one of the ends (Vitruv. I. c.),''
which served as offices for the judges or mer-. ~ ~ -I
chants. This area was divided into three parts,,. 1 1
consisting of a central nave (media porticus), and ~,
two side aisles, each separated from the centre by
a single row of columns- a mode of construction ~
particularly adapted to buildings intended for the *
reception of a large concourse of people. At one o o o n 1
end of the centre aisle was the tribunal of the o a a p o
judge, in form either rectangular or circular, and I
sometimes cut off from the length of the grand 0
nave (as is seen in the annexed plan of the basilica o o o 0 o 0
at Pompeii, which also affords an example of the o A o
chambers of the judices, or chalcidica, above men> ~, columns of smaller dimensions than those below;
and these served to support the roof, and were
4I' I ] connected with one another by a parapet-wall or
1 l-f * * f. *. *... Thy \ balustrade (pluteus, Vitruv. 1. c.), which served as
& - - -_ |. ~ a defence against the danger of falling over, and
screened the crowd of loiterers above (subbasilicani,
tioned), or otherwise thrown out from the hinder Plant. Capt. iv. 2. 35) from the people of business
wall of the building, like the tribune of some of in the area below. (Vitruv. 1. c.) This gallery
the most ancient churches in Rome, and then called reached entirely round the inside of the building,
the hemicycle —an instance of which is afforded and was frequented by women as well as men, the
in the basilica Trajani, of which the plan is given women on one side and the men on the other, who
below. It will be observed that this was a most went to hear and see what was going on. (Plin.
sumptuous edifice, possessing a double tribune, and 1. c.) The staircase which led to the upper portico
double row of columns on each side of the centre was on the outside, as is seen in the plan of the
aisle, dividing the whole into five aisles. basilica of Pompeii. It is similarly situated in the
The internal tribune was probably the original basilica of Constantine. The whole area of these
construction, when the basilica was simply used as magnificent structures was covered in with three
a court of justice; but when those spacious halls separate ceilings, of the kind called testudinatum,
were erected for the convenience of traders as well like a tortoise-shell; in technical language now,
as loungers, then the semicircular and external tri- denominated coved, an expression used to distinbune was adopted, in order that the noise and con- guish a ceiling which has the general appearance of
fusion in the basilica might not interrupt the a vault, the central part of which is, however, flat,.
proceedings of the magistrates. (Vitruv. 1. c.) In while the margins incline by a cylindrical shell
the centre of this tribune was placed the curule from each of the four sides of the central square to
chair of the praetor, and seats for the judices, who the side walls; in which form the ancients imasometimes amounted to the number of 180 (Plin. gined a resemblance to the shell of a tortoise.
Ep. vi. 33), and the advocates; and round the From the description which has been given, it
sides of the hemicycle, called the wings (cornua), will be evident how much these edifices were
were seats for persons of distinction, and for the adapted in their general form and construction to
parties engaged in the proceedings. It was in the the uses of a Christian church; to which purpose
wing of the tribune that Tiberius sat to overawe many of them were, in fact, converted in the time
the judgment at the trial of Granius Marcellus. of Constanltine. Hence the later writers of the
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