UCA. 



BASILICA. 



71 



testudo was supported by eighteen columns, four at each end, rix on 

 one side, and fuur on the other, the two centre colmmut Whig 

 on thU aide, tliat the view of the pronaos of a temple to Augustus 

 might be Men. The tribunal in UiU building WM in the form of a 

 curved recem, 48 feet wide, and 15 feet deep. To this information 

 Vitniviu* add* the proportions of the Umber* of the roof. 



It it probable that Rome possessed baaflicn in all the different fora 

 of the city. Of theae the Basilica of Trnian, which formed a part of 

 the Forum Trajanum [KoWJi], is the only one of which there are 

 eonaideraUe remains left Its width wan about ISO feet, it* length at 

 lea*t double the width. It in represented on the reverse of the medal 

 which we have given above. Another basilica, of the Corinthian order, 

 WM discovered on the Palatine Hill. A large edifice in the Forum, 

 called the Temple of Peace, hat alao been named the basilica of 

 CoosUntine. 



The Emperon Oordian, in their magnificent country residences 

 built on the Via Pneneatina, had three basilica;, 100 feet in length. 

 Two famous basilica, *-mili and Fulvia, were built at Pncneste 



Bait of 1'ardi. 

 10 10 



Plan of the BuUlea at Pompeii. 



(Palftlrina), between which Sylla caused a magnificent sun-dial to be 

 placed. The marble fragments of the plan of Rome, now preserved in 

 the Capitol at Rome, which was made during the reign of Septimiua 

 Sererus, show a part of the Basilica ^Gmiliana ; from which it appear* 

 that, unlike the other basilica;, it bad no external wall In this last 



respect, it may be compared to a very ancient Greek edifice at Peart um, 

 win. li has been generally considered a basilica. This building is an 

 inclosure of columns, without any internal or external walls, and 

 divided in the centre by an order of columns, with another above it. 

 A basilica which was discovered some rears since at Otricoli, had a 

 curvilinear recess or heniicycle adorned with statues, which were 

 removed to the museum of the Vatican. 



The most perfect basilica of antiquity, and which best corresponds 

 with the building described by Vitruvius, exists in Pompeii, constructed 

 on the south-west, and consequently the warm side of the Forum. 

 This edifice is 220 feet by 80. The testudo rose to the height of a I nit 

 60 feet, judging from the diameter of the ]x>rtions of the colunn 

 remaining. These columns are twenty-eight in number, four of whi.-li 

 are placed at each end, and the rest on each side of the testudo ; t h.-y 

 are curiously constructed of brick, and covered with stucco. At the 

 farthest end is the tribunal, raised on a platform, to which the ascent 

 on each ride is by a flight of stairs. Under the platform are rooms, 

 conjectured to have been used as temporary prisons for criminal 

 in the floor of this platform are circular holes, communicating with the 

 rooms below. On each side of the tribunal are two small square rooms, 

 which, as the Basilica is very long in its proportion, may be considered 

 a part cut off to form Chalcidica. Small engaged columns are attached 

 to the walls inclosing the portions, on which one end of the beams of 

 the floor were placed, the other being either inserted in the shafts of 

 the brick-columns, or supported on wooden parastaticgj .set against 

 their backs, in the manner described by Vitruvius. In the angles the 



small columns are clustered thu" *^J after the manner of Gothic 



shafts. This arose probably from the circumstance of the beams of 

 the floor of the upper porticus being placed diagonally at the angles, in 

 this manner 



and it is most likely that the under side of the floor was left exposed, as 

 is still the case in the dwellings of Italy, and not covered with lath 

 and plaster, as is the custom in England. The columns being clustered 

 in the angles gave an appearance of strength. 



The light, most probably, was admitted in the manner mentioned by 

 Vitruvius ; but, in addition, there were windows at the back of the 

 tribunal, which perhaps were at one time glazed, as glass for win. !<,, 

 was in common use at Pompeii. The stone door-jambs are remarkable 

 for a large groove, in which we may conjecture that the wooden door- 

 frames were fixed. The doors appear to have folded, as the marks left 

 on the sill from the opening and shutting still remain. The order of 

 the small engaged columns is Corinthian, and the style very similar to 

 that of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, and, like that edifice, this Basilica 

 was covered with a fine marble stucco. The most singular decoration 

 is observed in the rusticated plastering of the interior, where the ru>; i. - 

 are painted in every variety of colour. The order of the testudo is 

 unknown, as there are no remains of the capitals. It is probable that 

 the columns, from their height, were never covered with the ashes of 

 Vesuvius, which circumstance enabled the inhabitants to remove 

 them. 



The early Christian churches of Rome may be considered an the best 

 resemblances of the Roman Basilica;. In some of them are Mill found 

 many of the characteristics of the ancient Baoilico*. We give the 

 following list of existing Basilicau churches, or parts of churches, at 

 Rome, with their dates (some known, others conjectural), from 

 Bunscn's work on the Basilica: of Rome, referred to below S. Pietro, 

 about 330 ; 8. Paolo, 386 ; Sta. Sabina, 425 ; Sta. Maria Maggiore, 432; 

 S. Pietro ad Vincula, 442 ; S. Lorenzo, 580 ; Sta. Balbina, 600 ; St. 

 'Agnese, 625; Quattro Coronati, 625; S. Giorgio in Velabro, 682; 

 S. Chrisogogno, 730; S. Giovanni a Porta Latina, Sta. Maria in Cos- 

 medin, S. Vicenzo alle Trc Fontane, S. Lorenzo (the nave), SS. Nereo 

 ed Achiile, all about the close of the 8th century ; Sta. Prassede, 

 and Sta, Maria in Dominica, in the first quarter of the 9th century ; 

 S. Martino ai Monti, 850 ; Sta. Clemente, 870 ; S. Nicolo in Carcere, 

 .Mini S. Bartolomeo in Isola, end of 9th century ; 8. Giovanni in 

 Laterano, 910 ; Sta. Maria in Trastevere, 1135 ; Sta. Grace in Gcrusa- 

 lemme, 1144; Sta. Maria in Ara Coeli ; Sta. Maria sopra Win. i\ i 

 (noteworthy as a Gothic basilica), 1370 ; S. Agostino, 1480. 



The Marquess Galiani remarks, that the first churches were looked 

 upon as tribunals in which the bishops, &c., administered penance to 

 the guilty and the Eucharist to the absolved. We may therefore 

 observe, in accounting for the resemblance which the early Chi 

 churches bear to the ancient Basilica;, that nothing could appear at 

 first sight more appropriate than the idea of imitating a tribunal of 

 justice in the construction of the new churches, in which the bishops 

 and priivtx were to administer a kind of spiritual justice. This remark 

 is well supported by the fact of the bishop's throne being placed in the 

 apsis, or arched recess corresponding to the curved recess or heniicycle, 

 as it was called, of the ancient Basilica. [ArsK.] It would seem, in 

 fact, that the obvious convenience of the Basilica) led the early 

 Christians to convert the ancient Basilica into churches, and in tln-ir 

 new churches to adopt the principles of that form of building, as these 



