DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0109
THE BASILICA
7*
184 b.c. ; other basilicas followed, and in Caesar’s day a number
stood about the Forum. Regarding its development prior to
the time of Cato only conjectures can be offered. The name
basilica {basilike stoa, ‘the royal hall’) points to a Greek
origin ; we should naturally look for the prototype of the Roman
as well as the Pompeian structure in the capitals of the Alexan-
drian period and in the Greek colonies of Italy. But no ruin,
no reference in literature comes to our aid. The supposition
that the King’s Hall (basileios stoa) in Athens, the official resi-
dence of the King Archon, was the prototype of all basilicas,
has little to support it; our information in regard to the form of
this building is quite inadequate, and the name alone warrants
no positive conclusion. It is more probable that both the name
and the architectural type came from the ‘ royal hall ’ of one of
the successors of Alexander.
A basilica was a spacious hall which served as an extension
of a market place, and was itself in a certain sense a covered
market. It was not limited to a specific purpose; in general,
whatever took place on the market square might take place in
the basilica, the roof of which afforded protection against the
weather. It was chiefly devoted, however, to business transac-
tions and to the administration of justice. The form is known
partly from the remains of the basilicas in Rome — Basilica
Julia, Basilica Ulpia, the Basilica of Constantine — and in
Africa, but more fully from the treatise of Vitruvius and the
description of a basilica which he himself erected at Fano.
According to these sources
the plan of a typical basilica
is essentially that of the build-
ing before us (Fig. 23). An
oblong space is divided by col-
umns into a-broad central hall
and a corridor which runs
around the four sides. The
height of the columns, in the
Fig. 23. — Plan of the Basilica.
a. Entrance court. 1. Corridor.
2. Main room. 3. Tribunal.
4. Rooms at the ends of the tribunal.
typical basilica, is equal to the width of the corridor, which is
covered by a flat roof; the inner edge of this roof is carried
by the entablature above the columns. The main room is
7*
184 b.c. ; other basilicas followed, and in Caesar’s day a number
stood about the Forum. Regarding its development prior to
the time of Cato only conjectures can be offered. The name
basilica {basilike stoa, ‘the royal hall’) points to a Greek
origin ; we should naturally look for the prototype of the Roman
as well as the Pompeian structure in the capitals of the Alexan-
drian period and in the Greek colonies of Italy. But no ruin,
no reference in literature comes to our aid. The supposition
that the King’s Hall (basileios stoa) in Athens, the official resi-
dence of the King Archon, was the prototype of all basilicas,
has little to support it; our information in regard to the form of
this building is quite inadequate, and the name alone warrants
no positive conclusion. It is more probable that both the name
and the architectural type came from the ‘ royal hall ’ of one of
the successors of Alexander.
A basilica was a spacious hall which served as an extension
of a market place, and was itself in a certain sense a covered
market. It was not limited to a specific purpose; in general,
whatever took place on the market square might take place in
the basilica, the roof of which afforded protection against the
weather. It was chiefly devoted, however, to business transac-
tions and to the administration of justice. The form is known
partly from the remains of the basilicas in Rome — Basilica
Julia, Basilica Ulpia, the Basilica of Constantine — and in
Africa, but more fully from the treatise of Vitruvius and the
description of a basilica which he himself erected at Fano.
According to these sources
the plan of a typical basilica
is essentially that of the build-
ing before us (Fig. 23). An
oblong space is divided by col-
umns into a-broad central hall
and a corridor which runs
around the four sides. The
height of the columns, in the
Fig. 23. — Plan of the Basilica.
a. Entrance court. 1. Corridor.
2. Main room. 3. Tribunal.
4. Rooms at the ends of the tribunal.
typical basilica, is equal to the width of the corridor, which is
covered by a flat roof; the inner edge of this roof is carried
by the entablature above the columns. The main room is