Editing Basilica (section)

== Origins ==
[[File:Basilika (Pompeji).jpg|thumb|Remains of the Basilica of Pompeii, interior (120 BC)]]
[[File:Pompei (28968934492).jpg|thumb|Basilica of Pompeii, tribunal]]
The Latin word ''[[wikt:basilica#latin|basilica]]'' derives from {{Langx|grc|βασιλικὴ στοά|lit=royal ''stoa''|translit=basilikḗ stoá}}. The first known basilica—the [[Basilica Porcia]] in the [[Roman Forum]]—was constructed in 184&nbsp;BC by [[Cato the Elder|Marcus Porcius Cato (the Elder)]].<ref name=":0" /> After the construction of Cato the Elder's basilica, the term came to be applied to any large covered hall, whether it was used for domestic purposes, was a commercial space, a military structure, or religious building.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=basilica|year=2007|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192801463.001.0001/acref-9780192801463-e-314|work=The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World|editor-last=Roberts|editor-first=John|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780192801463.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-280146-3|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The plays of [[Plautus]] suggest that basilica buildings may have existed prior to Cato's building. The plays were composed between 210 and 184 BC and refer to a building that might be identified with the ''Atrium Regium''.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=Dumser|first=Elisha Ann|title=Basilica|year=2010|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001/acref-9780195170726-e-164|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome|editor-last=Gagarin|editor-first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-517072-6|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Another early example is the basilica at [[Pompeii]] (late 2nd century&nbsp;BC). Inspiration may have come from prototypes like [[Athens]]'s [[Stoa Basileios]] or the [[hypostyle]] hall on [[Delos]], but the [[architectural form]] is most derived from the audience halls in the royal palaces of the [[Diadochi]] kingdoms of the [[Hellenistic period]]. These rooms were typically a high nave flanked by colonnades.<ref name=":2" />

These basilicas were rectangular, typically with central nave and aisles, usually with a slightly raised platform and an apse at each of the two ends, adorned with a statue perhaps of the emperor, while the entrances were from the long sides.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Te2dAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 ''The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture''] (2013 {{ISBN|978-0-19968027-6}}), p. 117</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/the_eschatological_dimension_of_church_architecture|title=The Institute for Sacred Architecture – Articles – The Eschatological Dimension of Church Architecture|website=sacredarchitecture.org}}</ref> The Roman ''basilica'' was a large public building where business or legal matters could be transacted. {{Clarify span|As early as the time of [[Augustus]], a public basilica for transacting business had been part of any settlement that considered itself a city, used in the same way as the covered market houses of late medieval northern Europe, where the meeting room, for lack of urban space, was set ''above'' the arcades, however.|date=June 2020}}{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} Although their form was variable, basilicas often contained interior [[colonnade]]s that divided the space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces on one or both sides, with an apse at one end (or less often at each end), where the magistrates sat, often on a slightly raised [[dais]]. The central aisle {{En dash}} the nave {{En dash}} tended to be wider and taller than the flanking aisles, so that light could penetrate through the [[clerestory]] windows.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}

In the late Republican era, basilicas were increasingly monumental; [[Julius Caesar]] replaced the Basilica Sempronia with his own [[Basilica Julia]], dedicated in 46 BC, while the Basilica Aemilia was rebuilt around 54 BC in so spectacular a fashion that [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote that it was among the most beautiful buildings in the world (it was simultaneously renamed the ''Basilica Paulli''). Thereafter until the 4th century AD, monumental basilicas were routinely constructed at Rome by both private citizens and the emperors. These basilicas were reception halls and grand spaces in which élite persons could impress guests and visitors, and could be attached to a large country [[Roman villa|''villa'']] or an urban ''[[domus]]''. They were simpler and smaller than were civic basilicas, and can be identified by inscriptions or their position in the archaeological context. [[Domitian]] constructed a basilica on the [[Palatine Hill]] for his imperial residential complex around 92 AD, and a palatine basilica was typical in imperial palaces throughout the imperial period.<ref name=":2"/>