Editing Ancient Roman architecture (section)

=== Basilica ===

The Roman [[basilica]] was a large public building where business or legal matters could be transacted. They were normally where the magistrates held court, and used for other official ceremonies, having many of the functions of the modern [[town hall]]. The first basilicas had no religious function. 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 late medieval covered market houses of northern Europe, where the meeting room, for lack of urban space, was set above the arcades. 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 tended to be wide and was higher than the flanking aisles, so that light could penetrate through the [[clerestory]] windows.

The oldest known basilica, the [[Basilica Porcia]], was built in Rome in 184&nbsp;BC by [[Cato the Elder]] during the time he was [[Roman censor|censor]]. Other early examples include the basilica at Pompeii (late 2nd century&nbsp;BC). After Christianity became the official religion, the basilica shape was found appropriate for the first large public churches, with the attraction of avoiding reminiscences of the Greco-Roman temple form.