Basilica (redirected from Stoa basilike)

basilica (bəsĭl`ĭkə), large building erected by the Romans for transacting business and disposing of legal matters. Rectangular in form with a roofed hall, the building usually contained an interior colonnade, with an apse at one end or at each end. 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 was built in Rome in 184 B.C. by the elder Cato. Other early examples are the Basilica Porcia in Rome and one at Pompeii (late 2d cent. B.C.). Probably the most splendid Roman basilica is the one constructed during the reign of Maxentius and finished by Constantine after 313. In the 4th cent. Christians began to build edifices for worship that were related to the form of the basilicas. These had a center nave with one aisle at each side and an apse at one end: on this platform sat the bishop and priests. Basilicas of this type were built not only in Western Europe but in Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. A good example of the Middle Eastern basilica is the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem (6th cent.). The finest basilicas in Rome were St. John Lateran and St. Paul's-outside-the-Walls (4th cent.), and San Clemente (6th cent.). Gradually there emerged the massive Romanesque churches, which still retained the fundamental plan of the basilica.

---

basilica

Originally a secular public building in ancient Rome, typically a large rectangular structure with an open hall and a raised platform at one or both ends. In one type, the central hall was flanked by side aisles set off by colonnades, and the raised platform was enclosed by an apse. The early Christians adopted this type for their churches. In the typical early Christian basilica, the columns separating the nave from the lower side aisles carried either arches or entablatures, above which rose clerestory walls that supported the roof. The long nave came to be crossed just before the apse by a shorter transept, creating the cross-shaped plan that remains a standard church form to the present. “Basilica” is also a title of honor given to a Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox church distinguished by its antiquity or its role as an international center of worship. See also cathedral.

---

basilica

1. a Roman building, used for public administration, having a large rectangular central nave with an aisle on each side and an apse at the end

2. a rectangular early Christian or medieval church, usually having a nave with clerestories, two or four aisles, one or more vaulted apses, and a timber roof

3. a Roman Catholic church having special ceremonial rights

---

basilica

basilica: Typical plan. A, D, apse; B, B’, secondary apse; C, high altar; D, bishop’s throne; G, transept; H, nave; J, J’, aisles

1. A Roman hall of justice, typically with a high central space lit by a clerestory and lower aisles all around it, and with apses or exedrae for the seats of the judges.

2. The form of the early Christian church, a central high nave with clerestory, lower aisles along the sides only,

---

Basilica 

(Greek: Basiliká), last codification of Byzantine law, completed in A.D. 890 during the reign of Emperor Leo VI (the Wise), and consisting of 60 books.

The Basilica is based on Justinian’s code of laws. Nevertheless, certain of the code’s regulations that were outmoded or abolished were not included in the Basilica. Moreover, in the Basilica each legal institution is examined in only one place and not in various books, as was the case with Justinian’s code of laws. In drawing up the Basilica, the Procheiron was also utilized, and in the latest copies of the Basilica excerpts are cited from the works of Byzantine jurists of the 11th and 12th centuries. In its class orientation the Basilica reflected the process of peasant oppression. Serfdom was again legalized, and restrictions were removed on the enlargement of private landholdings.

REFERENCE

Basilicorum libri LX, vols. 1-6, edited by C. G. E. Heimbach; vol. 7, edited by E. G. Terrini and J. Mercati. Leipzig, 1833-97.

Z. M. CHERNILOVSKII