THE BASIUCA

ao 100

3. ROME: PALACE OF THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS, LATE IST CENTURY A.D.

Roman Empire. The word is Greek and means royal. So it may
have come to Rome with Hellenistic regal pomp. But Roman
basilicas are in no surviving form the immediate predecessors of the
Early Christian church building. They usually have colonnades not
only between "nave" and "aisles", but also on the narrow sides, that
is a complete ambulatory, like a Greek temple turned inside out—or
rather outside in (fig. 2). Apses were not uncommon; even two apses
are found; but they are as a rule cut off from the main body by the
colonnades. Thus as a general term for a large-aisled hall the word
basilica may have been transferred from Pagan to Christian, but
hardly the building type as such. Other guesses have been made: the

4, ROME: "BASILICA" OF PORTA MAGGIORE, IST CENTURY A.D,
5