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large heads, black hair, eyes narrow and flat, small fore- | (fl. 448-458), a bishop who shifted sides continually in heads, ears always sticking out, and a swarthy skin. In general, they are strong and muscular, and capable of enduring all kinds of labour and privation. They profess Mahometanism, but are little acquainted with its doctrines. In intellectual development they do not stand high.

See Semenoff, Slovar Ross. Imp. s. v.; Frähn, "De Baskiris," in Mém. de l'Acad. de St Petersburg, 1822; and Florinsky, in Westnik Evropi, 1874.

BASIL THE GREAT, an eminent ecclesiastic in the 4th century. He was a leader in the Arian controversy, a distinguished theologian, a liturgical reformer; and his letters to his friends, especially those to Gregory of Nazianzus, give a great amount of information about the stirring period in which he lived. Basil came of a somewhat famous family, which gave a number of distinguished supporters to the church of the 4th century. His eldest sister, Macrina, was celebrated for her saintly life; his second brother was the famous Gregory of Nyssa; his youngest was Peter, bishop of Sebaste; and his eldest brother was the famous Christian jurist Naucratius. It has been observed that there was in the whole family a tendency to ecstatic emotion and enthusiastic piety. Basil was born about 330, at Cæsarea in Cappadocia. While he was still a child, the family removed to Pontus; but he soon returned to Cappadocia to live with his mother's relations, and seems to have been brought up by his grandmother Macrina. It was at Cæsarea that he became acquainted with his life-long friend Gregory of Nazianzus, and it was there that he began that interesting correspondence to which reference has been made. Basil did not from the first devote himself to the church. He went to Constantinople in pursuit of learning, and spent four or five years there and at Athens. It was while at Athens that he seriously began to think of the church, and resolved to seek out the most famous hermit saints in Syria and Arabia, in order to learn from them how to attain to that enthusiastic piety in which he delighted, and how to keep his body under by maceration and other ascetic devices. After this we find him at the head of a convent near Arnesi in Pontus, in which his mother Emmilia, now a widow, his sister Macrina, and several other ladies, gave themselves to a pious life of prayer and charitable works. He was not ordained presbyter until 365, and his ordination was probably the result of the entreaties of his ecclesiastical superiors, who wished to use his talents against the Arians, who were numerous in that part of the country, and were favoured by the Arian emperor, who then reigned in Constantinople. In 370 Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, died, and Basil was chosen to succeed him. It was then that his great powers were called into action. Cæsarea was an important diocese, and its bishop was, ex officio, exarch of the great diocese of Pontus. Basil was threatened with confiscation of property, banishment, and even death, if he did not relax his regulations against the Arians; but he refused to yield, and in the end triumphed. He died in 379. The principal theological writings of Basil are his De Spiritu Sancti and his three books against Eunomius. He was a famous preacher, and we possess at least seventeen homilies by him on the Psalms and on Isaiah. His principal efforts as a reformer were directed towards the improvement of the Liturgy (the Liturgy of the Holy Basil), and the reformation of the monastic orders of the East. (Cf. the Benedictine editions of the works of Basil the Great.)

The name BASIL also belongs to several distinguished churchmen besides Basil the Great. (1.) Basil, bishop of Ancyra (336-360), a semi-Arian, highly favoured by the Emperor Constantine, and a great polemical writer; none of his works are extant. (2.) Basil of Seleucia

the Eutychian controversy, and who wrote extensively; his
works were published in Paris in 1622. (3.) Basil of Ancyra,
fl. 787; he opposed image worship at the second council
of Nicæa, but afterwards retracted. (4.) Basil, the founder
of a sect of mystics who appeared in the Greek Church
in the 12th century (cf. Anna Comnena, Alexiad, bk. 15).
BASILICA, a term denoting (1) in civil architecture, a
court of law, or merchants' exchange, and (2) in ecclesias-
tical architecture, a church of similar form and arrangement.
The name basilica, βασιλική (sc. στοά or αὐλή), “α
royal portico," or "hall," is evidence of a Greek origin.
The portico at Athens in which the second archon, apxwv
Baotλeus, sat to adjudicate on matters touching religion,
and in which the council of Areopagus sometimes met, was
known as the oroά Bariλeios or Baσiλiký (Pausan., i. 3, §
1; Demosth., Aristogit., p. 776; Plato, Charmid., ad init.;
Aristoph., Ecclesiaz., 685). From this circumstance the
term appears to have gained currency as the designation of
a law-court, in which sense it was adopted by the Romans.
The introduction of basilicæ into Rome was not very early.
Livy expressly tells us, when describing the conflagration
of the city, 210 B.C., that there were none such then,-
"neque enim tum basilicæ erant" (xxvi. 27). The earliest
named is that erected by M. Porcius Cato, the censor, 183
B.C. (Liv., xxxix. 44), and called after its founder basilica
Porcia. When once introduced this form of building
found favour with the Romans. As many as twenty
basilicæ are recorded to have existed within the walls of
Rome, erected at different periods, and bearing the names
of their founders, e.g.-Emilia, Julia, Sempronia, Ulpia
or Trajani, &c. The basilicas were always placed in the
most frequented quarter of the city, in the immediate
vicinity of a forum, and on its sunniest and most sheltered
side, that the merchants and others who resorted thither
might not suffer from the severity of the weather (Vitruv.,
De Architect., v. 1). Originally, the basilicas, like the
Royal Exchange in London and the Bourse at Antwerp,
were unroofed, consisting of a central area surrounded
simply by covered porticoes, without side walls.
quently, side walls were erected and the central space was
covered by a roof, which was generally of timber, the
beams being concealed by an arched or coved ceiling, orna-
mented with lacunaria. Some basilicas (e.g. that of Max-
entius or "the Temple of Peace") were vaulted.

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In plan the basilicas were large rectangular halls, the length of which, according to the rules laid down by Vitruvius (ubi sup.), was not to be more than three times or less than twice its width. In any cases where, from the necessity of the locality, the length exceeded these proportions, the excess was to be masked by the construction of small apartments (chalcidica) at the further end, on both sides of the tribunal. On each side of the central area was one, or sometimes, as in the Ulpian and Emilian basilicas, two rows of columns. These were returned at either end, cutting off a vestibule at one extremity, and the tribunal or court proper, forming a kind of transept,

elevated above the nave, at the other. Above the aisles thus formed (porticus) were galleries, formed by a second row of columns supporting the roof, approached by external staircases, for the accommodation of the general public men on one side, women on the other (Plin., Epist., vi. 33). They were guarded by a parapet wall (pluteus) between the columns, high enough to prevent those in the galleries from being seen by those below. Sometimes, as in Vitruvius's own basilica at Fanum, and in that at Pompeii, instead of a double there was only a single row of columns, the whole height of the building, on which the roof rested. In this case the galleries were supported by square piers (parastata) behind the main columns. The building was lighted with windows in the side walls, and at the back of the galleries. In the centre of the end-wall were the seats of the judge and his assessors, generally

occupying a semicircular apse, the prætor's curule chair standing in the centre of the curve. When the assessors were very numerous (according to Pliny, u.s., they sometimes amounted to one hundred and eighty), they sat in two or three concentric curves arranged like the seats of a theatre The advocates and other officials filled the rest of the raised platform, divided from the rest of the building by a screen of lattice-work (cancelli). In the centre of the chord of the apse stood an altar on which the judices took an oath to administer true justice. The tribunal sometimes ended square instead of apsidally. This is so in the basilica at Pompeii (see the plan annexed), where the tribunal is parted from the body of the hall by a podium bearing a screen of six columns, and is flanked by staircases to the galleries and by the chalcidica. The larger and more magnificent basilicas were sometimes finished with an apse at each extremity.

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FIG. 2.-Interior view of Trajan's Basilica (Basilica Ulpia), as restored by Canina.

The plans of Trajan's basilica usually give this arrangement. | but really, as Canina has shown, that of the Ulpian basilica, The fragment of the ground-plan in the marble tablets pre- also shows an apse, designated (Atrium) Libertatis. This, served in the Capitol, usually called that of the Emilian. we know from many ancient authorities, was the locality

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for the manumission of slaves; and, therefore, the tribunal | that it was 174 feet in breadth, and more than twice as must have been at the other end, and, doubtless, also apsidal. The basilica of Trajan was one of the largest and most magnificent in Rome. From its existing remains we learn

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long as it was broad. (The plan and supposed internal arrangements will be seen in the annexed woodcuts from Canina.) The nave, 86 feet in breadth, was divided from

the double aisles by rows of granite columns, 35 feet high. | of prayers for the emperor's preservation" (Grat. Actio pro An upper row of columns in front of the galleries above the aisles supported a ceiling, covered with plates of gilt bronze. The total internal height was about 120 feet. The walls were cased with white marble from Luna. It was paved with giallo antico and purple breccia. A side court, which enclosed the well-known memorial column to Trajan, was flanked by libraries, Bibliotheca Græca and Latina (Sidon. Apollinaris, Epigr., ix. 16).

FIG. 4.-Section of the Basilica of Constantine or Maxentius
(Temple of Peace).

The basilica of Maxentius (or of Constantine), usually known as the Temple of Peace, in the Forum at Rome, was on an entirely different plan from those already described. The internal colonnades were dispensed with, the central space being covered by a vast quadripartite brick vault, in three bays; and the aisles were roofed with three huge barrel vaults, each 72 feet in span. Columus were only used for ornament. The tribunal was apsidal. Its width was 195 feet, but it was 100 feet shorter than Trajan's basilica. The ground-plan of a small but interesting basilica, of which the foundations remain at Otricoli (Ocriculum), is given by Agincourt (pl. lxxiii. No. 100). The nave is of four bays; beyond the aisles there is an additional aisle of annexed buildings or chalcidica; the apse is internal. A good example of a provincial basilica remains at Trèves. It is a plain hall, about 90 feet long, the walls being 100 feet high, without aisles, and it has an apsidal tribunal elevated considerably above the floor. Under the empire, when architectural magnificence reached an hitherto unparalleled height, basilica formed a part of the plan of the palaces erected by the emperors and nobles of Rome (Vitruv., vi. 81). A beautiful example on a small scale, the Basilica Jovis, has been recently excavated in the ruins of the palace of the Cæsars on the Palatine. Only the lower part of the walls remains, but the arrangements of the building are singularly perfect, even to the pierced marble cancelli, and throw the clearest light on the construction of these halls.

On the establishment of Christianity as the imperial religion, these vast halls furnished exactly what was wanted for the religious assemblies of the Christian community. The basilica was, in fact, a ready-made church, singularly adapted for its new purpose. The capacious nave accommodated the ordinary congregations, the galleries or aisles the females and the more dignified worshippers; while the raised tribunal formed the bema, or sanctuary, separated by lattice-work from the less sacred portion below, the bishop and his clergy occupying the semicircular apsis. The prætor's curule chair became the episcopal throne, the curved bench of his assessors the seat for the presbyters of the church. The inferior clergy, readers, and singers took the place of the advocates below the tribunal; while on the site of the heathen altar rose the holy table of the Eucharistic feast, divided from the nave by its protecting lattice-work screen, from which were suspended curtains guarding the sacred mysteries from the intrusive gaze of the profane.

The words of Ausonius to the Emperor Gratian, in which he speaks of "the basilicas once full of business, but now

Consulatu), are a testimony to the general conversion of these civil basilicas into Christian churches. We know this to have been the case with the basilicas of St Cross (S. Croce in Gerusalemme) and St Mary Major's at Rome, which were halls in the Sessorian and Liberian palaces respectively, granted by Constantine to the Christians. We may adduce also as evidence of the same practice a passage from the theological romance known as The Recognitions of Clement (bk. x. ch. 71), probably dating from the early half of the 3d century, in which we are told that Theophilus of Antioch, on his conversion by St Peter, made over "the basilica of his house" for a church. But however this may have been, with, perhaps, the single exception of St Cross, the existing Christian basilicas were erected from the ground for their sacred purpose. At Rome the columns, friezes, and other materials of the desecrated temples and public buildings furnished abundant materials for their construction. The decadence of art is plainly shown by the absence of rudimentary architectural knowledge in these reconstructions. Not only are columns of various heights and diameters made to do duty in the same colonnade, but even different orders stand side by side(e.g., Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite at St Mary's in the Trastevere); while pilasters assume a horizontal position, and serve as entablatures, as at St Lawrence's. There being no such quarry of ready-worked materials at Ravenna, the noble basilicas of that city are free from these defects, and exhibit greater unity of design and harmony of proportions. In all cases, however, the type of the civil basilica, which had proved so suitable for the requirements of Christian congregations, was adhered to with remarkable uniformity. An early Christian basilica may be thus described in its main features:-A porch supported on pillars (as at St Clement) gave admission into an open court or atrium, surrounded by a colonnaded cloister (St Clement, Old St Peter's, St Ambrose at Milan, Parenzo). In the centre of the court stood a cistern or fountain (cantharus, phiale), for drinking and ablutions. In close contiguity to the atrium, often to the west, was the baptistery, usually octagonal (Parenzo). The church was entered through a long narrow porch (narthex), beyond which penitents, or those under ecclesiastical censure, were forbidden to pass. The narthex was sometimes internal (St Agnes), sometimes an external portico (St Lawrence's, St Paul's). Three or four lofty doorways, according to the number of the aisles, set in marble cases, gave admission to the church. The doors themselves were of rich wood, elaborately carved with scriptural subjects, or of bronze similarly adorned and often gilt. Magnificent curtains, frequently embroidered with sacred figures or scenes, closed the entrance, keeping out the heat of summer and the cold of winter.

The interior consisted of a long and wide nave, often 80 feet across, terminating in a semicircular apse, with one or sometimes (St Paul's, Old St Peter's, St John Lateran) two aisles on each side, separated by colonnades of marble pillars supporting horizontal entablatures (Old St Peter's, St Mary Major's, St Lawrence's) or arches (St Paul's, St Agnes, St Clement, the two basilicas of St Apollinaris at Ravenna). Above the pillars the clerestory wall rose to a great height, pierced in its upper part by a range of plain round-headed windows. The space between the windows and the colonnade (the later triforium-space) was usually decorated with a series of mosaic pictures in panels (Old St Peter's, St Paul's, St Mary Major's, St Apollinaris within the walls at Ravenna). The upper galleries of the secular basilicas were not usually adopted in the West, but we have examples of this arrangement at St Agnes, St Lawrence's, and the Quattro Santi Coronati. They are much more frequent in the East. The colonnades sometimes extended quite to the end of

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the church (St Mary Major's), sometimes ceased some little distance from the end, thus forming a transverse aisle or transept (St Paul's, Old St Peter's, St John Lateran). Where this transept occurred it was divided from the nave by a wide arch, the western face and soffit of which were richly decorated with mosaics. Over the crown of the arch we often find a bust of Christ or the holy lamb lying upon the altar, and, on either side, the evangelistic symbols, the seven candlesticks, and the twenty-four elders. Another arch spanned the semicircular apse, in which the church always terminated. This was designated the arch of triumph, from the mosaics that decorated it representing the triumph of the Saviour and His church. The conch or semi-dome that covered the apse was always covered with mosaic pictures on a gold ground, usually paintings of our Lord, either seated or standing, with St Peter and St Paul, and other apostles and saints, on either hand. The beams of the roof were generally concealed by a flat ceiling, richly carved and gilt. The altar, standing in the centre of the chord of the apse on a raised platform, reached by flights of steps, was rendered conspicuous by a lofty canopy supported by marble pillars (ciborium, baldacchino), from which depended curtains of the richest materials. Beneath the altar was the confessio, a subterranean chapel, containing the body of the patron saint, and relics of other holy persons. This was approached by descending flights of steps from the nave or aisles. The confessio in some cases reproduced the original place of interment of the patron saint, either in a catacomb-chapel or in an ordinary grave, and thus formed the sacred nucleus round which the church arose. We have good examples of this arrangement at St Peter's, St Paul's, St Pudenziana, and St Lawrence. It was copied, as we will see hereafter, in the original cathedral of Canterbury. The bishop or officiating presbyter advanced from his seat in the centre of the semicircle of the apse to the eastern side (ritually) of the altar, and celebrated the Eucharist with his face to the congregation below. At the foot of the altar steps a raised platform occupying the upper portion of the nave formed a choir for the singers, readers, and other inferior clergy. This oblong space was separated from the aisles and from the western portion of the nave by low marble walls or railings. From these walls projected ambones, or pulpits with desks, also of marble, ascended by steps. That for the reader of the gospel was usually octagonal, with a double flight of steps westward and eastward. That for the reader of the epistle was square or oblong.

The exterior of the basilicas was usually of a repulsive plainness. The vast brick walls were unrelieved by orna

FIG. 5.-Exterior view of St Apollinaris in Classe, Ravenna. ment, without any compensating grace of outline or beauty of proportion. An exception was made for the west front,

which was usually covered with plates of marble mosaics or painted stucco (Old St Peter's, St Lawrence's). This part was frequently crowned with a hollow projecting cornice (St Lawrence's, Ara Coli). But in spite of any decorations the external effect of a basilica must always have been heavy and unattractive. The annexed view of St Apollinaris in Classe at Ravenna affords a typical example.

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To pass from general description to individual churches, the first place must be given, as the earliest and grandest examples of the type, to the world-famous Roman basilicas; those of St Peter, St Paul, and St John Lateran, omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput." It is true that no one of these exists in its original form, Old St Peter's having been entirely removed in the 16th century to make room for its magnificent successor; and both St Paul's and St John Lateran having been greatly injured by fire, and the last named being so completely modernized as to have

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FIG. 6. Façade of old St Peter's, Rome. lost all interest. Of the two former, however, we possess drawings, and plans, and minute descriptions, which give an accurate conception of the original buildings. To commence with St Peter's, from the woodcuts annexed it will be seen that the church was entered through a vast colonnaded atrium, 212 feet by 235 feet,

with a fountain in the centre, the atrium being preceded by a porch mounted by a noble flight of steps. The church was 212 feet wide by 380 feet long; the nave, 80 feet in width, was six steps lower than the side aisles, of which there were two on each side. The four dividing colonnades were each of twentytwo Corinthian columns. Those next the nave supported horizontal entablatures. The inner colonnades bore arches, with a second clerestory. The main clerestory walls were divided into two rows of square panels

FIG. 7.-Ground-Plan of the original Basilica of St Peter's at Rome.

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a, Porch. b, Atrium. c, Cloisters. d, Narthex. e, Nave. ff, Aisles. g, Bema,

h, Altar, protected by a double screen.

i, Bishop's throne in centre of the apse. k, Sacristy.

1, Tomb of Honorius. m, Church of St Andrew.

containing mosaics, and had windows above. The transept projected beyond the body of the church,-a very unusual arrangement. The apse, of remarkably small dimenof remarkably small dimensions, was screened off by a double row of twelve wreathed columns of Parian marble, of great antiquity, reported

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altar rose above a crypt, or confessio, traditionally believed to be the catacomb of Lucina, a noble Roman Christian matron, to which the body of the apostle Paul had been removed 251 A.D. The narthex was external. St Paul's had completely lost its atrium. The bronze doors, covered with scriptural reliefs, had been brought from Constantinople.

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FIG. 8.-Sectional view of the old Basilica of St Peter, before its
destruction in the 15th century.

to have been brought from Greece, or from Solomon's
Temple. The pontifical chair was placed in the centre of
the curve of the apse, on a platform raised several steps
above the presbytery. To the right and left the seats of
the cardinals followed the line of the apse. At the centre
of the chord stood the high altar beneath a ciborium, resting
on four pillars of porphyry.
Beneath the altar was the

subterranean chapel, the centre of the devotion of so large a portion of the Christian world, believed to contain the remains of St Peter; a vaulted crypt ran round the foundation wall of the apse in which many of the popes were buried. The roof showed its naked beams and rafters.

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FIG. 9.-Ground-Plan of St Paul's,

fire.

The basilica of St Paul without the walls, dedicated 324 A.D., rebuilt 388-423, remained in a sadly neglected state, but substantially unaltered, till the disastrous fire of 1823, which reduced the nave to a calcined ruin. Its plan and dimensions were almost identical with those of St Peter's, as will be seen from the annexed woodcuts. Its double aisles were formed by four colonnades, each of twenty Corinthian pillars, 33 feet high, all supporting arches. Of these pillars twenty-four were of the best period of Roman art, taken from the mausoleum of Augustus, or from the basilica Emilia. The contrast between them and those of the 5th century, standing side by side with them, shows how greatly art had declined. As at St Peter's, the walls above the arches were lined with a double row of mosaic panels, below which was a band of circles containing portraits of the popes, from St Peter downwards. The transept was parted from the nave by a solid wall, with openings pierced in it, and in later times was divided down the middle by a transverse colonnade. The high

a, Narthex.
b, Nave.

c, c, Side aisles.

d, Altar.
e. Bema.
f, Apse.

FIG. 10.-Section of the Basilica of St Paul, Rome. The only parts of the modernized five-aisled basilica of St John Lateran (of which we have a plan in its original state, Agincourt, pl. lxxiii. No. 22) which retain any interest, are the double vaulted aisle which runs round the apse, a most unusual arrangement, and the baptistery. The latter is an octagonal building standing some little distance from the basilica to the south. Its roof is supported by a double range of columns, one above the other, encircling the baptismal basin sunk below the floor.

Of the three-aisled basilicas the best example is the Liberian or St Mary Major's, dedicated 365, and reconstructed 432 A.D. Its internal length to the chord of the apse is 250 feet, by 100 feet in breadth. The Ionic pillars of grey granite, uniform in style, twenty on each side, form a colonnade of great dignity and beauty, unfortunately broken towards the east by intrusive arches opening into chapels. The clerestory, though modern, is excellent in style and arrangement. Corinthian pilasters divide the windows, beneath which are very remarkable mosaic pictures of subjects from Old Testament history, generally supposed to date from the pontificate of Sixtus III., 432-440. The face of the arch of triumph presents also a series of mosaics illustrative of the infancy of our Lord, of great value in the history of art. The apse is of later date, reconstructed by Paschal I. in 818.

The Sessorian basilica, now St Cross (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), is of exceptional arrangement. Originally a hall of the palace known as Sessorium, it was granted by Constantine for the purposes of Christian worship, and a vast apse, nearly the whole breadth of the hall, was added at the east end. The side walls are pierced by two tiers of large arched openings, originally communicating with a second range of aisles. Of these the lower range has been built up, but the upper is still open, forming immense windows.

Among the remaining basilicas of Rome those of St Lawrence (S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura) and St Agnes deserve special mention, as exhibiting a gallery corresponding to those of the civil basilicas and to the later triforium, carried above the aisles and returned across the west end. The

Rome, before its destruction by architectural history of St Lawrence's is curious. When originally constructed, 578-590, it consisted of a short nave of six bays, with an internal narthex the whole height of the building. In the 13th century Honorius III. disorientated the church, by pulling down the apse, and erecting a nave of twelve bays on its site and beyond it, thus converting the original nave into a square-ended choir, the level being much raised, and the magnificent Corinthian columns half buried. As a consequence of the church being thus shifted completely round, the face of the arch of triumph, turned away from the present entrance, but towards the original one, is invested with the usual mosaics (Agincourt, pl. xxviii. Nos. 29, 30, 31). The basilica of St Agnes, 625-638, of which we give a plan and section, is a small but interesting building, much like what St Lawrence's must have been before it was altered. From

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