| == Webster's [[ Dictionary]] == <p> (1): </p> <p> (n.) A building used by the Romans as a place of public meeting, with court rooms, etc., attached. </p> <p> (2): </p> <p> (n.) Originally, the place of a king; but afterward, an apartment provided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; and hence, any large hall used for this purpose. </p> <p> (3): </p> <p> (n.) A digest of the laws of Justinian, translated from the original [[ Latin]] into Greek, by order of [[ Basil]] I., in the ninth century. < /p> <p> (4): </p> <p> (n.) A church building of the earlier centuries of Christianity, the plan of which was taken from the basilica of the Romans. The name is still applied to some churches by way of honorary distinction. </p> == [[ Cyclopedia]] of Biblical, [[ Theological]] and [[Ecclesiastical]] Literature == <p> ( from στοὰ βασιλική , one of the porches or colonnades facing the [[ Agora]] at Athens), the name of an ancient secular building, afterward applied to [[ Christian]] church edifices. On the overthrow of the kings at Athens, their power was divided among several archons. The remains of the old power were, however, too strong to be swept all away, and the charge of the [[ Eleusinian]] mysteries, of the flower-feasts of Bacchus, of all legal processes concerning matters of religion, and of all capital offenses, was referred to the ἄρχων βασιλεύς (comp. with rex sacrarum in the republic of Rome) . This archon held his court in the stoa basilica. [[ Basilicas]] for similar purposes were built in all the chief cities of [[ Greece]] and her colonies, and later in [[ Rome]] and the [[ Roman]] colonial cities. They were built with as great splendor -and architectural merits as the temples themselves. Those in [[ Italy]] were devoted to purposes of business (like our modern bourses or exchanges), and to general legal processes. They had a central nave, separated from two side aisles by grand colonnades. This space was devoted to business. Above the side aisles were galleries for spectators and others. At the rear end was a semicircular space, separated from the main part by gratings when court was held. In Rome there were 29 (others say 22) of these basilicas. </p> <p> When [[ Christianity]] took possession of the Roman empire, these basilicas were taken as models for church edifices. The pagan temples were built for residences of the deities, not for holding large bodies of people; and also, being given to unholy purposes, could not be used or copied in Christian churches. The basilicas, on the other hand, had been polluted by no heathen rites, and corresponded with the traditional synagogue in much of their interior construction. Some of the basilicas were given to the Church, and devoted to sacred purposes; and the same plan of building was followed in new church edifices. The plan included a broad central nave with a pointed roof ( instead of the arched roof of the classic Roman basilica or the open nave of the Grecian), and on each side were one or two side aisles, covered by a single roof. In the semicircular apsis, opposite the entrance, the seats of the judges were appropriated by the bishops. In front of this, and under the round arched tribune, was the high altar over the crypt (q. v.). [[Beyond]] this were two pulpits, one on each side of the nave, for reading the [[Scriptures]] and preaching. The pillars in the colonnades separating the aisles were joined by round arches instead of beams, as in the Roman basilicas. During the basilican period (A. D. 300 to A. D. 700-800. no towers or spires were built. In Rome the oldest; basilicas are those of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John Lateran, St. Clement, Sta. Maria in Trastevere, and St. Lawrence. Others, as Sta. Maria Maggiore, Sta. Agnes, Sta. Croce in Jerusalem, were built after the true basilican period, as were also the present edifices of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John Lateran. St. Clement, and SS. Nereo and Achilleo, preserve most distinctly the features of the original basilica. Out of Rome, the best preserved ancient basilicas are those of St. Apollinari in Classe ( near Ravenna), and of St. Apollinari in Ravenna. [[Basilican]] churches were built extensively in [[Asia]] Minor, other parts of Italy, and South France, and in these last two this style has ever exercised almost a controlling influence on ecclesiastical architecture. It gave also the general ground plan and many other elements to the succeeding Romanesque, and even to the contemporary [[Byzantine]] styles. In the same general style are the churches of St. [[ Boniface]] ( Roman: Catholic) in Munich, and of St. [[Jacob]] (Protestant) in Berlin, both built within the last twenty years. There is no prospect, however, that the style will ever be generally adopted in the erection of modern churches. See Zestermann, [[De]] Antic. et Christ. Basilicis (Brussels, 1847); Bunsen, [[ Die]] Christlichen Basiliken Roms ( Munich, 1843) ; Kugler, Geschichte der Baukunst (Stuttgart, 1859); Fergusson, History of Architecture; Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. 8, ch. 1, § 5. (See [[Architecture]]) ; (See [[Church]] Edifices). </p> == The Nuttall [[Encyclopedia]] == <p> The code of laws, in 60 books, compiled by Basil I., and Leo, his son and successor, first published in 887, and named after the former. </p> | | == [[ Cyclopedia]] of Biblical, [[ Theological]] and [[ Ecclesiastical]] Literature == <p> or law books. The large [[ Justinian]] compilation of [[ Roman]] law (the so-called [[ Corpus]] Juris Civilis), because of its being written in Latin, could not satisfy the wants in the East, a [[ Greek]] translation being needed. In order to avoid all ambiguity, the emperor [[ Basilius]] Macedo undertook the publication of a manual (Πρόχειρος νόμος ) in the year 878 (published by Zacharia, Heidelberg, 1837), whlich was revised in 885 (Ε᾿παναγωγὴ τοῦ νόμου ). Besides, he undertook Ἀνακάθαρσις τῶν παλαιῶν νόμων (re-epurgatio veteruna legum) in sixty (comp. Πρόχειρος, § 3) or forty (Ε᾿παναγωγή, § 1) books, which again were revised by the emperor [[ Leo]] the [[ Wise]] in 886, and which received the title Basilica: ὁ βασιλικός (νόμος ) or τὰ βασιλικά (νόμιμα ), consisting of sixty books. It was edited, in connection with others, by Symbatius or Sabbatius. Of a later revision under [[ Constantine]] Porphyrogenitus, we read in Balsamon, Voelli ef Justelli [[ Bibliotheca]] Juris Canonis, ii, 814, but this statement is without any foundation. The [[ Basilica]] are a Greek elaboration of Justinian's compilation, put together from older translations and commentaries, extracts from Justinian's Novelle, promulgated after 535, and from the Πρόχειρος of Basilius. [[ Fragments]] of old versions and elucidations were added as scholia from the beginning, to which others were added, till finally a kind of glossa ordinaria was formed, which was also published by the editors. The manuscripts of the Basilica are all incomplete, and so also the editions. [[Single]] books were edited in a [[Latin]] translation by Gentianus Hervetus ( Paris, 1557), Cuj!acius (1566), Labbaeus (1569). The Greek text, with a Latin translation and scholia, was first published by Fabrot (Paris, 1647, 7 vols. fol.). To these were added supplements by Ruhnken (Reitz, a. o. ). The latest edition is, Basilicorum Libri LX post A. Fabroti curas ope codd. MSS. a Gust. Ern. Heimbachio aliisqve Collatorun Integriores cu Scholiis edidit, editos denuo recensuit, deperditos restituit, translationem Latinam ct adnotationem criticam adjecit Carol. Gull. Ern. Heimbach. (Lipsiae, 1833-48, 5 vols. ): — Supplementum Editionis Basilicorum Heime bachiance Libri XV-XVIII Basilicorum edidit Carol. Ed. Zacharia a Lingenthal (ibid. 1846). On the history of the Basilica and their importance for ecclesiastical lanw, see Zacharia, Historice Juris Greco - Romani Delineatio ( Heidelberg, 1839), p. 35 sq. ; Mortreuil, Histoire du [[ Droit]] Byzantin ( Paris, 1843-1846), ii, 1 sq. ; 3, 230 sq.; Biener, [[ De]] Collectionibus Canoznum Ecclesice Grcecce ( Berolini, 1827), § 5; Mejer, in Herzog's Real-Encyklop. s. v. (B. P.) </p> == The Nuttall [[Encyclopedia]] == <p> A spacious hall, twice as long as broad, for public business and the administration of justice, originally open to the sky, but eventually covered in, and with the judge's bench at the end opposite the entrance, in a circular apse added to it. They were first erected by the Romans, 180 B. C.; afterwards, on the adoption of Christianity, they were converted into churches, the altar being in the apse. </p> |
