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 (fl. 448-458), a bishop who shifted sides continually in 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 Nicaea, 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).

The name basilica, βασιλική (sc. στοά or αυλή}, “a royal portico,” or “hall,” is evidence of a Greek origin. The portico at Athens in which the second archon, άρχων βασιλιάς, sat to adjudicate on matters touching religion, and in which the council of Areopagus sometimes met, was known as the στοά ∕3ασtλειos or βασιλική (Pausan., i. 3, § 1; Demosth,, Aristoglt., 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 basilicae 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 tura basilicae erant” (xxvi. 27). The earliest named is that erected by Μ. 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 basilicae are recorded to have existed within the walls of Rome, erected at different periods, and bearing the names of their founders, e.g.— Aemilia, 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. Subsequently, 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, ornamented with lacunaria. Some basilicas (e.g. that of Maxentius or “the Temple of Peace ”1 were vaulted.

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 Aemilian 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 ow n basilica at Fanum, and in that at Pompeii, instead of a double there w as 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 (parastatoe) 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 praetor’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.

The plans of Trajan’s basilica usually give this arrangement. The fragment of the ground-plan in the marble tablets preserved in the Capitol, usually called that of the Aemilian. but really, as Canina has shown, that of the Ulpian basilica, also shows an apse, designated (Atrium) Libertatis. This, we know from many ancient authorities, was the locality for the manumission of slaves; and, therefore, the tribunal 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 that it was 174 feet in breadth, and more than twice as 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. 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 Grceca and Latina (Sidon. Apollinaris, Epigr., ix. 1G).

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. Columns 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 Otricoh (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 Trêves. 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, basilicae 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 Caesars 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 praetor’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 of prayers for the emperor’s preservation” (Grat. Actio pro 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 liecognitions 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 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 tho epistle was square or oblong.

The exterior of the basilicas was usually of a repulsive plainness. The vast brick walls were unrelieved by ornament, 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 Coeli). 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.

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

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 Aemilia. 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 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 doore, covered with scriptural reliefs, had beenbrought from Constantinople.

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 w hich are very remarkable mosaic pictures of...

The exposition given by Hippolytus is widely different. According to the account he gives, Basilides started neither with a dualism of God and matter or evil, nor with a theory of emanation. His first principle was God, the unknown, incomprehensible, unspeakable, non-existent one, of whom nothing can be predicated, for no words are adequate to express His essence. This non-existent God, by the exercise of what may be called volition, created the πανσπερμία, or seed, which contained in itself the germs of all things. In this chaotic mass, which strongly resembles the ομοιομερή of Anaxagoras, there is a mixture of elements,— σύγχισις αρχική, — and at the same time are embedded in it three degrees or kinds of divine sonship, consubstantial with the Deity. The first kind is refined and pure, the second gross, the third requiring purification. As all things naturally tend towards God, the first sonship ascended and sat beside the Father. The second also strove to ascend by means of the Spirit, which is to him as a wing, but he could not rise quite to the Deity, and occupied an inferior position, while the wing or spirit formed the firmament. The third sonship still remained immersed in matter. Then from the world seed there burst forth the great apχωv, or ruler, who ascended as far as the firmament, and, imagining that there was nothing beyond, glorified himself as the brightest and strongest of all beings. This ruler, who is sometimes called Abraxas, but whose true name is ineffable, produced a son wiser and better than himself, by whose aid he laid the foundations of the world. The seat of their rule is called the Ogdoad, and it extends through all the ethereal region down to the moon’s sphere, where the grosser air begins. This lower dominion is ruled by a second and inferior aρχωv, the God of the Jews, who also had produced a son; and their seat is called the Hebdomad. Meanwhile, the third sonship, which is truly the spiritual element in the elect, is tied to matter, and is in need of deliverance. Freedom is given by the truth, i.e., by a knowledge of the true system of things, and it is given by a series of illuminations. First the mind of the son of the Great Archon is enlightened, and he instructs his father, who learns with fear and repentance that there is a sphere of being higher than his own. The light then passes to the son of the Archon of the Hebdomad, who likewise instructs his father. Finally, the mind of Jesus is illuminated, and he instructs those of mankind who are able to receive the truth. There are thus three great stages in the world’s religious history, each being an advance on its predecessor. These periods are the Ante-Jewish, the Jewish, and the Christian. All the souls capable of receiving the light ascend upwards, while their bodies return to the primeval chaos; the minds of all others are shrouded in eternal night, the darkness of ignorance. For the relation of Basilides to other Gnostics, and for the interpretation of his intensely symbolic expressions, see Gnostics.

The earlier accounts of Basilides, such as those of Neander, Baur (in the Christliche Gnosis'), and Matter, were based for the most part on Irenaeus. The discovery of the Philosophoumena threw unexpected light on the subject, and the later expositions generally follow Hippolytus as the exponent of the original system of Basilides. Hilgenfeld still retains the older view. Full information is to be found in Baur, Kirchengeschichte, i.; L·ipsius, Gnostidsmτιs; Uhlhorn, Das Basilideanische System; Mansel, Gnostic Heresies.