9 th 8. III. JAN. 7, '99.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
11
THE CHURCH (?) AT SILCHESTER.
(9 th S. ii. 101, 158, 277, 429.)
made an altar in the apse, and have cut and
framed with odd bits of marble a " piscina "
in the wall at the left-hand side of it. The
MR. ST. JOHN HOPE commences his reply formerly beautiful stucco panels of the apse,
on this subject with argument regarding the some stl11 adhering to its vault, belong to
size of the building, and in doing so he the earl y Augustan period; and the entire
states that the courts of justice were already chamber is constructed of "opus incertura/'of
provided for in a basilica 270 feet long, hard which ifc forms a good example. The Augus-
by this so-called British church, which in tan mosaic floors of the chambers above it
length was itself but 42 feet; both being stl11 m P art remain, together with walls
situated, as previously remarked, in the most which have been restored or rebuilt in the
significant part of this large walled town of later " P US reticulatum." Here, therefore, we
Calleva. He then asks, pertinently enough, have an exceedingly interesting structure
"Why should so small a building be wanted a once lovely room, probably a "triclinium"
for another court of justice? " of a small Roman villa, observing the basilican
Now among such a number of apsidal form a trin<e smaller in its ground plan than buildings in the most central insulse of the MR - HOPE'S church(?)at Silchester, belonging city (MR. HOPE mentions four), it becomes to tn? a S e of the nr st emperor, and before lacking inscriptions, &c.) extremely difficult t he birfch of Christianity. It probably opened to determine with any approach to exactitude i nto a small court.
what each particular one actually was. Con- So that already in (say) the year A.D. 1 the jecture alone is our guide. But the ground basilican type had been adapted for other plan is at least sufficiently clear to determine tnan basilican uses. Now between this for us the length, breadth, and partly the period and the third and fourth centuries of design of each edifice; and this tiny buildin- our era this type had become adapted for certainly possessed the basilican form. ' various other uses; and the reason is not far
Here it becomes necessary to say a word or to s? e ^- Ik was found to be the most con- two about the "evolution" of this basilican venient form for accommodating a large form at the hands of the Komans, the more attendance of persons, whether for legal or especially as MR. HOPE asks if I can refer "to religious purposes or for civic entertain- any examples of similar plan and so small a merits. One cannot always with perfect safety size," fully aware, I should imagine him to be argue from the centre to the circumference how very difficult it would be for me to do so! in matters architectural, though perhaps one For does it not follow that the later were the ought to be able so to do. In this case, how- buildings the more flimsy their construction, eve r, evidence enables one to do so. Even and the smaller their size the easier their * n remote Britain, the western end of the demolition? The earliest, of course, have all Roman world, the basilican type was used for perished. other purposes than lawcourts and temples.
The apsidal basilica, like most other build- We everi near of one built afc Netherby, ings, developed size according to the in- A - D - 235 > 3 ust ai>fcer the l ' ei g n * Alexander creasing necessities of business. We do not Severus (who, by the way, had favoured the know the measurements of the early basilicse Christians), as a riding school : " Basilicam " Sempronia," " Fulvia," " Portia," &c. we equestrem exercitatoriam jampridem a solo only have records of some of their successive cceptam sedificavit."
restorations and enlargements. Possibly the Now the main object of a basilican public very largest size ever attained was that of building being that of accommodation, this the so-called " Constantinian " Basilica, re- basilican building at Silchester will have ferred to in my last; and about this a little been presumably no exception to this prin- more presently. But MR. HOPE shows that ciple. As, however, this building was Calleva had a still larger one! situated in the immediate neighbourhood of
In miniature, however, the form was to be the forum and of the tribunals of justice, it seen even in private Roman houses so early as must have been intended to subserve a very the Augustan period. There is one perfect ex- distinct civic or religious purpose; it may ample within twenty miles of me as I write, have been a sort of " secretarium senatus," which has been used as a (perhaps subter- a municipal residence of some kind, a little ranean) church, probably in the earlier guild-hall, a " schola," or a military tribunal, Christian periods. It measures 34 feet or possibly a pagan temple dedicated to some m length; it has originally had rows of popular deity.
columns forming diminutive aisles. The If, however, it was a pagan temple, there is Christian occupiers have, at a later date, some reason for its small size. There were
