heon]

Other circular temples of Roman origin, but on a much smaller scale than
the Pantheon, are the Temple of Vesta and that in the Forum Boarium,
Rome, the latter much injured and spoiled by a modern roof quite out of
character with it; the one at Tivoli near the capital, known as that of
the Sybils, still beautiful in spite of the loss of much of its
entablature and many of its columns; the Temple of Jupiter at Spalato
with a domed roof upheld by columns; and that at Baalbec, which has the
distinctive feature of a curved instead of a perfectly flat entablature.

A very special interest attaches to the Roman basilica on account of its
having so long been supposed to have been the type on which the earliest
Christian churches were built. Basilicas were used as courts of justice
and exchanges, more rarely as market-places, and the most ancient are
said to have been merely square spaces, enclosed within rows of columns
open to the air, that were however soon succeeded by walled buildings
roofed with timber or with vaults of concrete supported on massive piers
of stone. In them a raised semicircular space at the eastern end was
divided off by columns known as cancelli for the use of the magistrate
and his lectors, and between it and the main body of the hall, which
was divided by columns into a nave and aisles, rose the altar on which
sacrifice was offered up before any business of importance was entered
upon.

A good example of an early Roman basilica is that called the Ulpian in
the Forum of Trajan, Rome, dating from A.D. 98, which is said to have
had a flat roof and double aisles, the latter surmounted by galleries,
whilst that of Maxentius and Constantine, the ruins of which are known
as the Temple of Peace, also in the capital, of considerably later date,
A.D. 312, had a groined central roof and barrel-vaulted side aisles.

[Illustration: Roman Doric Column and Entablature]

[Illustration: Roman Ionic Column and Entablature]

[Illustration: Roman Corinthian Column and Entablature]

It was in their Thermae or Baths rather than in their Temples and
Basilicas that the Roman architects achieved their greatest triumphs.
These were vast complex structures fitted up with every conceivable
luxury for the use of bathers, with a large hall artificially heated and
known as the tepidarium, open colonnaded courts, and many subsidiary
buildings including gymnasia, debating rooms, &c. They combined simple
grandeur of struct