Editing Basilica (section)

=== Palace basilicas ===
[[File:Transeptarm.PNG|thumb|Floor plan of a Christian church of basilical form, with part of the [[transept]] shaded. Either the part of the nave lying to the west in the diagram or the choir may have a hall structure instead. The choir also may be aisleless.]]

In the [[Roman imperial period|Roman Imperial period]] (after about 27 BC), a basilica for large audiences also became a feature in palaces. In the 3rd century of the Christian era, the governing elite appeared less frequently in the forums.

<blockquote>They now tended to dominate their cities from opulent palaces and country villas, set a little apart from traditional centers of public life. Rather than retreats from public life, however, these residences were the forum made private.
:— Peter Brown, in Paul Veyne, 1987</blockquote>

Seated in the [[tribune (architecture)|tribune]] of his basilica, the great man would meet his dependent ''[[Patronage in ancient Rome|clientes]]'' early every morning.

[[Constantine the Great|Constantine]]'s basilica at [[Trier]], the [[Aula Palatina]] (AD 306), is still standing. A private basilica excavated at [[Bulla Regia]] (Tunisia), in the "House of the Hunt", dates from the first half of the 5th century. Its reception or audience hall is a long rectangular nave-like space, flanked by dependent rooms that mostly also open into one another, ending in a semi-circular apse, with matching [[transept]] spaces. Clustered columns emphasised the "crossing" of the two axes.