What does "basilica" mean?

Basilica: (Arch.) (a) A building used by the Romans as a place of public meeting, with court rooms, etc., attached. (b) 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A digest of the laws of Justinian, translated from the original Latin into Greek, by order of Basil I., in the ninth century. P. Cyc.

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