The Basilica. Roman architecture exists in many forms, including domestic, religious, and civic works such as basilicas. Despite their long-lasting achievements as builders, it is generally recognized that nothing distinctively Roman survives before 200 B.C.E. The earliest known basilica was built around 184 B.C.E. by M. Porcius Cato, who dominated political and cultural life in Rome in the first half of the second century B.C.E. The basic design involved a long rectangular hall with the central part of the roof raised higher than for the peripheral aisles. Internal colonnades supported this central section, and often there was an apse at the end of the hall containing a raised platform for tribunes or magistrates to carry out their duties; at the front was usually a portico and shops. The basic design did not significantly change for centuries and...