The Pompeian god is more a sovereign; the Zeus of Otricoli is more poetic, more divine. CHAPTER IX _THE BASILICA_ The Basilica, at the southwest corner of the Forum, was the most magnificent and architecturally the most interesting building at Pompeii. Its construction and decoration point to the pre-Roman time; and there is also an inscription scratched on the stucco of the wall, dating from almost the beginning of the Roman colony: _C. Pumidius Dipilus heic fuit a. d. v. nonas Octobreis M. Lepid. Q. Catul. cos._,--'C. Pumidius Dipilus was here on the fifth day before the nones of October in the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus,' that is October 3, 78 B.C. The purpose of the building is clearly indicated not only by its plan and the details of its arrangement but also by the word _Bassilica_ scratched a number of times by idlers on the stucco of the outer wall at the right of the south entrance. This sure identification lends to the edifice a special significance; it is without doubt the oldest example that we have of an important architectural type whose origin is lost in obscurity, but of which the derivative forms may still be recognized in the architecture of to-day. What the temple developed by the Greeks was to pagan antiquity, that the basilica became to the Christian Church--a type dominating a system of religious architecture. Pagan worship was individual,--a narrow chamber sufficed for the image of the god and the requirements of religious service; but Christian worship was social, and its functions demanded a larger room, in which a congregation could be assembled. The religious architecture of the Church therefore broke with the religious architecture of pagan antiquity, and turned for its model to the basilica. Our knowledge of the history of the basilica begins with the erection of the Basilica Porcia in Rome by Cato the Elder, in 184 B.C.; other basilicas followed, and in Caesar's day a number stood about the Forum. Regarding its development prior to the time of Cato only conjectures can be offered. The name _basilica_ (_basilike stoa_, 'the royal hall') points to a Greek origin; we should naturally look for the prototype of the Roman as well as the Pompeian structure in the capitals of the Alexandrian period and in the Greek colonies of Italy. But no ruin, no reference in literature comes to our aid. The supposition that the King's Hall (_basileios stoa_) in Athens, the official residence of the King Archon, was the prototype of all basilicas, has little to support it; our information in regard to the form of this building is quite inadequate, and the name alone warrants no positive conclusion. It is more probable that both the name and the architectural type came from the 'royal hall' of one of the successors of Alexander.