Ancient Roman architecture could penetrate through the clerestory windows. The oldest known basilica, the Basilica Porcia, was built in Rome in 184 BC by Cato the Elder during the time he was Censor. Other early examples include the basilica at Pompeii (late 2nd century BC). After Christianity became the official religion, the basilica shape was found appropriate for the first large public churches, with the attraction of avoiding reminiscences of the Greco-Roman temple form. The Roman circus was a large open-air venue used for public events in the ancient Roman Empire. The circuses were similar to the ancient Greek hippodromes, although circuses served
Ancient Roman units of measurement mean solar day. Although the division of hours into minutes and seconds did not occur until the middle ages, ancient astrologers had a "minuta" equal to of a day (24 modern minutes), a "secunda" equal to of a day (24 modern seconds), and a "tertia" equal to of a day (0.4 modern seconds). Ancient Roman units of measurement were added to the Unicode Standard in April 2008 with the release of version 5.1. The Unicode block for ancient Roman units of measurement, called Ancient Symbols, is U+10190–U+101CF, i.e. in the upper plane: Ancient Roman units of measurement The ancient Roman