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
Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way in the Rocky Mountains" that was part of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Issue, and reprinted a century later. A Currier and Ives print from 1868 uses the same title and theme for a very different print, showing a railroad crossing a new settlement as the train goes west. A and a stereograph by Alexander Gardner, both of an 1867 end-of-track frontier construction train, were titled "Westward The Course of Empire Takes Its Way". David Foster Wallace named one of his short stories "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way" in his 1989 collection "Girl with Curious Hair". Early revisions of