th it. Twin basilicas occur elsewhere in Istria, though they were not
always of the same date, as at Trieste, S. Michele in Monte, Pola, and
probably at Ossero, where the seven-naved basilica of which Mr. T.G.
Jackson gives the plan would be easily explained by the supposition.

The original east end was square. The semicircular apse within it is of
a later date, probably of the ninth century, of which period there are
other remains--viz. the beautiful slabs of the choir now in the south
transept, with the remains of the bases of the pillars of the screen
above. Two of the patterns are exactly like some at Muggia Vecchia;
others resemble ornamented pillars of the door of S. Ambrogio, Milan;
others are very like the fragments preserved at S. Maria in Valle,
Cividale; whilst a band of interlacings resembles one which occurs on an
Assyrian cylinder, not only in its forms, but in its irregularities. A
piece of antique fluted pilaster now does duty as a base. The ornament
on the steps of the throne is also of this period, probably executed
under either Paulinus ([Symbol: cross]802) or Maxentius ([Symbol:
cross]833) by Comacines, who probably went on to Rome to work in S.
Maria in Cosmedin. The Liber Pontificalis under Hadrian I. mentions the
"tres apsides in ea constituens" of that church as if they were
something new.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, AQUILEIA]

The cathedral was much damaged by the earthquake of 998, and Poppo began
to rebuild it after the Latcran Council of 1027 had declared the see of
Aquileia first in Italy after Rome, It was sufficiently finished in 1031
for it to be consecrated by him on the festival of the patron saint
(July 13), two Roman cardinal-bishops and twelve bishops being present,
as a later inscription states. Of this building the greater part
remains, though with considerable alterations and additions made in the
fourteenth century, after the earthquake of 1348, and in the fifteenth
century. The twenty columns of the nave arcade, some of which are
granite and some Istrian limestone, show by their different heights and
thickness that they came from other buildings. Some of them are in more
than one piece. The bases are Attic of different heights and are of
Poppo's time, as the caps appear to be also. Two similar caps are in the
churchyard; and one, hollowed out, is used as a holy-water basin. Some
of the same character were found at Monastero under another basilica.
The central nave