Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Absis

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

ABSIS or APSIS. The semicircular termination of any rectangular chamber, forming what is commonly termed in English "an alcove." (Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 8.) A form of this kind was commonly employed in courts of justice (basilicae) in order to make a convenient place for the judges' seats; and sometimes in temples to form a recess for the statue of the deity to whom the edifice was consecrated; as in the illustration (Absis/1.1), which shows the absis, as it now remains, of the temple of Rome and Venus, built by the Emperor Hadrian. Compare also the illustration to ADYTUM, where the ground-plan of a similar member is seen.

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  Absis/1.1