| At the far end of every ancient pagan basilica there was an elevated area called the bema. |
| Nothing to date has been found in them to indicate ritual space, such as the bema of the Byzantine-period synagogues. |
| His first attempt to speak in public proved a failure, and he retired from the bema amidst the hootings and laughter of the citizens. |
| The bema also appears in synagogues, and from it the Pentateuch and Torah are read. |
| To accommodate the people and to enjoy the repose of midday, Roman governors, Suetonius tells us, mounted the bema at sunrise. |
| Still it rejoiced him to hear the noble truths of democracy delivered as it were from the bema. |
