The Basilica Aemilia ( it, Basilica Emilia, links=no) was a civil

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

in the

Roman Forum The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient ...

, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy. Today only the plan and some rebuilt elements can be seen. The Basilica was 100 meters (328 ft) long and about 30 meters (98 ft) wide. Along the sides were two orders of 16 arches, and it was accessed through one of three entrances.

History

Pre-existing building

The new basilica was built on a site of the 5th-century BC ''tabernae lanienae'' ("butcher shops") and later (4th century BC) the ''tabernae argentariae''. The latter housed the city's bankers, and after a fire was renamed ''tabernae novae'' ("new shops"). The square had two facing rows of shops. A first basilica had been built behind the ''tabernae argentariae'' between 210 BC and 195-191 BC, the date in which it is mentioned by

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

. Archaeological studies have shown that this building comprised three naves paved with

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

from Monteverde, the back façade having a portico which opened to the ''Forum Piscatorium'' and the ''

Macellum A macellum (plural: ''macella''; ''makellon'') is an ancient Roman indoor market building that sold mostly provisions (especially meat and fish). The building normally sat alongside the forum and basilica, providing a place in which a market cou ...

'' (the area later occupied by the

Forum of Nerva Forum of Nerva ( it, Foro di Nerva; la, Forum Nervae) is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy, chronologically the next to the last of the Imperial fora built. Forum of Nerva (Forum Transitorium) The Imperial fora within the city of Rome have, ...

The Basilica Fulvia-Aemilia

It was erected in 179 BC by censor

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior Marcus Fulvius Nobilior was a Roman general. He started his political career as curule aedile in 195 BC. When he was praetor (193 BC) he served with distinction in Spain, and as consul in 189 BC he completely broke the power of the Aetolian Leag ...

with the name of

Basilica Fulvia The Basilica Fulvia was a basilica built in ancient Rome. According to Livy (40.51), the censors M. Aemilius Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior (after whom it was named) had it built in 179 BC. It may be that there had been a previous building e ...

. After the latter's death, his colleague Marcus Aemilius Lepidus completed it, and it was frequently restored and redecorated by the members of the Aemilian gens, giving the basilica its current name. The 78 BC consul, also called Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, embellished it with the ''clipei'' ("shields"). This intervention is recalled in a coin from 61 BC by his son, the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. According to other scholars, however, the ''Basilica Aemilia'' formed a different edifice from the ''Basilica Fulvia''. In the year 50BCE, Julius Caesar "...gave the consul Paulus fifteen hundred talents with which he added to the beauty of the forum by building the famous Basilica which was erected in the place of the one called "the Fulvia".

The Basilica Paulli

A new edifice in substitution of the ''Basilica Fulvia'' was begun in 55 BC by

Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus Lucius Aemilius Paullus (flourished 1st century BC) was a Roman politician. He was the brother of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and son to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the consul of 78 BC. His mother may have been a daughter of Lucius Appuleius S ...

, and inaugurated by his son in 34 BC. This edifice had similar lines to the preceding one; however with a reduced length and a second nave in lieu of the back portico. The columns in the central nave, in African

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, had

Corinthian capital The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

s and friezes with deeds from the history of

Republican Rome The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman King ...

. The columns in the second row were in cipolline marble and, finally, the external ones had Ionic capitals. After a fire,

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

in 14 BC heavily restored the edifice. In this occasion the ''tabernae'' which preceded it towards the Forum square and the portico were totally rebuilt. The latter was dedicated to the emperor's two grandsons (''Porticus Gai et Luci''): it had two orders of arcades with pilasters and Doric semi-columns. The two upper floors of the basilica were totally rebuilt. Over the upper order an

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

was built, decorated with vegetable elements and statues of barbarians. The basilica was restored again in 22 AD. On its two-hundredth anniversary, the Basilica Aemilia was considered by

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

to be one of the most beautiful buildings in Rome. It was a place for business and, in the porticus of

Gaius Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People *Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist *Gaius Acilius *Gaius Antonius *Gaius Antonius Hybrida *Gaius Asinius Gallus *Gaius Asinius Pol ...

and

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

(the grandsons of Augustus) fronting the

, there were the Tabernae Novae (''New Shops''). The main hall or court (100 m long and 29.9 m deep) was located behind the shops. The wooden roof, the Tabernae as well as the facade of the basilica were completely destroyed by fire when Rome was sacked by Alaric the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

in 410 AD. On the colored marble floor one still can see the green stains of bronze coins from the early fifth century that melted in the fire. The basilica was rebuilt after the fire by adding a new floor while the central part of the front porch was replaced by a portico in c.420 with columns of pink granite on bases, much more dense than the pillars of the porch above (three of these columns were rebuilt after the excavations and are still on the east side toward the temple of Antoninus and Faustina). An earthquake in 847 caused the final collapse of the remaining structure. The remains were used as building material. Conspicuous remains of the basilica could still be seen in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, they were however used for the

Palazzo Giraud Torlonia __NOTOC__ Palazzo Torlonia (also known as the Palazzo Giraud, Giraud-Torlonia or Castellesi) is a 16th-century Renaissance town house in Via della Conciliazione, Rome, Italy. Built for Cardinal Adriano Castellesi da Corneto from 1496, the archit ...

Gallery

File:Disegno1480GiulianoDaSangalloBasilicaEmiliaRoma.jpg, Drawing of the remains of the Basilica Aemilia, at the Roman Forum, by Giuliano da Sangallo, 1480. File:DisegnoMonetaBasilicaEmiliaRoma.gif, Image of the façade of the Basilica Aemilia, on a Roman coin minted by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 61 BC

References

External links

{{Roman Forum Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century BC Aemilia Roman Forum Rome R. X Campitelli