The Basilica Porcia was the first 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 nam ...

built in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

. It was built by order of Marcus Porcius Cato in 184 BC as censor and is named after him. He built it as a space for administering laws and for merchants to meet, against some opposition. It stood to the west of the Curia, on land bought by Cato and previously occupied by shops and private houses. Many trials were held inside the basilica. It was destroyed by fire after the body of Publius Clodius Pulcher was alit on a pyre in the adjoining senate house in 52 BC. The ruins were probably flattened later that year to build a new building on the site.

Bibliography

*Filippo Coarelli, ''Guida archeologica di Roma'', Verona, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1984. Roman Forum Porcia 180s BC establishments 2nd-century BC establishments in Italy 2nd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic {{ancientRome-struct-stub