List of Roman basilicas

Last updated

A basilica in ancient Rome was a large public building where business or legal matters could be transacted. [1]

Contents

Origins

In ancient Italy, basilicas began as large, covered buildings near city centers, adjacent to the forum, often at the opposite end from a temple. The building's form gradually came to be rectangular, covered with a post-and-lintel roof over an open hall flanked by columns and aisles extending from one end to the other, with entrances on the long sides, one of which would often be the side facing the forum. As such buildings came be used for judicial purposes, a semicircular apse would be built at one end, to give a place for the magistrate. [1] [2]

Traditional civic basilicas and bouleuteria declined in use with the weakening of the curial class (Latin: curiales) in the 4th and 5th centuries, while their structures were well suited to the requirements of congregational religious liturgies. [3] The conversion of these types of buildings into Christian basilicas was also of symbolic significance, asserting the dominance of Christianity and supplanting the old political function of public space and the city-centre with an emphatically Christian social statement. [3]

Basilicas

Built in 184 BC by Cato the Elder, during his censorship, its remains were found in the north corner of the Roman Forum, between the Curia and the Atrium Libertatis (the headquarters of the censors). [4] The remains show signs of reconstruction dating back to the age of Sulla. The basilica became the centre of intense economic activity and its architectural form recalled the "Egyptian Hall".
Built on the northeastern side of the Roman Forum, behind the tabernae veteres [5] by censor Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 170 BC.
Founded in 121 BC on the north corner of the Roman Forum [6] by consul Lucius Opimius, who also financed the reconstruction of the adjoining Temple of Concord. It was probably destroyed during the renovation of the temple under Tiberius.
Also known as Fulvia–Aemilia, it was built on the northeast side of the Roman Forum, behind the tabernae novae argentariae, by the censors in the year 179 BC, probably replacing a former basilica cited by Plautus. It was replaced in mid-1st century BC by the Basilica Aemilia.
Basilica Aemilia, or Basilica Paulli, was situated on the northeastern side of the Roman Forum. [7] It replaced the Basilica Fulvia or Fulvia–Aemilia behind the tabernae novae argentariae between 55 and 34 BC. It underwent various restorations until the 5th century.
Built on the southwestern side of the Roman Forum, [8] starting in 55 BC, it replaced the Basilica Sempronia and the tabernae veteres. It was inaugurated in 46 BC, but was damaged by fire in 12 BC. Having been restored and dedicated to the grandchildren of Augustus, Gaius and Lucius Caesar in 12 AD (Basilica Gai et Luci), it was destroyed by fire in 283, and once again restored by Diocletian.
Mentioned in late sources, it has been identified by the two-aisled portico on pillars located on the left side of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar [9] and was pertinent to the renovation of the complex under Trajan.
This basilica closed Trajan's Forum on its northwestern side. [10]
Also known as the Basilica Constantini or Basilica Nova, its construction began under Maxentius around 305 AD on the slopes of the Velian Hill towards the Roman Forum [11] and ended under Consantine I. Probably in the 4th century, it was integrated with a porticoed entrance towards the Via Sacra and an apse in the central niche of the opposite wall.

Private basilicas

Villa Celimontana, remains of the Basilica Hilariana: detail of a dolmen and a sacral memorial stone. In the background, the Arcus Neroniani. Villa Celimontana 872.jpg
Villa Celimontana, remains of the Basilica Hilariana: detail of a dolmen and a sacral memorial stone. In the background, the Arcus Neroniani.
Built by Junius Bassus, consul in 331 AD, it is located on the Esquiline Hill [12] and consists of a room richly decorated with opus sectile . It was converted into a church by Pope Simplicius (468-483).
This is a small basilica on the Caelian Hill, [13] it is now situated under a modern military hospital  [ it ]. It was built in the mid-2nd century at the behest of the margaritarius (pearl merchant) Manius Publicius Ilarius [14] and was intended for the college of the dendrophores, a religious congregation linked to the cult of Magna Mater and Attis, [15] in which Ilarius had the role of quinquennalis perpetuus. [16] The complex, modified in the 3rd century, was abandoned in the 7th, maybe following an earthquake in 618 AD. It was partially underground: twelve steps outlined with marble led to a vestibule with black and white mosaics, depicting an eye struck by a spear with a ring of birds and animals around it; a threshold depicting the footprint of two feet, one entering and one leaving, led to a room with a basin and the base of a statue dedicated to Ilarius. [17]

Mentioned in sources

Remembered in a burial inscription, it was probably a building dedicated by Antonia major and Antonia minor, the two daughters of Octavia, sister of Augustus, and by Mark Antony. A possible location has been proposed in the Forum of Augustus.
It is remembered by Vitruvius as a long and narrow building, with vestibules (chalcidica) on the short sides. Its location is unknown: it could have been the name of the Basilica Julia at the time of Caesar.
It is probably identifiable with the arcades that flanked the temple dedicated to Matidia in the Campus Martius. [18]
It is identified with the brick hall whose remains are preserved behind the Pantheon, [19] dating back to the era of Hadrian. [19] The hall, connected to the Baths of Agrippa, had a cross vaulted roof; and the walls were articulated by columns with a frieze depicting dolphins, with a rich marble covering. It was supposedly used for business negotiations.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Basilica | architecture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Kostof, Spiro (1985). A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 203. ISBN   0-19-503472-4.
  3. 1 2 Talloen, Peter (2019), Caraher, William R.; Davis, Thomas W.; Pettegrew, David K. (eds.), "Asia Minor", The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, Oxford University Press, pp. 494–513, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199369041.013.24, ISBN   978-0-19-936904-1
  4. ↑ 41°53′35.95″N12°29′5.35″E / 41.8933194°N 12.4848194°E
  5. ↑ 41°53′30.99″N12°29′5.02″E / 41.8919417°N 12.4847278°E
  6. ↑ 41°53′34.95″N12°29′3.51″E / 41.8930417°N 12.4843083°E
  7. ↑ 41°53′33″N12°29′10″E / 41.892554°N 12.48623°E
  8. ↑ 41°53′31″N12°29′06″E / 41.891979°N 12.484884°E
  9. ↑ 41°53′38.74″N12°29′3.88″E / 41.8940944°N 12.4844111°E
  10. ↑ 41°53′44″N12°29′4.46″E / 41.89556°N 12.4845722°E
  11. ↑ 41°53′30″N12°29′18″E / 41.891775°N 12.488446°E
  12. ↑ 41°53′51.73″N12°30′0.50″E / 41.8977028°N 12.5001389°E
  13. ↑ 41°53′8.92″N12°29′48.89″E / 41.8858111°N 12.4969139°E
  14. ↑ CIL VI, 641; CIL VI, 30973.
  15. ↑ Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Oxford: 1929, p. 80.
  16. ↑ Filippo Coarelli, «I monumenti dei culti orientali in Roma», in La soteriologia dei culti orientali nell'Impero romano, Brill Archive, 1982, ISBN   9789004065017, p. 34.
  17. ↑ «Basilica Hilariana», in Lawrence Richardson, Jr., A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, JHU Press, 1992, ISBN   9780801843006, p. 52.
  18. ↑ On the (re)discovery of the temple of Matidia, see qui and, for its meaning Alberto Giudice, Roma in età adrianea: l'immagine dell'ideologia politica nella ricostruzione architettonica pages 228-229 and passim.
  19. 1 2 41°53′53.51″N12°28′36.71″E / 41.8981972°N 12.4768639°E

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica</span> Type of building in classical and church architecture

In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica was a large public building with multiple functions that was 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 to the basilica architectural form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Forum</span> Ancient Roman centre of Rome, Italy

The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the centre of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esquiline Hill</span> One of the seven hills of Rome, Italy

The Esquiline Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the Oppius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caelian Hill</span> One of the seven hills of Rome, Italy

The Caelian Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica Julia</span> Building in Roman Forum, Italy

The Basilica Julia was a structure that once stood in the Roman Forum. It was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the Roman Empire. Its ruins have been excavated. What is left from its classical period are mostly foundations, floors, a small back corner wall with a few arches that are part of both the original building and later imperial reconstructions and a single column from its first building phase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica Aemilia</span> Building in Roman Forum, Italy

The Basilica Aemilia was a civil basilica in the Roman Forum, in Rome, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plutei of Trajan</span> Ancient Roman carvings

The Plutei of Trajan are carved stone balustrades built for the Roman emperor Trajan. They are on display inside the Curia Julia in the Roman Forum today, but are not part of the original structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baelo Claudia</span> Ancient Roman town in Hispania

Baelo Claudia was an ancient Roman town in Hispania, located 22 kilometres (14 mi) outside of Tarifa, near the village of Bolonia, in southern Spain. On the shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, the town was originally a fishing village and trade link when it was settled approximately 2,000 years ago. Although prosperous at the time of Emperor Claudius, it went into a decline partially fueled by earthquakes and was abandoned by the 6th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica of Maxentius</span> Ancient building in the Roman Forum, Rome

The Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, sometimes known as the Basilica Nova—meaning "new basilica"—or Basilica of Maxentius, is an ancient building in the Roman Forum, Rome, Italy. It was the largest building in the Forum, and the last Roman basilica built in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrine of Venus Cloacina</span> Shrine of Venus of the Sewer

The Shrine of Venus Cloacina was a small sanctuary on the Roman Forum, honoring the divinity of the Cloaca Maxima, the "Great Drain" or sewer of Rome. Cloacina, the Etruscan goddess associated with the entrance to the sewer system, was later identified with the Roman goddess Venus for unknown reasons, according to Pliny the Elder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feronia (Etruria)</span> Ancient city in Etruria

Feronia or Lucus Feroniae was an ancient Roman municipium border the present Via Tiberina and Autostrada A1, current Comune of Capena near the present town of Fiano Romano. It is located in the plain along the Tiber Valley, at the foot of Mount Soracte, and was within the ancient territory of Capena. It began as a sanctuary called Lucus Feroniae in the time of Tullus Hostilius when it was located in Etruria.

The Basilica Fulvia was a basilica built in ancient Rome. According to Livy (40.51), the censors M. Aemilius Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior had it built in 179 BC. It may be that there had been a previous building existing on the site from 210 BC which was incorporated. In 78 BC, the consul M. Aemilius Lepidus incorporated the building into the Basilica Aemilia, and it was renamed the Basilica Fulvia et Aemilia or sometimes simply the Basilica.

<i>Macellum</i>

A macellum is an ancient Roman indoor market building that sold mostly provisions. The building normally sat alongside the forum and basilica, providing a place in which a market could be held. Each macellum sold different kinds of produce, depending on local availability, but it was not uncommon to import these comestibles, especially at ports like Pompeii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santi Cosma e Damiano, Rome</span> Roman Catholic basilica, a landmark of Rome, Italy

The basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a titular church in Rome, Italy. It is the conventual church of the General Curia of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. The lower portion of the building is accessible through the Roman Forum and incorporates original Roman buildings, but the entrance to the upper level is outside the Forum facing the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica Sempronia</span>

The Basilica Sempronia was a structure in the Roman Forum during the Republican period. It was one of four basilicas to make up the original Roman Forum alongside the Basilica Porcia, Basilica Aemilia, and Basilica Opimia, and was the third built. Although excavations have revealed remains of the basilica as well as the structures that originally stood in its place, none of them are visible from the Roman Forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica Opimia</span>

The Basilica Opimia was one of four Republican-era basilicas in the Roman Forum. The other two were the Basilica Aemilia, the Basilica Porcia, and the Basilica Sempronia. Of the three, only the Basilica Aemilia partially survives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regio IV Templum Pacis</span> Historical region of Rome

The Regio IV Templum Pacis is the fourth regio of imperial Rome, under Augustus's administrative reform. Regio IV took its name from the Temple of Peace built in the region by the emperor Vespasian. It includes the valley between the Esquiline and the Viminal hills, the popular area of the Suburra, and the Velian Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil basilica</span> Large public building

In antiquity, a civil basilica was a grand public building with a semi-sacred significance, serving a variety of purposes. These structures were commonly used for court hearings, public assemblies, and, at times, for commercial activities such as shops and financial transactions.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.