Sempronia Basilica

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The Basilica Sempronia was an ancient basilica in the Roman Forum in Rome .

history

The Basilica Sempronia was built in 169 BC. Built as the third of the four basilicas from the time of the Roman Republic ( Basilica Porcia 184, Basilica Aemilia 179, Basilica Opimia 121 BC). It was Titus Livius According by the censor Tiberius Gracchus , who previously with public money, the terrain on which the house of Scipio Africanus had bought stood behind an existing row of shops (the so-called. Tabernae veteres built). Nothing more is known about the history of the building, but it must have been demolished when Gaius Julius Caesar was instigated in 54 BC. The construction of the much larger Basilica Iulia began.

The Roman Forum around 200 BC Chr.

location

The basilica stood on the southwest side of the Roman Forum between the confluence of the Vicus Tuscus and the Vicus Iugarius in the Via Sacra - that is, between the Temple of Dioscuri in the east and the Temple of Saturn in the west - thus providing a symmetrical balance to the Basilica Aemilia opposite with their tabernae bot.

Archaeological evidence

The archaeological findings allow little conclusions to be drawn about the appearance and size of the building; There are no remnants of the rising architecture. However, deep excavations under the eastern end of the central nave of the Basilica Iulia have shown foundations made of Capellaccio tuff and an impluvium that belong to a residential building from the Republican period, which could well be the house of Scipio Africanus mentioned by Livy. Two foundations running parallel above it in opus quadratum made of tuff blocks from Grotta Oscura with quarry markings are the only remains of the Basilica Sempronia. With a width of 1.80 m and a distance of 7.25 m, they suggest a portico with a clear width of 5.45 m. According to Vitruvius' recommendation for the construction of a basilica, the central nave could then have had a width of around 16 m. Furthermore, a total area of ​​1591 square meters and a length of 39.70 meters are assumed. The floor was made of travertine and was only 30 cm lower than the marble floor of the Basilica Iulia.

architecture

With the help of substructures, the superstructure towered high above the forum square on an artificial platform, while the Basilica Aemilia opposite is almost at ground level and thus lower. Since nothing is known about the rising architecture, the length of the building or the number and width of the ships, any reconstruction must remain hypothetical. Analogous to the better preserved republican basilicas outside of Rome, closed outer walls would be possible with a central room illuminated by windows in the roof lantern, around which a colonnade ran on four sides. An outer facade structured by columns or arches with an upper floor and a corridor running around the central nave would also be conceivable.

literature

  • Andrea Carandini; Paolo Carafa (ed.): The atlas of ancient Rome. Biography and portraits of the city, Vol. 1. Princeton; Oxford 2012/2017, p. 162
  • Gianfilippo Carettoni, Laura Fabbrini: Esplorazione sotto la Basilica Giulia al Foro Romano. In: Rendiconti dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Series 8, Volume 16, 1961, pp. 53-60.
  • Filippo Coarelli : Il Foro Romano. Periodo Repubblicano e Augusto. Rom 1985, pp. 138 ff., 154-155, 201.
  • Filippo Coarelli: Rome and Environs. An Archaeological Guide. University of California, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 2007, pp. 71, 73.
  • Irene Iacopi: Basilica Sempronia. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 1. Quasar, Rome 1993, pp. 187-188.
  • Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London 1929, p. 82 ( online ).
  • Annette Nünnerich-Asmus : basilica and portico. The architecture of the porticoed halls as an expression of changed urbanity in the late republic and early imperial times. Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1994, pp. 5-24, 202f.
  • Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, pp. 56-58 ( [1] online excerpt).
  • Bernhard Steinmann: Basilica Sempronia. In: Bernhard Steinmann, Robert Nawracala, Martin Boss (ed.): In the center of power. The Roman Forum in a model. JM Weyh, Kemnath 2011, pp. 93-95.
  • Leonid Iosifovich Taruashvili: Monimenta antiquae urbis Romae ad artes elegant pertinentia: Itinerarium Latine adumbratum. OO ²2008, p. 43 ( [2] (PDF; 3.3 MB) online).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Livy 44, 16, 10-11 .
  2. ^ Vitruvius, De architectura 5, 1, 4 .
  3. ^ Carandini, p. 162