Basilica Alexandrina

The Basilica Alexandrina was a building project that is said to have been started by Alexander Severus in Rome , but was probably never carried out.

According to the Historia Augusta , Alexander Severus had the basilica built between the Field of Mars and the Saepta of Agrippa , but did not see its completion. The basilica is said to have been 100 Roman feet wide and 1,000 feet long, i.e. around 30 × 300 meters. The whole building is said to have rested on pillars .

The corresponding area between Marsfeld east of Via del Corso and Saepta was completely built up at the time of Alexander Severus, so that there could hardly have been space for such a building project. Therefore, the building is probably an invention of the author of the Historia Augusta or its source.

source

• Historia Augusta, Alexander Severus 26.7

literature

• Christian Hülsen : Alexandrina basilica . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, column 1398.
• Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 72 ( online ).
• Lawrence Richardson Jr .: Basilica Alexandrina. In: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, ISBN 0-80184-300-6 , p. 50.