Dion: Die severische Curia

Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, 2022

The authors of this paper reinvestigate the remains of the Basilica Sempronia, situated below the Imperial Basilica Julia in Rome. By combining the information from the original excavation with a new 3D digital documentation, new observations are made and previous interpretations reassessed. The present remains are discussed in relation to the contemporary built environment, as well as to preceding and following phases. It is argued that the Basilica Sempronia was an elongated hall with closed lateral walls and interior supports. It was erected on a podium that raised the building above the surrounding streets on all sides except the west. The Augustan renewal of the Basilica Julia entailed vast foundations works, which had a huge impact on the site. However, evidence of an intermediate phase indicates the existence of a building complex that merged the previous basilica with the Tabernae Veteres, partly preserving their original dimensions and orientations. This intermediate basili...

Anales de Arquelogía Cordobesa , 2010

Latomus, 2016

Questions of the History of World Architecture, 2019

In the current paper, an attempt is made to gather the data on the limited corpus of Roman (second half of the 1st century BC – 4th century AD) basilicas, known in the cities of Decapolis and Judaea-Palaestina. The comparative description is given; wherever available – together with information on relationship with the urban context. The basilicas of Kanata, Hippos-Susita, Nysa-Scythopolis (2 structures), Beth She'arim, Sebaste and Ascalon are described in detail; the preference of the "ambulatory" type is apparent. The 2nd-3rd centuries reconstructions with monumentalization of features, conventionally called "tribunals", were likely related to the imperial visits to the region and to the growing importance of the imperial cult. The basilica of the Jewish town of Beth She'arim differs from the rest with its nave and double-aisled plan and was possibly influenced by the Royal portico of the Jerusalem temple. The tendency not to reconstruct basilicas damaged by the 363 earthquake and the general tendency of obsolescence of this architectural form towards the Byzantine period is noted.

Questions of the History of World Architecture 13(2), 2019

In the current paper, an attempt is made to gather the data on the limited corpus of Roman (second half of the 1st century BC-4th century AD) basilicas, known in the cities of Decapolis and Judaea-Palaestina. The comparative description is given; wherever available-together with information on relationship with the urban context. The basilicas of Kanata, Hippos-Susita, Nysa-Scythopolis (2 structures), Beth She'arim, Sebaste and Ascalon are described in detail; the preference of the "ambulatory" type is apparent. The 2nd-3rd centuries reconstructions with monumentalization of features, conventionally called "tribunals", were likely related to the imperial visits to the region and to the growing importance of the imperial cult. The basilica of the Jewish town of Beth She'arim differs from the rest with its nave and double-aisled plan and was possibly influenced by the Royal portico of the Jerusalem temple. The tendency not to reconstruct basilicas damaged by the 363 earthquake and the general tendency of obsolescence of this architectural form towards the Byzantine period is noted.

2012

The Julian Basilica was one of the first buildings to be built in what came to be the forum of Roman Corinth. Rising nearly 18 m above the forum floor it provided a monumental façade to and demarcated its east end. It stood on a podium over 4 m high and apparently had Corinthian half columns superimposed over Corinthian pilasters/engaged columns. The interior had a nave of Ionic columns ca. 9 m high and along the east, north, and west walls a clerestorey framed by engaged Ionic columns and all superimposed upon engaged Doric columns. Along the south wall was a tribunal upon which stood an over life-size statue of the founder of the colony, Julius Caesar. As one would face the tribunal to the right was a statue of Augustus and to the left Tiberius. Along this same wall were statues of as many as five more members of the Julio-Claudian family and numerous inscriptions including one to the genius of Augustus. Opposite the tribunal on the north wall was an aediculum within which stood the statues of Gaius and Lucius, heirs of Augustus, and what may be a dedication to them and the colony. The only certain function for the basilica is that it was venue for the imperial cult and may well have been the primary cult site in Corinth. With at least ten statues of Julio-Claudian family members it is the largest concentration of imperial statues in Corinth. This function would seem to relate to the fact that the basic design scheme of the building is based upon Vitruvius’ basilica at Fano, a building which Vitruvius states was built in part as a temple for Augustus. As the first basilica built in Corinth, it likely had multiple uses. One of those uses would have been judicial. Once Corinth became the provincial capital of Achaia, the governor acting as judge would have shared the dias with the statue of Caesar. There is little explicit evidence of commercial activity from within the building but with our understanding of what types of transactions transpired in basilicas, i.e. negotiations rather than exchange or purchase of goods, this is understandable. There are, however, fragments of a mensa ponderaria and ca. half of a marble weight that were found within the basilica. Placing the standards for weights and measures here is consistent with the function of the adjoining Southeast Building, i.e. the tabularium. The steadily increasing presence of the imperial cult during the Julio-Claudian period within the Julian Basilica and perhaps the increasing use of it as a law court may at least in part explain the construction of the North Basilica which is now dated to the reign of Claudius. That is, by roughly the mid-First century C.E., there may have been need for a new center in the city for negotiationes. The Julian Basilica continued to hold the standards for weights and measures but the focus of commercial negotiations may have moved to the North Basilica.

2003