Basilica Aemilia (Basilica Pauli)

About

North side of the Forum, opposite the Basilica Julia; first built by the censors M. Aemilius Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior in 179 BCE, rebuilt after fires under Augustus (14 BCE) and again after a fire in 22 CE under Tiberius, with continuing Julio-Claudian era repairs. Pliny (NH 36.24) counted it among the most beautiful buildings in the world; standing in 117 CE (it was finally destroyed by the Visigothic sack of 410 CE).

What happened here

This is the town's indoor hall, and in winter it is where everyone goes. Court sits at one end on a raised platform, screened off with wooden partitions when the case is private. Around it, business goes on regardless — contracts witnessed, cargoes argued over, bankers at their tables, men sheltering from rain with nothing to do. The roof is carried on two storeys of columns, and the upper gallery is a good place to watch a trial without being counted as part of the crowd. Advocates are paid by reputation and perform accordingly; a good one draws an audience the way an actor does. Noise carries badly, which everyone complains about. Building one is the standard way for a rich citizen to be remembered.

In ancient writing

• Pliny the Elder, Natural History 36.102

  Ranks it among the three most beautiful buildings the world has ever seen, alongside the Forum of Augustus and the Temple of Peace.

Sources

• Pliny, Natural History 36.24
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Aemilia