Basilica
About
Timgad's basilica closed the east side of the forum, raised alongside the curia in the first years of the 2nd century CE. Magistrates heard court cases from a raised tribunal set into its apsed end. A colonnaded hall ran the building's length, giving the veteran colony its formal seat of justice a bare generation after Trajan founded the city in 100 CE. It stood finished well before Timgad ever expanded past its original walls. Built as part of the founding forum complex alongside the curia; completed in the early 2nd century, within the colony's first two decades.
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.
Sources
Nearby
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