Basilica of Pompeii

About

Built c. 130-120 BCE, this is among the oldest surviving basilicas anywhere in the Roman world, predating the amphitheatre by several decades. It served as Pompeii's law court and a covered meeting hall for business, with a raised two-story tribunal at its western end. Buried in 79 CE. Destroyed in the 79 CE eruption of Vesuvius, 38 years before this map's snapshot — included as it's an essential part of the story.

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

• Anonymous, Wall graffito, Basilica, Pompeii CIL IV 1904

  A visitor scratched a line of verse onto the Basilica's interior wall: "Admiror, paries, te non cecidisse ruinis, qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas" — "I am amazed, wall, that you haven't collapsed under the weight of so much tedious writing."

Sources

• https://www.pompeii.org.uk/m.php/museo-basilica-pompei-it-65-m.htm
• https://www.planetpompeii.com/en/map/the-basilica.html

Nearby

Temple of Apollo

48 m

Forum of Pompeii

103 m

Garum Workshop of Umbricius Scaurus

103 m

Pompeii

110 m

Marine Gate

146 m

Temple of Apollo, Pompeii

156 m