Red Basilica
About
Roman builders raised this immense brick temple directly over the Selinus River in Pergamon's lower city, engineering a hidden double bridge nearly 200 meters wide just to carry the water beneath its foundations. Dedicated to the Egyptian gods Serapis and Isis, its main hall ranks among the largest Roman-era religious buildings surviving anywhere in the Greek world. Its brick construction and sculptural style point to the first half of the 2nd century CE, most likely under Hadrian rather than Trajan. On 11 August 117 CE this temple almost certainly did not yet exist.
What happened here
The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.
Sources
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Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →