Basilica Julia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Basilica Julia (Italian: Basilica Giulia) was a structure that once stood in the Roman Forum. It was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the Roman Empire. Its ruins have been excavated. What is left from its classical period are mostly foundations, floors, a small back corner wall with a few arches that are part of both the original building and later imperial reconstructions and a single column from its first building phase.
Computer generated image | |
   Basilica Julia Shown within Augustan Rome | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Location | Regio VIII Forum Romanum |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°53′34″N 12°29′5″E |
| Type | Basilica |
| History | |
| Builder | Gaius Julius Caesar |
| Founded | 46 BC |
The Basilica Julia was built on the site of the earlier Basilica Sempronia (170 BC) along the south side of the Forum, opposite the Basilica Aemilia. It was initially dedicated in 46 BC by Julius Caesar, with building costs paid from the spoils of the Gallic War, and was completed by Augustus, who named the building after his adoptive father. The ruins which have been excavated date to a reconstruction of the Basilica by the Emperor Diocletian, after a fire in 283 AD destroyed the earlier structure.[1]