A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome

Anthony Minoprio

doi:10.1017/S0068246200010862

A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2013

Anthony Minoprio

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The Basilica of Constantine (Fig. 1), the last and greatest of Roman civil basilicas, was begun by the Emperor Maxentius shortly after the fire of A.D. 307, which destroyed the Temple of Venus and Rome and, presumably, other buildings in this part of the Forum Romanum (Fig. 2).

The work of reconstruction in this area included not only the rebuilding of the Temple, but the erection of a new civil basilica to line the monumental approach to it. This vast building occupied a site 120 yards long by 80 yards deep along the north side of the Via Sacra, over the remains of the Portico of Nero's market hall and the Spice Warehouses (Horrea Piperataria) of Domitian (Plate I.).

Type: Research Article
Information: Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 12 , November 1932 , pp. 1 - 25

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068246200010862 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © British School at Rome 1932

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^{page 1 note 1} The Plates are to be found at the end.

^{page 1 note 2} Aurelius Victor, , De Caess. Lib., 40. 26.Google Scholar

^{page 2 note 1} De Ruggiero, , Foro Romano, p. 390.Google Scholar This practice of erecting stalls or workshops in the basilicas was later forbidden by the Codex Justiniani (Krueger), 11, 21.

^{page 2 note 2} S. Maria Nova was dedicated after 847 to replace S. Maria Antiqua. See Rendiconti R. Acc. Lincei, Ser. V. xxi (1912), p. 765; and Duchesne, , Lib. Pont. II. 208.Google Scholar

^{page 2 note 3} Lanciani, , Ruins and Excavations, p. 206.Google Scholar

^{page 2 note 4} Roman Architecture, p. 208; Architettura Romana, p. 250.

^{page 3 note 1} These entrances have since been filled up to a height of about 2′ o′.

^{page 3 note 2} For the Neronian level, Ashby, , Class. Rev., xiv (1900), p. 239Google Scholar: for the mediaeval, Lanciani, , Not. Scav., 1878, p. 341.Google Scholar The other two were generally recognised, cf. Burton Brown, , Recent Excav. in R. Forum, pp. 169–70.Google Scholar

^{page 3 note 3} Instigated by Ashby, , Class. Rev., xix (1905), p. 76, note 2.Google Scholar

^{page 3 note 4} Lanciani, , Not. Scav., 1878, p. 341.Google Scholar

^{page 4 note 1} Ashby, , Class. Rev., xiv (1900), p. 239.Google Scholar

^{page 4 note 2} Archiv. R. di Storia Patria, i (1878), p. 313.

^{page 4 note 3} Vit. Caess., 40, 6.

^{page 4 note 4} C.I.L., vi, 1147.

^{page 4 note 5} A. I. A. Journal, xii, 1924, p. 79, note 28: Not. Scav., 1879. p. 313d. Note that the ascription was not made by Lanciani.

^{page 4 note 6} Not. Scavi, 1882, p. 220–1, and 1879, Tav. vii, also C.I.L., vi, 1653, 1663.

^{page 5 note 1} Nardini, , Roma Antica (Ed. Nibby, , 1818), p. 279Google Scholar; Nibby, , Roma Anika, ii, p. 238, del.Google Scholar

^{page 5 note 2} A. I. A. Journal, xii, 1924, p. 325.

^{page 7 note 1} Fragments Antiques, vol. i, Pl. 100.

^{page 7 note 2} On a misunderstanding of Lib. Pont., Vit. Honorii, 119, iii.

^{page 7 note 3} Baukunst der Etrusker & Römer, p. 325, fig. 353.

^{page 9 note 1} Correcting Nibby; La Basilica di Constantine sbandita dalla Via Sacra, p. 12.

^{page 9 note 2} Valadier, and Canina, , Aggiunte e correzioni all' opera sugli edilizi antichi di Roma dell' Architetto A. Desgodetz, 1843Google Scholar, Cap. vii, tavola ii, 21. Except, however, the eastern columns.

^{page 9 note 3} Caristie, Plan et coupe d'une partie du Forum romaine, plan.

Canina, , Aggiunte e correzioni all' opera … dell' architecto A. Desgodetz, cap. vii, tav. ii, 21.Google Scholar

Angelini and Fea, Il Foro romano … dal 1809 al1837, plan, give sixteen.

^{page 9 note 4} Lethaby, and Swainson, , S. Sophia, Constantinople, p. 241, fig. 47Google Scholar: cf. Marucchi, , Bull. Com., 1893, pls. iv, vGoogle Scholar, for the hall of Junius Bassus, consul of A.D. 317.

^{page 9 note 6} Measurements taken from the column in the Piazza di S. Maria Maggiore by direction of Professor Gorham P. Stevens, Director of the American Academy in Rome. See Memoirs Amer. Acad. Rome, vol. iv, p. 142, fig. 20.

^{page 9 note 6} Franklin, and Hafner, , A. I. A. Journal, xii, 1924, p. 185Google Scholar: Bramante, , Uff. Arch., 1711Google Scholar = Bartoli, , Disegni degli Uff., i, pl. xxivGoogle Scholar, fig. 50 figures the original cap.

^{page 10 note 1} Fragments d' Architecture Antique, vol. ii, Pl. 100.

^{page 10 note 2} Albertinus, Opusc, de Mirabilibus Romae, f. 86; cf. Jones, Stuart Cat. Palazzo dei Conservatori, pp. 5–6, 11–14.Google Scholar

^{page 11 note 1} Ashby, , P.B.S.R., ii, Pls. 16, 59.Google Scholar

^{page 11 note 2} Mélanges d' Arch., xi, p. 164, Pl. iv.

^{page 11 note 3} Dissertazioni della Pontificia Accad. Rom. di Archeologia, Serie ii, vii, p. 159.

^{page 13 note 1} There is a roughly tooled hole just below the right elbow, probably the socket of a support.

^{page 13 note 2} Passy, Centenaire (1804–1904) Recueil de Mémoires de la Soc. Nat. Antiq. France, p. 379, fig. 1.

^{page 13 note 3} This seems to be indicated by a circular dowel hole on the side of the right upper arm, apparently for fixing the epaulette; it is to be assumed that the surviving parts, being highly finished, were not concealed by drapery.

^{page 13 note 4} Bernouilli, , Römische Ikonographie, ii, 3, p. 221Google Scholar, Taf. lii a, b, Münztaf. viii, 15: cf. Gnecchi, , Medaglioni Romani, Pl. 28, No. 12.Google Scholar

^{page 13 note 5} For a military statue with bare feet, cf. the Augustus of Prima Porta.

^{page 13 note 6} In the excavations of 1819.

^{page 14 note 1} Franklin, and Hafner, , A. I. A. Journal, 1924, pp. 322–323.Google Scholar suggest that the cipollino shafts at the S.E. are the remains of these columns.

^{page 14 note 2} Franklin and Hafner, op. cit., p. 324, point out that there is no room for a stair, which would be necessary if the judgement seat were placed on this pedestal.

^{page 15 note 1} These niches may have been built to contain some carefully graded system of family tree, which Constantine liked to trace back to the Gens Flavia through Claudius Gothicus and the Gordians.

^{page 16 note 1} D'Espouy, , Mon. Ant. ii, Pl. 90.Google Scholar

^{page 17 note 1} Röm. Mittheil., vii, 1892, p. 291.

^{page 17 note 2} A small part of the wall on the N. side of this space still exists behind the apse of the narthex, but not enough has been excavated to reveal the niches shown on the Ligorio-Destailleur plans (Fig. 14). I was able to reach this wall through a small hole in the apse wall. Neither this nor the cross wall at right angles to it are shown on recent actual state plans.

^{page 18 note 1} C.I.L. vi, 1696.

^{page 18 note 2} Mommsen, , Chronog. 354, p. 628.Google Scholar

^{page 18 note 3} Ashby, , P.B.S.R., ii, Pl. 16.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 1} Van Deman, , A.J.A., xxvii (1923), pl. iii.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 2} Op. cit., p. 400; also A.J.A., xvi (1912), pp. 391 sqq.; Huelsen, , Röm. Mittheil., xvii, p. 95, Taf. i.Google Scholar; Bull. Com. 1900, pp. 8–13, Tav. i–ii. Ashby, , Class. Rev. xix (1905), p. 76Google Scholar, notes the discovery of a mosaic pavement below the level of these buildings, which can be dated to the first century B.C. For the type, see Blake, , Memoirs Amer. Acad. Rome, viii, p. 52.Google Scholar Nothing else is known of the building.

^{page 23 note 3} Van Deman, , A.J.A. xxvii (1923), pp. 383–424Google Scholar; also Memoirs Amer. Acad. Rome, v, 115–126.

^{page 23 note 4} Mommsen, , Chronograph 354, p. 646, 1. 31.Google Scholar There seems no reason to take Horrea Piperataria with Horrea Vespasiani.

^{page 24 note 1} Porticus Margaritaria, Memoirs Amer. Acad. Rome, v, pl. 61.

^{page 24 note 2} Op. cit., pls. 63, 64.

^{page 24 note 3} For the havoc of the fire of Carinus in this region, see Whitehead, , A.J.A., xxxi, p. 17Google Scholar; but another possible source of disaster is the fire of the Temple of Venus, and Rome, , Chron. 354, p. 648, 1. 33.Google Scholar

^{page 24 note 4} Whitehead, , A.J.A., xxxi, pl. ii. p. 12.Google Scholar

^{page 25 note 1} For this market-hall, see Ricci, , Il mercato di Traiano, Rome, 1929, pls. 11, 12Google Scholar; Arch. Anzeiger, 1929, p. 94, abb. 12; Roma, 1930, p. 513.

^{page 25 note 2} Boethius, , in the forthcoming Acta Archaeologica, iii (1932).Google Scholar

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