DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0146
86 THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME.
the columns, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, are built of brick, each
horizontal course consisting of nineteen bricks radiating round
a central core of rubble work, the flutings being added afterwards in
stucco. The height of the columns was probably from 32 to 33 feet.
On the aisle wall are engaged columns of the Ionic order, 2 feet
4 inches in diameter, and about 20 feet high. At the farther end
of the basilica was a rectangular recess, raised some 4 feet above the
aisle and entered by steps on the east side. This served as the law
court, and the columns in its front supported beams whose ends
were let into the sides of the great columns, thus inclining us to
think that the aisles were similarly roofed over at a low level,
and that there was no gallery, except over the entrance porch,
access to which may have been obtained by the staircase provided
to reach the upper storey1 of the portico round the Forum. The
central area of the basilica was probably covered over by a hori-
zontal ceiling carried by the great columns and lighted through
clerestory openings above the aisle roof.2 As the rain may occasion-
ally have beaten in, a drain round the interior at the base of the
columns was provided to carry off the water. The basilica at
Fano, built and described by Vitruvius, seems to have been lighted
in a similar way, but above a gallery. The columns were mono-
lithic, over 48 feet high and 5 feet in diameter ; and as both Choisy
and Rivoira remark, the conception of the whole building shows
him to have been a man of considerable talent.
The basilica at Treves is interesting in that it shows how the
Romans designed their structures in accordance with the climate.
Here the basilica was simply an immense hall with an apse, the
whole building being lighted by two tiers of windows, and the
“ lesene ” or pilasters between the windows being united by
round arches at the top. The double tier suggests that originally
there was a gallery round the interior, carried on columns. It
belongs either to the time of Diocletian or, less probably, to that
of Constantine. It is as much as 180 feet long and 90 feet wide,
and was originally about 100 feet high. It is built entirely of
brickfaced concrete. _
1 Of this upper storey the Ionic columns have been found, but no archi-
traves ; it is probable, therefore, that it was covered with a timber roof with
projecting eaves.
2 A more recent theory maintains that the central space was unroofed
(Sogliano in Memorie dell'Accademia di Napoli, Nuova serie, Vol. II (1913).
part I, pp. 117-129). The basilica at Palestrina, which was certainly roofed,
should therefore not be cited as a parallel. (Papers of the British School at
Rome, IX, 225).
the columns, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, are built of brick, each
horizontal course consisting of nineteen bricks radiating round
a central core of rubble work, the flutings being added afterwards in
stucco. The height of the columns was probably from 32 to 33 feet.
On the aisle wall are engaged columns of the Ionic order, 2 feet
4 inches in diameter, and about 20 feet high. At the farther end
of the basilica was a rectangular recess, raised some 4 feet above the
aisle and entered by steps on the east side. This served as the law
court, and the columns in its front supported beams whose ends
were let into the sides of the great columns, thus inclining us to
think that the aisles were similarly roofed over at a low level,
and that there was no gallery, except over the entrance porch,
access to which may have been obtained by the staircase provided
to reach the upper storey1 of the portico round the Forum. The
central area of the basilica was probably covered over by a hori-
zontal ceiling carried by the great columns and lighted through
clerestory openings above the aisle roof.2 As the rain may occasion-
ally have beaten in, a drain round the interior at the base of the
columns was provided to carry off the water. The basilica at
Fano, built and described by Vitruvius, seems to have been lighted
in a similar way, but above a gallery. The columns were mono-
lithic, over 48 feet high and 5 feet in diameter ; and as both Choisy
and Rivoira remark, the conception of the whole building shows
him to have been a man of considerable talent.
The basilica at Treves is interesting in that it shows how the
Romans designed their structures in accordance with the climate.
Here the basilica was simply an immense hall with an apse, the
whole building being lighted by two tiers of windows, and the
“ lesene ” or pilasters between the windows being united by
round arches at the top. The double tier suggests that originally
there was a gallery round the interior, carried on columns. It
belongs either to the time of Diocletian or, less probably, to that
of Constantine. It is as much as 180 feet long and 90 feet wide,
and was originally about 100 feet high. It is built entirely of
brickfaced concrete. _
1 Of this upper storey the Ionic columns have been found, but no archi-
traves ; it is probable, therefore, that it was covered with a timber roof with
projecting eaves.
2 A more recent theory maintains that the central space was unroofed
(Sogliano in Memorie dell'Accademia di Napoli, Nuova serie, Vol. II (1913).
part I, pp. 117-129). The basilica at Palestrina, which was certainly roofed,
should therefore not be cited as a parallel. (Papers of the British School at
Rome, IX, 225).