DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0111
THE BASILICA
73
below, a yellow base with a projecting red border along the
upper edge; above, a plain white surface. At the left outside
the entrance court is a cistern for rain water collected from the
roof; the stairway close by (shown on the plan) had nothing to
do with the Basilica, but was connected with the upper gallery
of the colonnade about the Forum.
Mounting four steps of basalt we pass from the narrow court
into’ the building. The five entrances here are separated by
four columns. Those next to the two sides on the right and on
Fig. 24.—View of the Basilica, looking toward the tribunal.
the left were closed by a wall in which was a wide doorway; the
three at the middle were left as open intercolumniations. The
enclosed space before us measures 180^ English feet (200 Oscan
feet) in length, 78^ feet in breadth. Twenty-eight massive brick
columns, 4 Oscan feet in diameter, separate the great cen-
tral hall from the broad corridor running about it; only the
lower part of the columns, built of small bricks evidently made
specially for this purpose, is preserved (Fig. 24). Attached
half-columns, with a diameter a little more than three fourths
that of the others, project from the walls ; the wall decoration,
which imitates in stucco a veneering of colored marbles, is of
the first style (p. 41). The columns of the entrance and
73
below, a yellow base with a projecting red border along the
upper edge; above, a plain white surface. At the left outside
the entrance court is a cistern for rain water collected from the
roof; the stairway close by (shown on the plan) had nothing to
do with the Basilica, but was connected with the upper gallery
of the colonnade about the Forum.
Mounting four steps of basalt we pass from the narrow court
into’ the building. The five entrances here are separated by
four columns. Those next to the two sides on the right and on
Fig. 24.—View of the Basilica, looking toward the tribunal.
the left were closed by a wall in which was a wide doorway; the
three at the middle were left as open intercolumniations. The
enclosed space before us measures 180^ English feet (200 Oscan
feet) in length, 78^ feet in breadth. Twenty-eight massive brick
columns, 4 Oscan feet in diameter, separate the great cen-
tral hall from the broad corridor running about it; only the
lower part of the columns, built of small bricks evidently made
specially for this purpose, is preserved (Fig. 24). Attached
half-columns, with a diameter a little more than three fourths
that of the others, project from the walls ; the wall decoration,
which imitates in stucco a veneering of colored marbles, is of
the first style (p. 41). The columns of the entrance and