The Basilica Aemilia was a civil basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

 in the Roman forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...

, in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Today only the plan and some rebuilt elements can be seen. The Basilica was 100 meters (328 ft) long and about 30 meters (98 ft) wide. Along the sides were two orders of 16 arches, and it was accessed through one of three entrances.

Pre-existing building

The new basilica was built on a site where once 5th century BC were the tabernae lanienae ("butcher shops") and later (4th century BC) the tabernae argentariae, which housed the city's bankers and after a fire were renamed tabernae novae ("new shops"). The square had two facing rows of shops. A first basilica had been built behind the tabernae argentariae between 210 BC and 195-191 BC, date in which it is mentioned by Plautus

Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...

. Archaeological studies have shown that this building comprised three naves paved with tuff

Tuff

Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...

 from Monteverde, the back façade having a portico which opened to the Forum Piscatorium and the Macellum

Macellum

A macellum is an ancient Roman indoor market building that sold mostly provisions . The building normally sat alongside the forum and basilica, providing a place in which a market could be held...

(the area later occupied by the Forum of Nerva).

The Basilica Fulvia-Aemilia

It was erected in 179 BC by censor

Censor (ancient Rome)

The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances....

 Marcus Fulvius Nobilior

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior , Roman general, a member of one of the most important families of the patrician Fulvius gens....

 with the name of Basilica Fulvia

Basilica Fulvia

The Basilica Fulvia was a basilica built in ancient Rome. According to Livy , the censors M. Aemilius Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior had it built in 179 BC. It may be that there had been a previous building existing on the site from 210 BC which was incorporated . In 78 BC, the consul M...

. After the latter's death, his colleague Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (187 BC)

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was a Roman consul, Pontifex Maximus and censor.As a praetor he was governor of Sicily in 191 BC. He was elected consul in 187 BC. He and his colleague, Gaius Flaminius, subdued the Ligurians. From 180 BC onwards he was pontifex maximus and from 179 BC was princeps senatus....

 completed it, and it was frequently restored and redecorated by the members of the Aemilian gens, giving the basilica its current name.

The 78 BC consul, homonymous of the preceding one, embellished it with the clipei ("shields"). This intervention is recalled in a coin from 61 BC by his son, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus may refer to:* Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , consul in 232 BC and 221 BC, and augur* Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , consul in 187 BC and 175 BC, Pontifex Maximus 180–152 BC, and censor...

 (see images).

According to other scholars, however, the Basilica Aemilia formed a different edifice from the Basilica Fulvia.

The Basilica Paulli

A new edifice in substitution of the Basilica Fulvia was begun in 55 BC by Lucius Aemilius Paulus Lepidus, and inaugurated by his son in 34 BC. This edifice had similar lines to the preceding one; however with a reduced length and a second nave in lieu of the back portico.

The columns in the central nave, in African marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

, had Corinthian capitals and friezes with deeds from the history of Republican Rome. The columns in the second row were in cipolline marble and, finally, the external ones had Ionic capitals.

After a fire, Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

 in 14 BC heavily restored the edifice. In this occasion the tabernae which preceded it towards the Forum square and the portico were totally rebuilt. The latter was dedicated to the emperor's two grandsons (Porticus Gai et Luci): it had two orders of arcades with pilasters and Doric semi-columns. The two upper floors of the basilica (which, according to some scholars, were still unfinished at the time) were totally rebuilt. Over the upper order an attic

Attic

An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...

 was built, decorated with vegetable elements and statues of barbarians.

The basilica was restored again in AD 22. On its two-hundredth anniversary, the Basilica Aemilia was considered by Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 to be one of the most beautiful buildings in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. It was a place for business and, in the porticus of Gaius and Lucius

Lucius Caesar

Lucius Julius Caesar , most commonly known as Lucius Caesar, was the second son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. He was born between 14 of June and 15 July 17 BC with the name Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa, but when he was adopted by his maternal grandfather Roman Emperor Caesar...

 (the grandsons of Augustus) fronting the Roman Forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...

, there were the Tabernae Novae (New Shops).

On the colored marble floor one still can see the green stains of bronze coins that melted when Rome was sacked by Alaric

Alaric I

Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....

 the Visigoth

Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...

 in 410 AD.

Conspicuous remains of the basilica could still be seen in the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

: they were however used for the Giraud-Torlonia Palace (also no longer existing).

Inside, there are several tabernae. The main hall or court is behind the shops.