- Basilica Julia
The Basilica Julia, was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the early Roman Empire. The building was initially dedicated in
46 BC byJulius Caesar , with building costs paid from the spoils of theGallic War . The Basilica was completed by Augustus, who named the building after his adoptive father. The building burned shortly after its completion, but was repaired and rededicated in AD12 . The Basilica was again reconstructed by the EmperorDiocletian after the fire of AD283 .The Basilica housed the civil law courts and tabernae (shops), and provided space for government offices and banking. In the first century, it also was used for sessions of the
Centumviri ("Court of the Hundred"), who presided over matters of inheritance. In hisEpistle s,Pliny the Younger describes the scene as he pleaded for a woman whose 80-year-old husband had disinherited her within days of taking a new wife.It was the favorite meeting place of the Roman people. This Basilica houses public meeting places and shops, but it is used mainly as a law court. On the pavement of the portico, there are diagrams of games scratched into the white marble.
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