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Chapter One
The Forum and Basilica
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From Mau
Forum at Pompeii
A, Forum. B, Basilica.
C, Temple of Apollo. D, D', Market Buildings. E, Latrina. F, City Treasury. G,
Memorial Arch. H, Temple of Jupiter. I, Arch of Tiberius. K, Macellum (provision
market). L, Sanctuary of the City Lares. M, Temple of Vespasian. N, Building of
Eumachia. O, Comitium. P, Office of the Duumvirs. Q, The City Council. R, Office
of the Aediles.
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1. The Greeks lay out their forums in the form of a square surrounded by very
spacious double colonnades, adorn them with columns set rather closely together,
and with entablatures of stone or marble, and construct walks above in the upper
story. But in the cities of Italy the same method cannot be followed, for the
reason that it is a custom handed down from our ancestors that gladiatorial
shows should be given in the forum.
2. Therefore let the intercolumniations round the show place be pretty wide;
round about in the colonnades put the bankers' offices; and have balconies on
the upper floor properly arranged so as to be convenient, and to bring in some
public revenue.
The size of a forum should be proportionate to the number of inhabitants, so
that it may not be too small a space to be useful, nor look like a desert waste
for lack of population. To determine its breadth, divide its length into three
parts and assign two of them to the breadth. Its shape will then be oblong, and
its ground plan conveniently suited to the conditions of shows.
3. The columns of the upper tier should be one fourth smaller than those of
the lower, because, for the purpose of bearing the load, what is below ought to
be stronger than what is above, and also, because we ought to imitate nature as
seen in the case of things growing; for example, in round smooth-stemmed trees,
like the fir, cypress, and pine, every one of which is rather thick just above
the roots and then, as it goes on increasing in height, tapers off naturally and
symmetrically in growing up to the top. Hence, if nature requires this in things
growing, it is the right arrangement that what is above should be less in height
and thickness than what is below.
4. Basilicas should be constructed on a site adjoining the forum and in the
warmest possible quarter, so that in winter business men may gather in them
without being troubled by the weather. In breadth they should be not less than
one third nor more than one half of their length, unless the site is naturally
such as to prevent this and to oblige an alteration in these proportions. If the
length of the site is greater than necessary, Chalcidian porches may be
constructed at the ends, as in the Julia Aquiliana.
5. It is thought that the columns of basilicas ought to be as high as the
side-aisles are broad; an aisle should be limited to one third of the breadth
which the open space in the middle is to have. Let the columns of the upper tier
be smaller than those of the lower, as written above. The screen, to be placed
between the upper and the lower tiers of columns, ought to be, it is thought,
one fourth lower than the columns of the upper tier, so that people walking in
the upper story of the basilica may not be seen by the business men. The
architraves, friezes, and cornices should be
adjusted to the proportions of the columns, as we
have stated in the third book.
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From Durm
Plan of the Basilica at Pompeii
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6. But basilicas of the greatest dignity and beauty may also be constructed
in the style of that one which I erected, and the building of which I
superintended at Fano. Its proportions and symmetrical relations were
established as follows. In the middle, the main roof between the columns is 120
feet long and sixty feet wide. Its aisle round the space beneath the main roof
and between the walls and the columns is twenty feet broad. The columns, of
unbroken height, measuring with their capitals fifty feet, and being each five
feet thick, have behind them pilasters, twenty feet high, two and one half feet
broad, and one and one half feet thick, which support the beams on which is
carried the upper flooring of the aisles. Above them are other pilasters,
eighteen feet high, two feet broad, and a foot thick, which carry the beams
supporting the principal raftering and the roof of the aisles, which is brought
down lower than the main roof.
7. The spaces remaining between the beams supported by the pilasters and the
columns, are left for windows between the intercolumniations. The columns are:
on the breadth of the main roof at each end, four, including the corner columns
at right and left; on the long side which is next to the forum, eight, including
the same corner columns; on the other side, six, including the corner columns.
This is because the
two middle columns on that side are omitted, in
order not to obstruct the view of the pronaos of the temple of Augustus (which
is built at the middle of the side wall of the basilica, facing the middle of
the forum and the temple of Jupiter) and also the tribunal which is in the
former temple, shaped as a hemicycle whose curvature is less than a
semicircle.
8. The open side of this hemicycle is forty-six feet along the front, and its
curvature inwards is fifteen feet, so that those who are standing before the
magistrates may not be in the way of the business men in the basilica. Round
about, above the columns, are placed the architraves, consisting of three
two-foot timbers fastened together. These return from the columns which stand
third on the inner side to the antae which project from the pronaos, and which
touch the edges of the hemicycle at right and left.
9. Above the architraves and regularly dispersed on supports directly over
the capitals, piers are placed, three feet high and four feet broad each way.
Above them is placed the projecting cornice round about, made of two two-foot
timbers. The tie-beams and struts, being placed above them, and directly over
the shafts of the columns and the antae and walls of the pronaos, hold up one
gable roof along the entire basilica, and another from the middle of it, over
the pronaos of the temple.
10. Thus the gable tops run in two directions, like the letter T, and give a
beautiful effect to the outside and inside of the main roof. Further, by the
omission of an ornamental entablature and of a line of screens and a second tier
of columns, troublesome labour is saved and the total cost greatly diminished.
On the other hand, the carrying of the columns themselves in unbroken height
directly up to the beams that support the main roof, seems to add an air of
sumptuousness and dignity to the work.
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