A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome

The Basilica of Constantine (Fig. 1), the last and greatest of Roman civil basilicas, was begun by the Emperor Maxentius shortly after the fire of A.D. 307, which destroyed the Temple of Venus and Rome and, presumably, other buildings in this part of the Forum Romanum (Fig. 2).The work of reconstruction in this area included not only the rebuilding of the Temple, but the erection of a new civil basilica to line the monumental approach to it. This vast building occupied a site 120 yards long by 80 yards deep along the north side of the Via Sacra, over the remains of the Portico of Nero's market hall and the Spice Warehouses (Horrea Piperataria) of Domitian (Plate I.).