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Basilica Porcia

180s BC establishments2nd-century BC establishments in Italy2nd-century BC establishments in the Roman RepublicAncient Roman building and structure stubsAncient basilicas in Rome
Roman Forum
Plan Rome Basilica Porcia
Plan Rome Basilica Porcia

The Basilica Porcia was the first civil basilica built in ancient Rome. It was built by order of Marcus Porcius Cato in 184 BC as censor and is named after him. He built it as a space for administering laws and for merchants to meet, against some opposition. It stood to the west of the Curia, on land bought by Cato and previously occupied by shops and private houses. Many trials were held inside the basilica. It was destroyed by fire after the body of Publius Clodius Pulcher was alit on a pyre in the adjoining senate house in 52 BC. The ruins were probably flattened later that year to build a new building on the site.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Basilica Porcia (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Basilica Porcia
Via del Tulliano, Rome Municipio Roma I

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

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N 41.8933 ° E 12.4848 °
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Santi Luca e Martina al Foro Romano

Via del Tulliano
00184 Rome, Municipio Roma I
Lazio, Italy
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San Giuseppe dei Falegnami
San Giuseppe dei Falegnami

San Giuseppe dei Falegnami (Italian, "St. Joseph of the Carpenters"), also called San Giuseppe a Campo Vaccino ("St. Joseph at the Cowfield", an old name for the Roman Forum) is a Roman Catholic church, located in the Forum in Rome, Italy. In 1540, the Congregation of the Carpenters had leased the former church of San Pietro in Carcere which was located over the Mamertine Prison, which by legend had held Saint Peter and Saint Paul. By 1597 work began on the new church, dedicated to the patron saint of Carpenters, St. Joseph. The initial architect was Giacomo della Porta. Work continued after 1602 under the direction of Giovanni Battista Montano, who designed the facade, and at his death (1621) by his pupil Giovanni Battista Soria. The church was completed in 1663 by Antonio Del Grande. The church was restored in 1886 with the construction of a new apse. In the 1930s, the facade was raised above the floor to allow direct access to the prison below. The interior has a nave with two side chapels that were decorated in the nineteenth century. Among the paintings is a Nativity (1651) by Carlo Maratta. Next to the church is an oratory, with a wooden ceiling, and the 16th-century Chapel of the Crucifix, placed between the church floor and the ceiling below the Mamertine Prison. On 18 February 2012, it became a titular church, receiving its first Cardinal-Deacon. On 30 August 2018, there was a partial collapse of the church's roof.

Comitium

The Comitium (Italian: Comizio) was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Forum was later lost in the city's growth and development, but was rediscovered and excavated by archaeologists at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of Rome's earliest monuments; including the speaking platform known as the Rostra, the Columna Maenia, the Graecostasis and the Tabula Valeria were part of or associated with the Comitium. The Comitium was the location for much of the political and judicial activity of Rome. It was the meeting place of the Curiate Assembly, the earliest Popular assembly of organised voting divisions of the Republic. Later, during the Roman Republic, the Tribal Assembly and Plebeian Assembly met there. The Comitium was in front of the meeting house of the Roman Senate – the still-existing Curia Julia and its predecessor, the Curia Hostilia. The Curia Julia is associated with the Comitium by both Livy and Cicero.Most Roman cities had a similar comitium for public meetings (L. contiones) or assemblies for election], councils and tribunals. As part of the forum, where temples, commerce, judicial, and city buildings were located, the comitium was the center of political activity. Romans tended to organize their needs into specific locations within the city. As the city grew, the larger Comitia Centuriata met on the Campus Martius, outside the city walls. The comitium remained of importance for formal elections of some magistrates; however, as their importance decayed after the end of the republic, so did the importance of the comitium.