The Forum Basilica
Navigate the town
Position of forum basilica on 1909 plan
You can use the Antiquaries Plan as a graphical menu to explore the buildings of Calleva. (This page contains large images and may take some time to download on slower connections)
Engraving, Capitals from the basilica
Roman bronze eagle from the basilica
What was the forum basilica?
The forum and adjoining basilica, situated in the middle of the town combined the functions of market place and seat of administration and justice both for the town and the civitas of the Atrebates. Altogether the building covered about 0.8 hectares (2 acres).
left: Plan of the Forum-Basilica built in stone in about the mid-second century
right: Aerial view of the forum basilica from the north.
The forum was an open square lined by porticoes, shops and offices on three sides. The main entrance was designed in an elaborate fashion with a dedicatory inscription whose letters were 28cm high. On the fourth side stood the basilica, consisting of a great hall (about 82 by 17.5m), whose superstructure was carried on one row of Corinthian columns about 8.6m high. At either end were raised rooms, originally apsidal in plan, from which we might imagine the magistrates dispensing justice. On the west side was a suite of rooms or offices in the centre of which was an apsidal, marble-lined council chamber or shrine. Recent excavation has clearly shown that this imposing new building was constructed towards the middle of the second century AD to replace the timber basilica and forum of comparable size and plan which had been erected in the late first century AD. Absence of traces of flooring in the basilica raises the possibility that the building was never finished.
Evidence of Metal-working
A surprising discovery, made during the excavation of the masonry basilica was evidence for metalworking in the building from the mid-third century until the end of the Roman period. Iron-smithing seems to have been the most important occupation, but there were also residues from bronze-working.
left: Half a mould from the basilica for producing copies of the coinage of the Gallic usurper Tetricus (AD 271-73)
middle: The cast shows a standing figure which represents SPES (hope).
right: Limestone mould for casting a pewter or bronze dish
The presence of these activities makes it unlikely that the basilica continued to serve any administrative or judicial function during the later Roman period unless these functions were confined to the first floor, or the forum. It is unclear where such activities might otherwise have been carried out within the town.
Artist's reconstruction of the forum basilica with the church in the foreground.