BASILICA - POMPEII

This is the oldest existing Basilica, dating back to the 2nd century B.C. The seat of the law courts was here and commercial and financial transactions also took place. After a portico comes the main entrance, which opened on the forum and, differently from the majority of basilicas, is located on one of the building’s short sides. The tribunal, part of the Basilica where the law-courts were, was on the short side, opposite the entrance, and consisted in a two meter high podium on top of which were six Corinthian columns. There are no stairs to the podium, this suggests that it could only be reached through wooden stairs, which could be removed in order to separate the judges from the rest of the people. Another hypothesis is that the podium was simply a sacellum for religious statues. The 28 Columns of the portico are made of cut tiles. Judging from their diameter they must have been at least eleven meters tall. They probably supported the big beams of the roof, although some believe the central nave of the building was open to the sky. The walls are decorated with panels of painted stucco. The Basilica had two other entrances on the long sides, one looking south and one north on Via Marina.

 

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In the corner where Via dell’Abbondanza enters the Forum we find a building that acted as a sort of polling station for municipal elections. The original building could be reached via five entrances in the northern wall and five in the eastern one, so that voters could enter from the Forum and go straight out into Via dell’Abbondanza. However, after the earthquake of 62 A.D. only three entrances were used: one in the north wall and two leading the Forum. On the southern side of the building we find a podium where the magistrates sat when presiding over the electoral proceedings, while the other two walls contained niches housing honorary statues.

(Apic. 6, 2, 1) Ingredients:

• 1 large duck
• 1 l water
• bunch of dill
• Olive oil (or 50 g butter)
• Liquamen (or, in this case, duck stock)
• 2 sprigs of oregano finely chopped
• bunch of coriander
• 100 ml defritum (or red wine boiled)
• large pinch of black peppercorns
• large pinch of lovage (or celery seed)
• large pinch of cumin
• large pinch of coriander seeds
• 1 laser root (or garlic)
• Sprig of rue (or rosemary)
• Caroenum (wine reduced of 1/3 plus honey)
• Honey ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.