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The 2nd century Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Turned into a church in the 7th century.

Imperial Forum, Rome

THE SEVERAN FORUM OF LEPCIS MAGNA

above: Basilica, Lepcis Magna, c. AD 209-216.

On the occasion of his state visit to his native city in AD 203, Septimius Severus granted special privileges and tax exemptions to the citizens of Lepcis Magna. In gratitude, they erected a quadrifrons arch, decorated with reliefs depicting the emperor’s military conquests. To further embellish his provincial hometown, Severus ordered the construction of a new forum, which would comprise two courtyards, a temple dedicated to the gens settimia and a basilica.

left: Lepcis Magna, Arch of Trajan, c. AD 106; right Lepcis Magna, Arch of Septimius Severus, c. AD 203.

The designs of the arch and the forum were self-conscious based on the architectural patronage of an earlier emperor, who had also favored Lepcis Magna. Trajan had raised the city to the status of a colonia shortly after AD 106, and this act was commemorated by a quadrifrons arch honoring the emperor. The Severan arch therefore replicated the distinctive form of the earlier monument, which stood nearby over the same decumanus.

Similarly, the Severan Forum was modeled on the Forum of Trajan in Rome. In the latter, the Basilica Ulpia was placed perpendicularly between to two colonnaded courtyards.

above: Forum of Trajan, Rome, c. AD 106-112

The Severan basilica (J) was originally intended to stand between two open courtyards, only one (G) of which was built. Like the Basilica Ulpia, the long hall of the Severan basilica was divided into two aisles and high taller central vessel carried by superimposed colonnades and terminated in hemispherical apses.

above: Severan Forum, Lepcis Magna, c. AD 209-216

Due to irregularities of the site, the two courtyards of the Severan forum were slightly off-axis. To create the illusions of rectilinearity and axiality, the architects placed the basilica at an oblique angle to the southern square and filled in the wedge-shaped interstice with a row of shops of diminishing sizes. This subtle device creates the visual impression of axial continuity as the viewer passed from one rectilinear space (G) to another (J).

A lengthy and largely unabbreviated inscription (typical of the verbose Severans) on the basilica’s architrave states that Septimius Severus began the building and that it was completed during the reign of Caracalla in AD 216.

Unlike the monumental, classicizing sculpture of the Forum of Trajan, the style of the lavish sculptural decoration of the Severan basilica, carried out by sculptors from Aphrodisias, derives from eastern monuments, and reflects the influence of the Syrian empress Julia Domna.

Despite that superficial difference, through the repetition of architectural forms, the architects of the Severan forum emphasized the two acts of imperial patronage that had raised the city to its position of properity and prominence in north Africa.

#septimius severus #leptis magna #tripolitania #roman architecture #imperial forum #basilica #triumphal arch

One of my favourite views of the Imperial Forum in Rome: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/rome-italy-the-temple-of-saturn-and-the-imperial-roman-forum-from-the-capitoline-hill-gm2154534595-575398647

#Rome #Imperial Forum #Italy #Temple of Saturn #Fotoventura #fotoventura.co #gettyimagescontributor