Decoration and Display in the Roman Civic Basilicas

The article aims to present the concrete evidence of the statues found in Roman civic basilicas starting from the Basilica Aemilia and using examples from different buildings and chronological periods. The first part focuses on the statues of the members of the gentes involved in the construction of the basilicas and on the portraits of the local élites. The second part concentrates on the imperial statues. The investigation of the concrete display of the statues follows. From the evidence, we can infer a great prevalence of the honorific portraits. Therefore, the civic basilica was perceived as a building dedicated above all to the negotium. The mixture of imperial images with those of local elites, although often hosted in separate spaces, reveals also that the basilica always remained a space open to the local ruling classes that never gave up on the prestige of dedicating there their images. At the same time, it documents the complex relationship between public and private sphere in those buildings.