The Roman Forum/Basilica Model

 

An orator speaks to a gathering crowd in front of the basilica

The front entrance to the basilica. I repurposed a cameo of a woman from a piece
of discarded jewelry for use over the front door.

Click on images to enlarge

I finished another building model for my 1/32 scale Roman town this week. It is a basilica that can also be used as a forum.

In Ancient Rome, basilicas were versatile and monumental structures that served the civic, judicial, and religious needs of society. Designed as long rectangular buildings featuring a large central space (called a nave), and flanked on either side by aisles, basilicas were centers of public life.

So now my growing Roman town (at what stage does it become a city?) now has a public building for government administrators. It is conveniently placed on the central plaza in the town, across the street from the Temple of Athena.

The basilica's roof needs to be finished so I placed a carpenter on the roof to make the repairs.
Why not? I really like this picture.

The butcher's shop and the antiquarian dealer's shop are next door to the basilica.
The Temple of Athena can be seen in the background.

Now it's starting to look like a large town!

The quayside view of the basilica

A bird's-eye view of the town

A view of the older temples across the river from the town.

A Roman war galley sails into the port.

The basilica was constructed from foam core board, bass wood for the rafters, and balsa wood for other bits of trim such as the doors. I also found a cameo of a Roman woman's head that I repurposed from a piece of discarded jewelry and I placed this over the front doorway to suggest an ornamental relief sculpture inside the pediment. Plastruct brand roof tiles (in G Scale) were used for the roof.

I will probably take a pause on making more town models until after the Little Wars convention, which is coming up soon on April 24-27, 2025 in Lisle, Illinois. I could probably use a couple more farm house sheds for my games.

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