Rinvenimento di frammenti di primo stile dagli scavi Carettoni-Fabbrini nella Basilica Iulia: note preliminari

During the archaeological campaigns carried out between 1960 and 1964, two large areas were excavated beneath the Augustan floor of the Basilica Iulia at the Roman Forum. This excavation made it possible to highlight the technical features of the Augustan building site, which entailed the construction of deep foundations and the raising of the area of the Basilica. The material collected from the layers of Augustan fill includes fragments of high-quality painted plaster attributable to the First Style. Due to its stylistic and technical characteristics, this decoration appears exceptionally similar to that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, which is dated to the first half of the second century BC. This paper discusses the formation of the fill of the Basilica Iulia and suggests that the painted plaster, together with the well-known early fifth century BC terracotta found in the Augustan layers of the Basilica, could have belonged to the nearby temple, that was under reconstruction during the late Augustan period. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the use of the First Style decoration in Rome, which old and new excavations have documented both in public and private buildings.