A large basilica stood here about A.D.
Heron de Villefosse, who has laid bare a beautiful temple of Jupiter, a triumphal arch of Caracalla, a Byzantine basilica and the gate of the Byzantine general Solomon.
It was on this spot, on the Appian way, that was built the basilica of St Sebastian, which was a popular place of pilgrimage in the middle ages.
He restored the Lateran basilica, which had fallen down in 897.
At the south end of the forum are three .halls side by side, similar in plan with a common façade-the central one, the curia or council chamber, the others the offices respectively of the duumvirs and aediles, the principal officials of the city; while the greater part of the west side is occupied by two large buildings-a basilica, which is the largest edifice in Pompeii, and the temple of Apollo, which presents its side to the forum, and hence fills up a large portion of the surrounding space.