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This contribution looks at the remains of Rome’s Basilica Aemilia and its predecessors. The last two attempts at reconstruction of the Basilica Fulvia et Aemilia, obviously faulty, are compared to a new proposal, which fits better with the picture of a Hellenistic-inspired Roman architecture. The massive construction, erected in 179 bc in the Forum piscarium, replaced a single-level hypostyle hall similar to Delos’ Salle hypostyle. According to Livy, the building—the first to be called basilica—was built up in haste to temporarily replace the Atrium regium, which was burnt down in 210 bc. The destroyed building matched the βασιλικὴ αὐλή in Lagid fiscal administration. Like the former, it served as a long-distance-trade stock market. The Latin names of Atrium regium and Basilica were applied to two different buildings located at the same place in Rome. The term Basilica was created in Latin to designate the building’s function. The impressive hall from 179 bc, with its covered internal space without pillars, became under the name Basilica Aemilia the prototype of the canon architectural form of the Roman basilica described by Vitruvius, which had a lasting effect in the history of Occidental architecture. The study concludes with a plea for a thorough inventory of architectural remains as a preliminary condition to determinate the value of the ancient foot as a measuring unit used during the design and construction of an ancient building. This measurement is the only one which may give us the opportunity to comprehend the intentions of an ancient architect in terms of planimetry.