Roman Forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum, although the Romans referred to it more often as the Forum Magnum or just the Forum) was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce, business, trading and the administration of justice took place. Here the communal hearth was located. Sequences of remains of paving show that sediment eroded from the surrounding hills was already raising the level of the forum in early Republican times. Originally it had been marshy ground, which was drained by the Tarquins with the Cloaca Maxima. Its final travertine paving, still to be seen, dates from the reign of Augustus.

foro-romano

It is now famous for the remains, which eloquently show the use of urban spaces during the Roman Age. The Roman Forum includes the following major monuments, buildings and other ancient ruins:

  • Temple of Castor and Pollux
  • Temple of Jupiter
  • Temple of Saturn
  • Temple of Vesta
  • Basilica Aemilia
  • Basilica Julia
  • Arch of Septimius Severus
  • Arch of Titus
  • Rostra

The last monument built inside the Forum is the Column of Phocas. During the Middle Ages, though the memory of the Forum Romanum persisted, its monuments were for the most part buried under debris, and its location was designated the Campo Vaccinio or "cattle field," located between the Capitoline Hill and the Colosseum. The return of Pope Urban V from Avignon (1367) led to an increased interest in ancient monuments, partly for their moral lesson and partly as a quarry for new buildings being undertaken in Rome after a long lapse. Artist from the late 15th century drew the ruins in the Forum, antiquaries copied inscriptions from the 16th century, and a tentative excavation was begun in the late 18th century. But the excavation by Carlo Fea, who began clearing the debris from the Arch of Septimius Severus in 1803, and archaeologists under the Napoleonic regime marked the beginning of clearing the Forum, which was only fully excavated in the early 20th century.

Imperial forums

The Imperial Forums consist of a serie of monumental piazzas constructed for one and half century. (between 46 BC and 113 AD) The forums are in the heart of the ancient Rome in the Roman Empire period.

These are not part of the Roman Forum, which was the piazza from the Roman Republic. The draft of these forums were done in the Royal Age (Fourth century), and these forums are the centres of politics, religion and economy in the ancient Rome. Inspite of many new constructions and the rebuilding of the old structures, as well as many of those decorational monuments, the Roman Forum possess of more than one characteristic. Under the ruling of Caesar and Augustus, with the construction of Giulia Basilica and the reconstruction of Emilia Basilica, which set the dimensions of the piazza, they also give the forum a certain regularity.

Forum of Caesar 46 BC

Caesar decided to construct a big piazza under his name. This piazza was inaugurated in 46 BC (it was probably still incomplete at this time and was finished later by Augustus).

The Forum of Caesar was constructed as an extension to the Roman Forum. The Forum was used as a replacement venue to the Roman Forum for dealings in public affairs as well as the noblest activities . Caesar had placed in front the temple a statue of himself riding Bucefalo, the celebrated horse of Alexander the Great to symbolise absolute power. This centralized vision corresponded to the ideological function, following the propaganda of the Hellenistic sanctuaries.

The choice of the Forum site is also significant: the future dictator didn't want to be far from the central power, represented in the Curia, seat of the Senate. In fact, not long before Caesar's death, the Senate agreed to reconstruct the Curia on the site.

Forum of Augustus 2 BC

In the battle of Philippi in 42 BC, which Augustus and Mark Antony worked together and venged for Caesar's death, Augustus vowed to build a temple dedicated to Mars Ultor. The incomplete forum was inaugurated, after 40 years of construction, in 2 BC, adding the second monumental piazza, the Forum of Augustus.

This new complex lies in right angle to the Forum of Caesar. The temple consists of a very tall wall, and this still distinguish itself from the common quarter of Suburra. The rectangular piazza has long deep porticos with a surface that widens into large semicircular exedras.

The entire decoration of the Forum was tightly connected to the ideology of Augustus. The origin of Rome was born from the god of Mars through Romulus, along with the Gens Julia (the family of Julius Caesar and therefore Augustus, being his adopted son) generated from Venus through the mythical Aeneas. So Augustus presented the young Romulus as the new founder of the city.

Temple of Peace 75 AD

Under the Emperor Vespasian, another big piazza was built. Separated from the Forum of Augustus, the Forum of Caesar, also seperated from the Via dell'Argileto which connect the Roman Forum to Suburra, the temple was opened to the Velia hills (in the direction of the colosseum. The fact that this structure is not mentioned as having a civil function has withheld it from being classified as a true Forum. Therefore the structure was simply identified as the Temple of Peace (Templum Pacis) until the late Empire.

Also the shape of the piazza was different: the temple was constructed by a large apsidal hall that opened up like an exedra at the bottom of the portico. A row of columns distinguished the portico from the temple. The centre area was not paved like other piazzas, and it was served as a garden, with pools and basements for statues, it was similar to an open air museum.

The monument was built to celebrate the conquering of Jerusalem. In one of the chambers opened at the end of the porticos is the Forma Urbis Severiana, a marble map of Antique Rome, made in the Severian period (began at the third century) by drawing on the marble slab which covered the wall, and is only partially left now.

Forum of Nerva 98 AD (aka Transitional Forum)

Domitian decided to unify the previous complex and in the free remaining irregular area, between the Temple of Peace and the Forums of Caesar and Augustus, and build another monumental piazza which connected all of the other piazzas.

The limited space, partially occupied by one of the exedras of the Forum of Augustus and by the via dell'Argiletto, obliged Vespasian to build the lateral porticos as simply decorations of the bounding walls of the forum. The temple, dedicated to Minerva as protector of the emperor, was built leaning on the exedra of the Forum of Augustus, so that the remaining space became a large monumental entrance (Porticus Absidatus) for all the forums.

Because of the death of Domitian, the forum was inaugurated by his successor, Nerva, who gave his own name to the forum. The Forum of Nerva is also known as Transitional Forum, because it worked as an access way, just like via dell'Argileto had done.

Forum of Trajan 112 and 113 AD

It is probable that Domitian projects were more ambitious than the building of the small "Forum of Nerva", and probably under his reign they started to remove the small saddle that united the Capitoline Hill to the Quirinal Hill, thus blocking the Forums towards Campus Martius, near to modern Piazza Venezia.

The project was taken back by Trajan with the construction of Trajan's Forum between 112 and 113. The occasion was the conquest of Dacia, whose spoils paied for this celebration of the military conquests of Rome.

The preparation of the Forum requested a lot of work. It was necessary to remove the hilly saddle, and to support the cut of Quirinal Hill through the building of the Trajan's market. The Forum square was closed by the Basilica Ulpia, with the Trajan's Column at its back. In front of the basilica, a monumental façade was the background of a large, equestrian sculpture of the Emperor. The last Forum was also the biggest and greatest.

Forum Boarium

The Forum Boarium was the cattle forum venalium of Ancient Rome and the oldest forum that Rome possessed. It was located at a flat place near the Tiber between the Capitoline, the Palatine and Aventine hills. Here, too, is where the first bridges were built. The Boarium was by the premier port of Rome (Port Tibernius), and experienced intense commercial activity.

The site was a also a religious center housing the Temple of Hercules Victor, the Temple of Portunus, and the massive 6th or 5th century BC Great Altar of Hercules.

The Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Olivarius (Hercules as protector of the olive trade), is a circular 2nd century BC building in the corinthian style (capitals with acanthus leaves.)

The Temple of Portunus is a rectangular building (built between 100 and 80 B. C), Ionic in style (capitals with characteristic volutes). It is built of tufa and travertine with a stucco surface.

The Forum Boarium was the site of the first gladiatorial contest at Rome which took place in 264 BC as part of aristocratic funerary ritual, a munus or funeral gift for the dead. Decimus Junius Brutus put on a gladiatorial combat in honor of his deceased father with three pairs of slaves serving as gladiators.

At the end of the Roman Empire, the area became overtaken with shops.

Forum Holitorium

The Forum Holitorium was the vegetables, herbs and oil forum venalium of early ancient Rome, by the Tiber at the foot of the Capitoline and Palatine hills. Once, the site of an early temple of Venus, the centre of buying and selling was transferred, in 388, to the Campus Martius (Forum Holitorium), leaving the old Roman Forum to the business of the State.

Four Republican temples once stood in the market, the temple Juno Sospita (Juno the savior} as well as temples of Janus, Pietas ("duty") and Spes ("hope"). The Temple of Pietas had two squares with one being dedicated to Diana, the temple was destroyed to make way for the Theatre of Marcellus. The other temples were eventually converted into a prison (called carcere, which means prison).

The Church of San Nicola in Carcere stands in the area that used to be the Forum Holitorium. The ruins of the three remaining temples are incorporated and lie beneath the church. Remains of other temples lie under and around the Church of Sant'Omobono.

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It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rome".


Last update July 22th, 2007