All Topics  
Roman Forum

 
Roman Forum

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Roman Forum
 
 
  Topics Roman Forum Topic Home

This page refers to the main forum in the center of Rome. See Imperial forums
Imperial forums

The Imperial Fora consist of a series of monumental forum , constructed in Rome over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD....
 or Other forums in Rome
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
 (below) for other forums in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 and other Roman provincial cities.
See Forum (Roman)
Forum (Roman)

The Forum was the public space in the middle of a Ancient Rome city.A gathering place of great social significance, it was often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions, meetings, et cetera....
 for the type of building.


The Roman Forum (Latin: Forum Romanum), sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill
Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other....
 and the Capitoline hill
Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill , between the Roman Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in the Romanesco....
 of the city of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 developed.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Roman Forum'
Start a new discussion about 'Roman Forum'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


This page refers to the main forum in the center of Rome. See Imperial forums
Imperial forums

The Imperial Fora consist of a series of monumental forum , constructed in Rome over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD....
 or Other forums in Rome
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
 (below) for other forums in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 and other Roman provincial cities.
See Forum (Roman)
Forum (Roman)

The Forum was the public space in the middle of a Ancient Rome city.A gathering place of great social significance, it was often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions, meetings, et cetera....
 for the type of building.


The Roman Forum (Latin: Forum Romanum), sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill
Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other....
 and the Capitoline hill
Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill , between the Roman Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in the Romanesco....
 of the city of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 developed. Citizens referred to the location as the "Forum Magnum" or just the "Forum".

The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city are located in the forum, including its ancient former royal residency the Regia
Regia

The Regia was a structure in Ancient Rome, located in the Roman Forum. It was originally the residence of the List of Kings of Rome or at least their main headquarters, and later the office of the Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Roman religion....
 and the surrounding complex of the Vestal virgins. The Old Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 had its formal Comitium
Comitium

The comitium was an area of the Ancient Rome Roman Forum. The space was considered to be the customary place for all political and judicial activity....
 there where the senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
, as well as Republican government began. The forum served as a city square and central hub where the people of Rome gathered for justice
Roman law

Roman law is the law system of ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting Greek language as its official language in the 7th century....
, and faith
Roman religion

The term Roman religion may refer to:*Religion in ancient Rome*religions of the Roman Empire period **Imperial cult *** Sol Invictus**Mithraism...
. The forum was also the economic hub of the city and considered to be the center of the Republic and Empire.

History

The area of the forum was originally a grassy wetland
Wetland

File:Mangrove trees in Everglades.JPGA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water....
. It was drained in the 7th century BCE by building the Cloaca Maxima
Cloaca Maxima

The Cloaca Maxima was one of the world's earliest sewage systems. Constructed in ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous city, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city....
, a large covered sewer system that drained into the Tiber River
Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, as more people began to settle between the two hills.

The second king, Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius , according to legend, was the second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. After Romulus died, Romans in the city elected a Sabine man to be king, so as to make him loyal to both tribes in Rome....
, is said to have begun the cult of Vesta, building its house and temple as well as the Regia
Regia

The Regia was a structure in Ancient Rome, located in the Roman Forum. It was originally the residence of the List of Kings of Rome or at least their main headquarters, and later the office of the Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Roman religion....
 as the city's first royal palace. Later Tullus Hostilius
Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius was the third of the legendary Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius.His successful wars with Alba Longa, Fidenae and Veii shadow forth the earlier conquests of Latin territory and the first extension of the Roman territory beyond the walls of Rome....
 erected the Curia and enclosed the Comitium. In 600 BCE Tarquinius Priscus
Tarquinius Priscus

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the fifth Kings of Rome from 616 BC to 579 BC. His wife was Tanaquil....
 had the area paved for the first time.

Over time the Comitium was lost to the ever-growing Curia and Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
's rearranging of the forum before his assassination in 44 BC. After Caesar's death Octavius finished the work.

Many of the forum's temples are from either the kingdom or the Republican era. Many have been destroyed and rebuilt several times.

Excavation and preservation

An anonymous 8th century traveler from Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln, Switzerland

Einsiedeln is a municipalities of Switzerland of 13,062 in Switzerland in the Cantons of Switzerland of Canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey....
 (now in Switzerland) reported that the Forum was already falling apart in his time. 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 Vaccino" or "cattle field," located between the Capitoline Hill
Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill , between the Roman Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in the Romanesco....
 and the Colosseum. The return of Pope Urban V
Pope Urban V

Blessed Pope Urban V , born Guillaume Grimoard, was Pope from 1362 to 1370....
 from Avignon
Avignon Papacy

In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which seven popes, all List of French popes-speaking, resided in Avignon, :...
 in 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. Artists from the late 15th century drew the ruins in the Forum, antiquaries copied inscriptions in the 16th century, and a tentative excavation was begun in the late 18th century.

Sequences of remains of paving show that sediment eroded from the surrounding hills was already raising the level of the forum in early Republican
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 times. Originally it had been marsh
Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood . Typically the water is shallow and features Poaceaees, Juncaceaees, Phragmites, typhas, Cyperaless, and other herbaceous plants....
y ground, which was drained by the Tarquins
Tarquinius Priscus

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the fifth Kings of Rome from 616 BC to 579 BC. His wife was Tanaquil....
 with the Cloaca Maxima
Cloaca Maxima

The Cloaca Maxima was one of the world's earliest sewage systems. Constructed in ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous city, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city....
. Its final travertine
Travertine

Travertine is a sedimentary rock. It is a natural chemical precipitation of carbonate minerals; typically aragonite, but often recrystallized to, or primarily, calcite....
 paving, still visible, dates from the reign of Augustus.

A cardinal took measures to drain it again and built the Alessandrine neighborhood over it. But the excavation by Carlo Fea
Carlo Fea

Carlo Fea was an Italy archaeologist.Fea studied law in Rome, receiving the degree of doctor of laws from the university of University of Rome La Sapienza, but archaeology gradually attracted his attention, and with the view of obtaining better opportunities for his research in 1798 he took orders....
, who began clearing the debris from the Arch of Septimius Severus in 1803, and archaeologists under the Napoleonic regime
History of Italy during foreign domination and the unification

The history of Italy in the Early Modern period was characterized by foreign domination:Following the Italian Wars , Italy saw a long period of relative peace, first under Habsburg Spain and then under Habsburg Austria ....
 marked the beginning of clearing the Forum, which was only fully excavated in the early 20th century.

Remains from several centuries are shown together, due to the Roman practice of building over earlier ruins.

Structures within the Forum

The ruins within the forum clearly show how urban spaces were utilized during the Roman Age. The Roman Forum includes a modern statue of Julius Caesar and the following major monuments, buildings, and ancient ruins
Ruins

Ruins is a term used to describe the remains of man-made architecture: structures that were once complete but which have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of Maintenance, repair and operations or deliberate acts of destruction....
:

Temples
Roman temple

In the ancient religion of Roman paganism, practitioners often performed their worship at a temple....

  • Temple of Castor and Pollux
    Temple of Castor and Pollux

    The Roman temple of Castor and Pollux and Castor and Pollux is an ancient edifice in the Roman Forum, originally built in gratitude for victory at the battle of Lake Regillus ....
  • Temple of Saturn
    Temple of Saturn

    The Temple of Saturn is a monument to the Roman mythology Saturn that stands at the western end of the Forum Romanum in Rome. It represents the oldest surviving structure in that area, having been established between 501 BC and 498 BC....
  • Temple of Vesta
    Temple of Vesta

    The Temple of Vesta is ancient edifice in Rome, Italy, located in the Roman Forum between the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Caesar, the Regia and the House of the Vestals....
  • Temple of Venus and Roma
    Temple of Venus and Roma

    The Temple of Venus and Roma was the largest known Roman temple in Ancient Rome. Located at the far east side of the Forum Romanum near the Colosseum, it was dedicated to the goddesses Venus #Epithets and Roma Aeterna ....
  • Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
    Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

    The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is an Ancient Rome temple in Rome, adapted to the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. It stands in the Forum Romanum, on the Via Sacra, opposite the Regia....
  • Temple of Caesar
    Temple of Caesar

    The Temple of Caesar was begun by Augustus in 42 BC after the senate deification Julius Caesar posthumously. Augustus dedicated the Ionic order prostyle temple to Caesar on August 18, 29 BC, after the Battle of Actium....
  • Temple of Vespasian and Titus
    Temple of Vespasian and Titus

    The Temple of Vespasian and Titus is located in Rome at the western end of the Roman Forum between the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of Saturn....
  • Temple of Concord
    Temple of Concord

    The Temple of Concord in the Rome, Italy was the city's primary temple dedicated to the Roman gods Concordia . It was situated at the western end of the Roman Forum....
  • Shrine of Venus Cloacina
    Shrine of Venus Cloacina

    The Shrine of Venus Cloacina was a small sanctuary on the Roman Forum, in front of the Basilica Aemilia.The shrine was dedicated to Venus as the deity of Cloaca Maxima, the main sewer of ancient Rome....


Basilica
Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
s

  • Basilica Aemilia
    Basilica Aemilia

    The Basilica Aemilia was a civil basilica in the Roman forum, in Rome, Italy. Today only the plan and some rebuilt elements can be seen. The Basilica was 100 meters long and about 30 meters wide....
  • Basilica Julia
    Basilica Julia

    The Basilica Julia, was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the early Roman Empire. The building was initially dedicated in 46 BC by Julius Caesar, with building costs paid from the spoils of the Gallic War....
  • Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine

Arches
Triumphal arch

A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental arch, in theory built to celebrate a victory in war, actually used to celebrate a ruler....

  • Arch of Septimius Severus
    Arch of Septimius Severus

    The white marble Arch of Septimius Severus at the northeast end of the Roman Forum is a triumphal arch dedicated in AD 203 to commemorate the Parthian War of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Publius Septimius Geta, in the two campaigns against the Parthians of 194/195 and 197-199....
  • Arch of Titus
    Arch of Titus

    The Arch of Titus is a Pentelic marble triumphal arch with a single arched opening, located on the Via Sacra just to the south-east of the Roman Forum in Rome....
  • Arch of Tiberius
    Arch of Tiberius

    The Arch of Tiberius was built to celebrate the recovery of the Roman Standard that had been lost to Germanic tribes by Publius Quinctilius Varus in 9 CE....
  • Arch of Augustus


Other structures

  • Regia
    Regia

    The Regia was a structure in Ancient Rome, located in the Roman Forum. It was originally the residence of the List of Kings of Rome or at least their main headquarters, and later the office of the Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Roman religion....
    , originally the residence of the kings of Rome or at least their main headquarters, and later the office of the Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Roman religion.
  • Rostra
    Rostra

    In ancient Rome, the Rostra was a platform from which Roman Magistrates, politicians, advocates and other orators spoke to the assembled people of Rome and conducted criminal trials....
    , from where politicians made their speeches to the Roman citizens
  • Curia Hostilia (later rebuilt as the Curia Julia), the site of the Roman Senate
    Roman Senate

    The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
  • Tabularium
    Tabularium

    The Tabularium was the official records office of ancient Rome, and also housed the offices of many city officials. Situated within the Forum Romanum, it was on the front slope of the Capitoline Hill, below the Temple of Jupiter , to the southeast of the Arx and Tarpeian Rock...
  • Gemonian stairs
    Gemonian stairs

    The Gemonian Stairs were a flight of steps located in the ancient city of Rome. Nicknamed the Stairs of Mourning, the stairs are infamous in Roman history as a place of Execution ....
  • Clivus Capitolinus was the street that started at the Arch of Tiberius, wound around the Temple of Saturn, and ended at Capitoline Hill.
  • Umbilicus Urbi
    Umbilicus Urbi

    The Umbilicus Urbis of the City of Rome, the designated centre of the city from which and to which all distances in Rome and the Roman Empire were measured, is situated in the Roman Forum....
    , the designated centre of the city from which and to which all distances in Rome and the Roman Empire were measured
  • Milliarium Aureum All roads were considered to begin from this monument and all distances in the Roman Empire were measured relative to that point.
  • Lapis Niger
    Lapis Niger

    The Lapis Niger is a series of Ancient Rome shrines built consecutively around, and on top of, a sacred spot. The name originally referred to a black stone stele with the earliest known Latin inscription....
    , a shrine also known as the Black Stone
  • Atrium Vestae
    House of the Vestals

    The House of the Vestal Virgins was the place where Vestal Virgins lived. It was located just behind their circular Temple of Vesta at the eastern edge of the Roman Forum, between the Regia and the Palatine Hill, in Rome....
    , the house of the Vestal Virgins
  • A procession
    Procession

    A procession is, in general, an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner....
    al street, the Via Sacra
    Via Sacra

    The Via Sacra is the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Roman Forum , to the Colosseum....
    , linked the Atrium Vetae with the Colosseum
    Colosseum

    The Colosseum or Roman Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire....
    . By the end of the Empire, it had lost its everyday use but remained a sacred place.
  • Column of Phocas
    Column of Phocas

    The Column of Phocas, which was erected before the Rostra in the Roman Forum and dedicated or rededicated in honour of the Byzantine Empire Phocas on August 1 608, was the last addition made to the Roman Forum....
    , the last monument built within the Forum
  • Tullianum, the prison used to hold various foreign leaders and generals.




Other forums in Rome

Romafororomanocolonnafoca
Other fora existed in other areas of the city; remains of most of them, sometimes substantial, still exist. The most important of these are a number of large imperial fora
Imperial forums

The Imperial Fora consist of a series of monumental forum , constructed in Rome over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD....
 forming a complex with the Forum Romanum: the Forum Iulium
Forum of Caesar

The Forum of Caesar, also known as Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris, is a forum built by Julius Caesar near the Roman Forum in Rome in 46 BC....
, Forum Augustum, the Forum Transitorium (also: Forum Nervae), and Trajan's Forum
Trajan's Forum

Trajan's Forum is chronologically the last of the Imperial fora of Rome. The forum was constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus....
. The planners of the Mussolini era removed most of the Medieval and Baroque strata and built the Via dei Fori Imperiali road between the Imperial Fora and the Forum. There is also:

  • The Forum Boarium
    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 Hill, the Palatine Hill and Aventine hills....
    , dedicated to the commerce of cattle
    Cattle

    Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
    , between the Palatine Hill
    Palatine Hill

    The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other....
     and the river Tiber
    Tiber

    The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea....
    ,
  • The Forum Holitorium
    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 Hill and Palatine Hill hills....
    , dedicated to the commerce of herb
    Herb

    A herb is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like....
    s and vegetable
    Vegetable

    The term "vegetable" generally means the Eating parts of plants. The definition of the word is traditional rather than scientific, however, and therefore the usage of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective, as it is determined by individual cultural customs of food selection and food preparation....
    s, between the Capitoline Hill and the Servian walls,
  • The Forum Piscarium
    Forum Piscarium

    The Forum Piscarium was the fish Forum Venalium of ancient Rome, north of the Roman Forum, between the Sacra Via and the Argiletum. It was burned in 210 BC and rebuilt the next year....
    , dedicated to the commerce of fish
    Fish

    A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
    , between the Capitoline hill and the Tiber, in the area of the current Roman Ghetto
    Roman Ghetto

    The Roman Ghetto was located in the Sant'Angelo , in the area surrounded by today's Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto close to the Tiber and the Theater of Marcellus, in Rome, Italy....
    ,
  • The Forum Suarium
    Forum Suarium

    The Forum Suarium was the pork Forum Venalium of early Ancient Rome during the Roman Empire, mentioned first in two inscriptions of about 200 AD....
    , dedicated to the commerce of pork
    Pork

    Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig . The word, pork, is often meant to denote specifically the fresh meat of the pig, but it can be used as an all-inclusive term, to include cured, smoked, or processed meats It is one of the most-commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry dating back...
    , near the barracks of the cohortes urbanae in the northern part of the campus Martius
    Campus Martius

    The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km? in extent. In the Middle Ages it was the most populous area of Rome....
    ,
  • The Forum Vinarium
    Forum Vinarium

    The Forum Vinarium was the wine Forum Venalium of early Ancient Rome, it was located in the area now of the quartiere Testaccio, between Aventine Hill and the Tiber....
    , dedicated to the commerce of wine
    Wine

    Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
    , in the area now of the "quartiere" Testaccio
    Testaccio

    Testaccio is the 20th rioni of Rome, deriving its name from Monte Testaccio. In antiquity, much of the Tiber River trade took place here, and the remains of broken clay vessels were stacked creating the artificial Testaccio hill, which today is a source of much archeological evidence as to the history of ancient everyday Roman life....
    , between Aventine Hill
    Aventine Hill

    The Aventine Hill is one of the Seven hills of Rome on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa , the twelfth rione, or ward, of Rome....
     and the Tiber.


Other markets were known but remain unidentifiable due to a lack of precise information on the function of the sites. Among these, the Forum cuppedinis, was known as a general market for many goods.

External links


Comprehensive sites

  • , 3D reconstructions of the Roman Forum in ca. 400
  • (at LacusCurtius; Hülsen was one of the principal excavators of the Forum)


Primarily visual


Primarily text

  • (at LacusCurtius; article in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome)