The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum in Latin) is a rectangular open space roughly 150 meters long and 75 meters wide, with its long axis running from the Capitoline hill in a southeasterly direction toward the valley of the Colosseum. This space is the heart of the city and was the focal point for Roman political and legal activity; it was the scene of meetings of the senate, political assemblies, and famous trials. Many of the most important religious shrines and temples were also located in the forum or nearby, and important religious sacrifices and rituals took place in it. Early in the city's history, the Roman Forum was a commercial center and remained a hub of financial transactions and money lending. Finally, it was the stage for many impressive urban spectacles, such as funerals, gladiatorial combats, and public feasts. By Late Antiquity, it had become crammed with honorific statues, shrines, arches, columns, and other monuments commemorating Roman heroes and conquests. Even when its political and legal functions declined during the empire, it always remained the symbolic center of the city and of the empire.
The Roman Forum changed dramatically from the early to the middle to the Late Republic and throughout the first couple of centuries of the empire, but over this entire span of nearly 1,000 years, there was a set of core buildings and shrines that remained constant and helped to define this space.
The southeast border of the Roman Forum was delineated by the Regia, a small structure of great antiquity. It was consecrated as a templum and, as its name suggests, was associated with the kings, although it was probably not the house of the kings. During the republic, it was associated with the chief priest, the Pontifex Maximus. It was rebuilt many times but always had an unusual tapering, rectangular outline (with the broad end
Figure 4.1 Map of the main buildings around the Roman Forum. (Gregory S, Aldrete, Phaeton Group, Scientific Graphic Services Division.)
Facing the Roman Forum) defined by the streets that passed on either side of the building. On the other side of one of these streets at the very southeast comer of the forum was the circular Temple of Vesta, housing the sacred flame of the city that was tended by the Vestal Virgins.
Tunning the comer, one approaches the southwest side of the Roman Forum, which is defined by two temples, one at each end. At the southern end was the Temple of Castor near the place where the gods Castor and Pollux were supposedly seen watering their horses following a battle in 496 Bc. This was one of the frequent meeting places of the senate during the republic. At the northern end of this side was the imposing Temple of Saturn, which housed the state treasury. The northwest side of the Roman Forum backed up against the Capitoline hill, and in the center of this side, the Temple of Concord was located on the slopes of the hill.
The northern corner of the Roman Forum was the seat of structures associated with Roman government. Chief among these was the Curia, or the Roman senate house. It was rebuilt a number of times in slightly different locations but always at this comer of the forum. The Curia, the ordinary meeting venue for the Roman senate, was rectangular in shape (25 by 18 meters) with a high roof. It consisted of a single, large room with bronze doors facing the Forum at one end and a low dais at the opposite end
Figure 4.2 General view of the Roman Forum as seen from the CapitolLne hill.
Where presumably the presiding magistrate would have sat. Running down the two long sides of the building were three broad, raised steps upon which the senators' chairs would have been placed, leaving a large central open space. Different versions of the building had decorations of various sorts, including paintings of Roman military successes and a statue of Victory. The floor and walls were adorned with decorative marble in geometric patterns. The front of the building had a porch with Ionic columns and stairs leading down to the forum. The building that survives today is a reconstruction by the emperor Diocletian of Augustus' Curia. Its current preservation is due to the fact that it was consecrated as a Christian church in the seventh century ad, although efforts have been made today to restore it to its original appearance. The Roman orator Cicero refers to the Curia as "the shrine of holiness, of majesty, of intellect, of public policy, the head of the city, the sanctuary of our allies, the haven of all races, the dwelling place accorded to a single order by the whole people" {Cicero, Pro tAilone 90). Tlie northeast side of the Roman Forum featured two religious sites, the shrines of Janus and of Venus Cloacina (Venus of the sewers).
This set of eight buildings and shrines scattered around the different sides of the Roman Forum comprised some of the constants that helped to define this space and that survived the various reconstructions. The long sides of the Roman Forum were given definition early on by rows of shops. Those along the south side were sometimes referred to as the Tabernae Veterae, or "old shops," and those along the north side as the
Figure 4,3 The Curia, the usual meeting place of the Roman senate.
Tabernae Novae, the "new shops." The old shops seem to have been largely taken over by bankers and moneylenders, and, at least early in the republic, the new shops housed a number of butchers. Over time, these merchants were gradually displaced, and the north and south sides of the forum were given a more impressive, monumental shape by the construction of the Basilica Aemiiia along the north side and, later, the Basilica Julia along the south side. A basilica is a type of Roman building consisting of a series of covered colonnades with a central nave. They were employed as a kind of general-purpose structure that could house merchants or magistrates or simply serve as public gathering spaces. In their final form, these were enormous, multistory buildings made of fine marble. The final Basilica Julia was over 100 meters long and 60 meters wide.
The corner of the Roman Forum with the Curia was the location of several other political structures. One of these was a templiitti called the Comi-tium, which was a site of public assembly and in particular the place
Figure 4.4 The northwest side of the Roman Forum, with remains of the Rostra in the foreground and the Capitoline hill in the background. The eight columns to the left are all that remains of the Temple of Saturn.
Where the Comitia Curiata, one of the citizen assemblies that voted on laws, met. By the midrepublic, the Comitium seems to have consisted of a kind of circular depression with tiers of seats where the assembly gathered and voted. The side facing the Roman Forum feahired a curved, raised platform from which speakers could either address the assembly in the Comitium or else turn around and speak to larger crowds in the Roman Forum itself.
Between the various judicial magistrates and public assemblies, there was a need for multiple platforms from which speakers could address crowds, and after the naval victory at Antium in 338 isc, a speaker's platform was erected In the Roman Forum and decorated with the rams of enemy ships captured in the battle. Because of this, the platform was called the Rostra, which was the term for the beaks or rams of ships. Rostra subsequently became a generic name for various other speaker's platforms that were similarly adorned with ships' rams. A public assembly of Roman citizens, known as a contio, could be summoned by a magistrate or by a priest for such purposes as describing pending legislation and discussing important public issues or the proposals of prominent politicians. These platforms were the stages for many of the dramatic speeches of the Late Republic, such as those in which Cicero denounced Mark Antony. While for much of his life Cicero enjoyed considerable success stirring up crowds at contiones using his oratorical skills to address the people from the Rostra, this same platform was the scene of an ignominious end to Cic-
Figure 4.5 Reconstruction of the northwest si tie of the Roman Forum with the Rostra in the center and the temples of Vespasian and Saturn behind it, (From G, Gatteschi, Restauri della Roma Imperiale, 1924, p. 11.)
Ero's career. After his death at Antony's instigation, Cicero's head and hands were chopped off and put on display on the Rostra.
By the early empire, the assemblies held in the Comitium had been transferred to larger venues and the area was paved over. Augustus constructed a new" Rostra oriented squarely facing the Roman Forum along the northwestern side. This Rostra and the area around it became festooned with honorific statues, columns, and monuments. Among these was the Miliarium Aureum, the "golden milestone," from which distances were measured.
One interesting monument that has been uncovered in the area of the Comitium is the Lapis Niger—the "black stone." This is an irregularly shaped region of black paving slabs and a number of seemingly randomly placed monuments, including a U-shaped altar, a tufa cone, and a cippiis with an inscription written in a very archaic form of Latin. The whole area seems to have been marked off to prevent people from treading upon it, and there is considerable debate over the translation of the inscription, which may be among the earliest Latin texts. Various legends are associated with this place of seemingly ill omen, including that it marks the place of either the death or burial of Romulus or perhaps one of his ancestors.
One suggested translation of this inscription begins, "Whoever defiles this spot, let him be forfeit to the spirits of the Underworld, Whoever contaminates it with refuse, let the king deprive him of property according to the law. Whomever the king finds passing along the road, let him order the herald to seize the reins of their draught animals and force them to detour. Whoever does not take the proper detour but traverses this spot, let him be sold at auction according to the law." Whatever the actual nature of fhis monument, it was plainly a taboo site that people were not supposed to cross over.
Over time, buildings began to encroach upon the open space of the Roman Forum. The most dramatic of these was the Temple of the Deified Caesar, which was built over the spot where his body was cremated by rioting mobs in 44 bc. This happened at the southeast end of the forum, so fhe temple was erected there, in front of the Regia, hiding it from view. The sfairs of this temple were constructed to form another speakers' platform squarely facing the Augustan Rostra at the other end. This new one became known as the Imperial Rostra, and was a favorite spot from which emperors addressed the people.
In addition to the many political, economic, and religious activities that transpired in the Roman Forum, it was also a social center of the city and a kind of crossroads af which all classes of people mingled. Someone walking through the forum would see, in addition to aristocratic senators and magistrates, people of considerably lower status. Plainly, many individuals idled about among the cool colonnades simply people watching and vicariously being a part of the bustling scene. Some seem to have entertained themselves while loafing on the steps of the basilicas by playing various popular board and dicing games. Lacking formal boards, some people adopfed the simple expedient of hacking a crude game board into the fine marble on which they were seated. A number of these carvings are still visible today in the ruins of the Basilica Julia.
A portrait of the various types of unsavory people that one might encounter in and around the Roman Forum is offered by a character in Plautus's play, Curculio: "Perjurers can be found near the Comitium, while liars and braggarts hang around the Temple of Venus Cloacina and wealthy married idlers can be found in the basilica. In the same spot can be found worn out prostitutes and their pimps. Near the fish market are members of eating clubs, while respectable, wealthy citizens stroll through the lower Forum. In the middle Forum, you can find flashy fellows near the sewer ditch. Around the Lacus Curtins are loud, insulting bravos who like to denounce others without justification but who are worthy of criticism themselves. Near the tabernae veteres are the money-lenders, and lurking behind the Temple of Casfor are even more unsavory vendors. In the Vicus Tuscus are the male prostitutes who are willing to do anything. In the Velabnim are butchers, bakers, and fortune-tellers" (Plautus, Curculio 470-82).
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World History
