ROMAN FORUM

Description

Essentials about the Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is one of the tourist highlights in Rome and a must-see on any trip to Rome. It is the oldest Roman forum and for centuries was the center of the Roman and therefore the “known” world. Great politics were made on the Forum, the most venerable temples of the city were located here, business was done and various goods were offered for sale, the courts met here and idlers lingered in the large porticoes. The Roman Forum is therefore also the most important excavation site of ancient Rome.

The location of the Roman Forum

The Forum is located in a depression between the three city hills Capitoline, Palatine and Esquiline. Originally it was a marshy valley crossed by a stream and used as a burial ground by the early Latin settlers. It was only under the legendary Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus that the area was incorporated into the nascent city of Rome at the beginning of the 7th century BC. This was made possible by the construction of the Cloaca Maxima, an extensive canal system that drained the swamp and made the terrain usable.

The history of the Roman Forum

The first buildings in the 6th century BC

In the 6th century B.C. a first paved square was built, where subsequently a large number of public buildings were constructed: At the south end of the square, the Regia, the king’s house, and at the north end, the so-called Rostra (the name given to oratory platforms in ancient Rome), and behind it, the Comitium, the place for the people’s legislative assemblies, which was separated from the Forum. This area was largely where Roman politics were made, as the seat of the Senate, the Curia, was also located here. Also still from the 6th century BC is the complex of the Lapis Niger, a square area of black marble slabs. A misleading legend claims that the tomb of the mythical founder of the city, Romulus, is located here. In the meantime, however, it seems certain that it is an archaic sanctuary of the god Vulcan.

The development into a city center in the 5th and 4th centuries BC

Around 490 BC, two temples were built in the valley, dedicated to the gods Saturn and Castor. Together with a row of stores between the temples, they formed the southern boundary of the forum, which served as a marketplace. Around the middle of the 5th century BC, the forum quickly developed into the center of the young city. On the western narrow side of the Forum, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, a first temple dedicated to Concordia was built in 367 BC. The foundation was meant to symbolize the end of the estates struggles between the patricians and the plebeians. The fact that the Forum was chosen as the site for this purpose testifies to its increasing importance in political terms. In the following decades, various Roman consuls, envoys and other politicians were honored by statues on the Forum. In the political struggle of the late Republic, however, such honorary statues were constantly toppled or destroyed, rebuilt or melted down.

Lively construction activity in the 2nd century BC

With the end of the Punic Wars in the 2nd century BC and the financial resources gained from the spoils of war, a flurry of building activity began in Rome in general, but especially in the Forum. Four large basilicas were built, and the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of the Dioscuri were also rebuilt. Both gave the forum square a solid frame on the north and south sides. In addition, dictator Sulla built the Tabularium, the state archives, on the slope of the Capitoline Hill.

The economic and politically representative function of the Roman Forum

During this period there was a shift in the function of the forum. In the first centuries of the Republic, a dichotomy was clearly visible: While the northeastern area of the Forum, the Comitium, formed the political center of the city, other areas of the square were reserved mainly for economic activities. Market stalls and booths were located here, and everyday business was conducted. In the 3rd century, a separate market complex, the Macellum, was built north of the square for the economic functions of the Forum.

With the rise of Rome as the dominant power of the Mediterranean, the political-representative function of the square came more and more to the fore. The Comitium, which in its basic layout still dated from the time of the kings, soon became too small for the Comitia (the people’s assemblies), and the great upheaval from the Republic to the Principate in the middle of the 1st century BC, accompanied by bloody civil wars, also left clearly visible traces on the Forum, which fundamentally changed the face of the square.

The fundamental transformation under Gaius Iulius Caesar

The forum underwent a fundamental transformation under Gaius Iulius Caesar. The republican Curia Hostilia was replaced by the Curia Iulia, which was integrated into a corner of the newly built Caesar Forum, and a new Rostra (oratory stage) was built. The Comitium from the Republic period disappeared. In addition, Caesar had the forum repaved and an underground system of passages built under the plaza, which probably served as a venue for gladiator fights until the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus in 29 BC, the first stone and therefore permanent building for this type of event.

The redesign under Emperor Augustus

Under Emperor Augustus, the forum was heavily remodeled. The extensive use of marble and the new paving in white travertine created an extremely magnificent square, perhaps comparable to the Acropolis in Athens. The new design, oriented toward Augustus, was also reflected in the fact that the new paving, laid after a fire in 12 B.C., closed off the Caesarian passage systems. Games were no longer held in the forum. The temple to Augustus’ deified adoptive father, already erected in 29 BC, now formed the new eastern boundary. It was possibly flanked by two triumphal arches celebrating Augustus’ military victories. Thus, the eastern side of the forum was entirely in the service of Augustan presentation and self-expression.

Tiberius, Augustus’ adopted son and successor, built his own arch on the west side, between the Basilica Iulia and the Temple of Saturn. Tiberius had already had the Temple of Concordia on this side of the Forum extensively renovated, so that now the buildings of Augustus and Tiberius encompassed the square complex on the narrow sides.

Religious ceremonies among the following emperors

Under the following emperors, the focus of the square’s function shifted; the forum now served as a backdrop for magnificent religious ceremonies. Since the Roman Forum had become too small in the late Republic, from Caesar onwards some rulers built the so-called imperial forums (Caesar Forum, Augustus Forum, Peace Forum of the Flavians, Nerva Forum, Trajan Forum), which took over some of the tasks of the Roman Forum, but could never completely replace it. Only now the forum got the rarely used addition “Romanum” to distinguish it from the other forums.

The interventions of Augustus’ successors were at first thoughtful, new buildings complemented the square without redefining it. Thus, under Domitian, the Temple of Vespasian and Titus was built on the west side, and on the north side, outside the actual forum area, Antoninus Pius erected the Temple of Faustina, his deified wife, in 141.

Modifications under Domitian

Only Domitian dared to intervene fundamentally in the forum complex, not by constructing buildings, but by erecting a colossal equestrian statue. It occupied the center of the square and degraded the surrounding buildings to a mere backdrop for his self-portrayal. Immediately after his death in 96, it was removed. It took until the tenth anniversary of the Roman tetrarchy in 305 for the forum to be comparably instrumentalized again. The character of the Forum changed once again with the construction of the Arch of Septimius Severus in 203, which placed a new emphasis on the west side by forming a three-arched entrance north of the Rostra.

Modifications under Diocletian

At the time of Diocletian, who also had the Curia renewed and gave it the basic features of its present appearance, the east side underwent a final decisive change, when the new Rostra, occupying almost the entire width, were built. They replaced on this side the old Rostra of the Temple of Caesar and now corresponded with the Rostra of the west side, which were also changed in this period. A five-column monument was added to the western Rostra, which rose on or behind that of the tribune. One of the associated column bases, the so-called Decennalia base, has been preserved. Also in the Tetrarchic period, on the south side of the Forum, immediately in front of the facade of the Basilica Iulia, a seven-column monument was built, the bases of which are still preserved.

Modifications under Constantine the Great

After Constantine the Great emerged victorious from the tetrarchic power struggles in 324, he occupied the Forum and had his colossal equestrian statue erected in front of the Arch of Septimius Severus, followed a few years later by another equestrian statue for his son Constantius II in front of the northern passage of the arch. The last ancient structure erected on the Roman Forum in 608, during the reign of Pope Boniface IV, was the Phocas Column in honor of the Eastern Roman Emperor Phocas.

The destruction of the Roman Forum in the Middle Ages

In the 8th century, many of its buildings were no longer intact, but the Roman Forum continued to form the center of the Eternal City. For the year 768 the last people’s assembly on the area of the forum is handed down. Some ancient buildings were subsequently converted into churches. The Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina was transformed into the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, the Curia Iulia into the church of Sant’Adriano al Foro Romano. It was only at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries that the Forum slowly lost its central function. Buildings were destroyed, sometimes deliberately, in order to obtain building materials and land for construction. The Norman raid of 1084 contributed to further destruction of the Forum buildings.

By the middle of the 12th century, the forum area was no longer passable; the rubble of ancient buildings on the one hand and newly erected fortifications on the other necessitated major detours. On the ruins, dwellings were built, simple brick buildings with wooden roofs, surrounded by vegetable gardens and vineyards. The ground level of the forum had meanwhile risen significantly. The ancient structures were mostly buried under the now higher ground level, and cows grazed on part of the resulting open space.

The construction of the Triumph Road under Pope Paul III.

During the reign of Pope Paul III, the forum area was interfered with for the last time. On the occasion of the visit of Emperor Charles V, a triumphal road was laid out between the arches of Septimius Severus and Titus. For this purpose, numerous residential buildings and the fortress towers located in the way were demolished. The area was leveled and artificially elevated with additional building rubble brought in. From the 17th century, a large avenue of elm trees marked the course of this road.

First excavations at the end of the 18th century

Thus, most of the architectural remains on the forum disappeared irretrievably between the 13th and 16th centuries. The area, which was now useless as a quarry, occupied only by individual houses and workshops, and otherwise used for agriculture, increasingly came into the focus of antiquarian interests. At the end of the 18th century, the Swede Carl Fredrik von Fredenheim carried out the first excavation and uncovered part of the Basilica Iulia.

Finally, at the beginning of the 19th century, the systematic uncovering of the forum area began. For this purpose, first the residential buildings, for which the ruins had been used as a convenient base, were demolished. What ruins were visible above ground were uncovered by deep excavations. This concerned for example the Temple of Faustina and the Arch of Septimius Severus. The remains of the Temple of Saturn and the Temple of Vespasian as well as the Tabularium were cleared. However, since the excavations of the time were only very selective, this generation of archaeologists was denied a coherent understanding of the ancient findings.

The beginning of systematic excavations at the end of the 19th century

After Rome became part of the Italian state and its capital in 1871, almost the entire area, today publicly accessible under the name Forum Romanum, was archaeologically developed between 1871 and 1905. In keeping with the times and the Kingdom of Italy, the primary goal was to restore the site to its imperial state. Without dwelling further on documentation, everything that was younger or judged to be younger was demolished.

Between 1871 and 1885 the Forum Square as such, the Temple of Divus Iulius and the Via Sacra between the Temple of Faustina and the Basilica of Maxentius were excavated. At the end of the 19th century the Basilica Aemilia, the Temple of Vesta together with the associated House of the Vestal Virgins, the Regia, the Juturna Spring, the Lapis Niger and the Sepulcretum were uncovered. Since the 20th century, in addition to the ongoing documentation of the old excavations, research has focused on specialized questions that are investigated by means of small, targeted excavations.

The current state of the Roman Forum

The fact that today large parts of the Roman Forum are destroyed beyond recognition is also due to the fact that after his return to Rome in 1367, Pope Urban VI, in his efforts to rebuild the city, extensively looted ancient monuments in order to obtain building materials for his construction projects. From the Forum, he had material from the Basilica of Aemilia and the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina removed so that the old Lateran Palace could be restored. At the beginning of the same century, the area of the Roman Forum was systematically ransacked in search of stone material for the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica. Whoever walks across the Roman Forum today must have a certain amount of imagination to imagine how magnificent and impressive this area once must have looked, full of temples, political institutions, triumphal arches, monuments, boulevards and market stalls.