The Roman Forum (Latin: Forum Romanum), sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the 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 Forum Romanum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other and the Capitoline hill The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in the Roman dialect. The English word capitol derives from Capitoline. The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance of the city of Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populous city, with over 2.7 million residents in a municipality of some 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi), while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million. It is located. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization 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. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world 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 and the surrounding complex of the Vestal virgins. The Old Republic The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period had its formal Comitium The comitium was the nerve center of the Forum valley in ancient Rome. It had major religious and prophetic significance. It was the location for all political and judicial activity of the early Roman Kingdom and Republic. The word itself means "place of assembly . It is the historic meeting place of the comitia curiata, the grown males of there where the senate The Roman Senate was a political institution in Ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being founded before the first king of Rome ascended the throne[citation needed] . It survived the fall of the Roman Kingdom in 509 BC, the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC, and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, 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 is the legal 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 as its official language in the 7th century. As such the development of Roman law covers more than one thousand years from the law of the Twelve Tables to the Corpus Juris Civilis of, and faith. The forum was also the economic The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius (silver), the sestertius (bronze), the dupondius (bronze), and the as (copper). These were used from the middle of the third century BC until the middle of the third century A.D hub of the city and considered to be the center of the Republic and Empire.

Contents

History

The Roman Forum at its full glory

The area of the forum was originally a grassy wetland A 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. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish. It was drained in the 7th century BC by building the 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 cities, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city.[citation needed], a large covered sewer system that drained into the Tiber River 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. It drains a basin estimated at 18,000 km². The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, founded on its eastern banks, as more people began to settle between the two hills.

According to tradition, the forum's beginnings are connected with the alliance between Romulus, the first king of Rome controlling the Palatine hill, and his rival, Titus Tatius who occupied the Capitoline hill. Accordingly, an alliance formed after combat had been halted by the prayers and cries of the Sabine Women.[1]

The forum was outside the walls of the original Sabine fortress, which was entered through the Porta Saturni. These walls were mostly destroyed when the two hills were joined.[2]

The second king, Numa Pompilius Plutarch tells that Numa was the youngest of Pomponius' four sons, born on the day of Rome's founding . He lived a severe life of discipline and banished all luxury from his home. Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines and a colleague of Romulus, married his only daughter, Tatia, to Numa. After 13 years of marriage, Tatia died, precipitating Numa's, is said to have begun the cult of Vesta, building its house and temple as well as the Regia as the city's first royal palace. Later Tullus Hostilius erected the Curia and enclosed the Comitium. In 600 BC Tarquinius Priscus Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the fifth King 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 Gaius Julius Caesar , (13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman 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 Augustus , born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. After 27 BC, he was named Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. Because of the various names he bore, it is common to call him Octavius when referring to events between 63 and 44 BC, Octavian ( 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.

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 is a term used to describe the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete but which have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction. Natural disaster, war and depopulation are the most common root causes, with many structures becoming:

Map of the Roman Forum, from Samuel Ball Platner's The Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome (1904) (altered for clarity)

Temples

Basilicas

Arches

Other structures

Excavation and preservation

Original archeology sketch of the forum.

An anonymous 8th century traveler from Einsiedeln (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 The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in the Roman dialect. The English word capitol derives from Capitoline. The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance and the Colosseum. The return of Pope Urban V He was a native of Grizac in Languedoc . He became a Benedictine and a doctor in Canon Law, teaching at Montpellier and Avignon. He held the office of abbot of Saint-Victor in Marseille; and at Avignon, on his way back from Naples, whither he had been sent as papal legate, he was elected Pope Urban V (September 28, 1362) in succession to Pope from Avignon The Avignon Papacy, also known as the Babylonian Captivity of the Church or Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, was the period from 1305 to 1377 during which seven Bishops of Rome, known as popes, resided in Avignon, . The period was one of conflict and controversy during which French Kings held considerable sway over the Papacy and rulers across 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 The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period times. Originally it had been marshy 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 grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants. Woody plants will be low-growing shrubs. A marsh is different from a swamp, which has a greater proportion of open water surface ground, which was drained by the Tarquins Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the fifth King of Rome from 616 BC to 579 BC. His wife was Tanaquil with the 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 cities, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city.[citation needed]. Its final travertine Travertine is a sedimentary rock. It is a natural chemical precipitate of carbonate minerals; typically aragonite, but often recrystallized to, or primarily, calcite paving, still visible, dates from the reign of Augustus Augustus , born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar (Latin: CAIVS·IVLIVS·CAESAR). After 27 BC, he was named Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. Because of the various names he bore, it is common to call him Octavius when referring to events.

A cardinal took measures to drain it again and built the Alessandrine neighborhood over it. 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.

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

Other forums in Rome

The column erected in honour of the Byzantine emperor Phocas, 608: the last addition to the Roman Forum See also: Category:Forums of Rome

Other fora Modelled on the Roman Forum and Imperial fora in Rome itself, they are to be found in Italy and throughout the former Roman Empire, with examples at: 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 forming a complex with the Forum Romanum: the Forum Iulium The Forum of Caesar, also known as Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris, is a forum built by Julius Caesar near the Forum Romanum in Rome in 46 BC, Forum Augustum Augustus vowed to build a temple honoring Mars, the Roman God of war, during the battle of Philippi in 42 BC. After winning the battle, with the help of Mark Antony, Augustus had avenged the assassination of his adoptive father Julius Caesar. Augustus became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BC, and planned for the temple to be built in a new forum, the Forum Transitorium The Imperial Fora consist of a series of monumental fora , constructed in Rome over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The forums were the heart of the late Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire (also: Forum Nervae), and 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:

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

Ancient Rome portal Ancient Rome was a civilisation that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula in the 9th century BC to a large empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its 12 centuries of existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a republic based on a combination of oligarchy and democracy, to an autocratic
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roman Forum

Comprehensive sites

Primarily visual

Gallery

Temple of Saturn

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Temple of Vesta

Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

Temple of Concord

Campo Vaccino, by Claude Lorrain

The Roman Forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum

View of the Roman Forum

Temple of Venus and Roma

References

  1. ^ Marucchi, Marucchi, Orazio, Horace (1907). The Roman Forum and the Palatine according to the latest discoveries .... McVey, Philadelphia. pp. 1. ISBN NA.
  2. ^ Parker, John Henry (1881). The Architectural History of the City of Rome. Parker and company. pp. 122. ISBN 978-1103202874.
Landmarks of Rome
Basilicas and other religious sites Catacombs of Rome · San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane · Basilica di San Clemente · Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore · Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls · Basilica of St. John Lateran · Chiesa del Gesù · Ghetto · Santa Croce in Gerusalemme · Santa Maria degli Angeli · Santa Maria in Aracoeli · Santa Maria in Cosmedin · Santa Maria in Trastevere · Santa Prassede · Santa Sabina · St. Peter's Basilica · Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza · Sistine Chapel
Gardens, parks and natural attractions Tiber Island · Villa Ada · Villa Borghese · Villa Doria Pamphili · Villa Medici
Ancient temples, monuments and sporting venues Ara Pacis · Castel Sant'Angelo · Circus Maximus · Colosseum · Column of Marcus Aurelius · Comitium · Largo di Torre Argentina · Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II · Obelisks · Palazzo Barberini · Pantheon · Pyramid of Cestius · Roman Forum · Temple of Castor and Pollux · Temple of Hercules Victor · Temple of Jupiter (Capitoline Hill) · Temple of Saturn · Temple of Vesta · Theatre of Marcellus · Theatre of Pompey · Temple of Portunus · Trajan's Column · Trajan's Market · Mausoleum of Augustus
Aqueducts, squares, fountains, towers and walls Trevi Fountain · Baths of Caracalla · Aurelian Walls · Servian Wall · Palazzo Farnese · Piazza Navona · Spanish Steps · Torre delle Milizie
Sculptures Apollo Belvedere · Augustus of Prima Porta · La Bocca della Verità · Laocoön and His Sons
Seven Hills Aventine Hill · Caelian Hill · Capitoline Hill · Esquiline Hill · Palatine Hill · Quirinal Hill · Viminal Hill

Categories: Archaeological sites in Italy | Roman archaeology | Roman sites of the Lazio | Italian architecture | Roman Forum | Ruins in Italy

 

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