What Was the Roman Forum?
The Roman Forum was the political, religious, and commercial heart of ancient Rome for more than a thousand years — from a marshy marketplace to the marble center of the Roman world.
The Roman Forum — the Forum Romanum, to give it its full Latin name — was the political, religious, and commercial heart of ancient Rome for more than a thousand years. A rectangle of about 250 meters by 150 meters at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, it was originally a marshy valley used as a market and a burial ground, but the Romans drained it in the 7th century BCE with the Cloaca Maxima, the great sewer, and paved it over with travertine. From the founding of the Republic in 509 BCE until the fall of the Western Empire in 476 CE, the Forum was the stage on which the political life of Rome was played out. For the broader context, see the complete history of the Roman Empire.
In the Forum, the consuls and tribunes took office, the Senate debated, the people voted, the courts tried cases, the generals celebrated triumphs, the priests sacrificed, and the merchants, moneylenders, and politicians of Rome did business. To stand in the Forum in the late Republic or the early Empire was to stand at the center of the most powerful state the western world had ever seen.
The Forum in the Regal and Republican Periods
The earliest Forum was a marketplace. The Romans had no temple in the area in the 8th century BCE; the religious center of the city was still the Capitoline Hill. The Forum was used for trade, for public assemblies, and for the funeral games of the noble families. A black stone marker, the Lapis Niger, in the northwest corner, marked the spot where, according to tradition, Romulus, the founder of Rome, had been buried.
The Forum was progressively monumentalized in the Republican period. The first temples were built in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, including the Temple of Saturn (497 BCE), which housed the state treasury, and the Temple of Castor and Pollux (484 BCE), raised to commemorate the legendary appearance of the Dioscuri at the Battle of Lake Regillus.
In the late Republic, the Forum took on the form that would be recognizable to the Romans of the imperial period. The Curia Hostilia, the meeting hall of the Senate, was rebuilt in stone in the 80s BCE by Sulla. The Rostra, the speakers’ platform, was the place from which the orators of Rome addressed the people. The Basilica Porcia, the first basilica in Rome, was built in 184 BCE, and it set the architectural pattern for every later basilica in the Roman world. For the political life of the Republic, see the Roman Republic.
The Buildings of the Imperial Forum
The Forum reached its final form in the imperial period. The emperors, beginning with Julius Caesar, built a series of new forums to the north and east of the old Forum, but the old Forum Romanum remained the symbolic heart of the city. Among the most important buildings of the imperial Forum were:
The Curia Julia. The Senate’s meeting house, begun by Caesar in 44 BCE, completed by Augustus in 29 BCE. The Curia Julia is the only major building of the imperial Forum to survive substantially intact, and it is still standing today.
The Temple of Saturn. The oldest temple of the Forum, originally dedicated in 497 BCE. The temple housed the Aerarium Saturni, the state treasury.
The Temple of Vesta. A small circular temple in the southeast corner of the Forum, dedicated to Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The temple housed the sacred fire that the Vestal Virgins tended. For the priestesses, see Who Were the Vestal Virgins?.
The House of the Vestals. A large rectangular building behind the Temple of Vesta, the residence of the six Vestal Virgins.
The Basilica Julia. A large public building on the south side of the Forum, begun by Caesar in 54 BCE and completed by Augustus in 12 BCE. The basilica housed the courts of law.
The Arch of Titus. A triumphal arch at the southeast end of the Forum, erected in 81 CE by Domitian to commemorate the victories of his brother Titus in the Jewish War of 66–73 CE. The relief sculptures show Roman soldiers carrying the menorah and other spoils.
The Arch of Septimius Severus. A larger triumphal arch at the northwest end of the Forum, erected in 203 CE to commemorate the victories of Septimius Severus and his sons over the Parthians.
The Column of Phocas. A Byzantine-style column erected in 608 CE in front of the Rostra, the last monument to be raised in the Roman Forum.
The Imperial Forums
By the late 1st century BCE, the old Forum Romanum had become too small for the business of the empire. The emperors began to build a series of new forums to the north of the old Forum, each named after its founder:
The Forum of Caesar (46 BCE). The first of the imperial forums, built by Caesar with the proceeds of the Gallic War. It included a temple to Venus Genetrix, the mythical ancestor of the Julian family.
The Forum of Augustus (2 BCE). Built by Augustus to house the temple of Mars Ultor, “Mars the Avenger,” vowed at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE.
The Forum of Vespasian, also known as the Forum of Peace, built by Vespasian around 75 CE to commemorate the suppression of the Jewish revolt. It was famous for its libraries.
The Forum of Nerva (97 CE), built by Domitian and dedicated by his successor Nerva.
The Forum of Trajan (112 CE), the largest and most spectacular of the imperial forums, built by Trajan with the gold won in the Dacian Wars. It included the great Basilica Ulpia, the Column of Trajan, and libraries — the architectural climax of the Roman world. For Trajan, see the Five Good Emperors.
The End of the Forum
The Forum was the center of Roman public life for more than a thousand years, but it began to decline in the late Empire. The imperial capital was moved to Constantinople in 330 CE by Constantine the Great, and the Senate, the courts, and the imperial administration followed. The last recorded ceremony in the Forum was the installation of a consul in 403 CE. The temples were converted into Christian churches: the Temple of Saturn became the Church of Santi Luca e Martina, the Curia Julia became the Church of Sant’Adriano. By the Middle Ages the Forum was a pasture, called the Campo Vaccino (“the Cow Field”). Excavations began in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Forum is today one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. For the religious and social life of Rome, see Roman religion and mythology.