The Roman Forum - A Very Popular Italian Attraction
There is a very unique part of Roman history that you will want to visit between Palatine Hill and Capitoline Hill near Rome. The Forum Romanum or the Roman Forum, may be one of the most ambitious archaeological projects of all time. By way of background, long before the first century AD, this area known as the Roman Forum was the premier political and cultural hot bed for the Roman Empire.
The Roman Forum was under construction for literally hundreds of years but by the seventh century BC, it was already an important center of culture for the Empire. By the beginning of the first millennium, the Roman Forum began to take on its final form under the guidance of Octavian, the son of Julius Caesar.
Called the Forum Magnum (or Great Forum) by many, the Roman Forum had a dozen temples, plenty of arches and a multitude of other structures. It was built on marsh land (drained, of course!) and provided a central location for Romans to conduct business, administration and socialise with each other.
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Roman Forum fell into decay and by the Middle Ages the area was little more than pasture land for cattle. It took the arrival of the Renaissance to see interest in the Forum come back to life. The site was discovered and excavated, and a restoration effort started in the 18th century that is still an ongoing work in progress.
But the restoration has been effective because walking around the vast complex of diverse structures, the glory of this facility can be appreciated.
Teams of volunteers and archaeologies have restored the paved streets and cleaned up the debris left by centuries of decay so the Forum can be enjoyed by you and I. But if you include the Roman Forum in your tourist plans, it will take more than a day to see this vast facility. But even a few hours at the site will give you a real feel for what life at the height of Rome’s might must have been like.
To get an idea of the ambitious scale that the Romans always brought to projects of this size, one just has to look at the “Temple of Venus and Roma”. This massive temple in the Forum was designed and built by Emperor Hadrian himself, and from a vantage point on a tall plateau, it has a perfect view of the majestic Colosseum.
Just as impressive is the Temple of Concord. In 367 this temple that was dedicated to peace took its place in the western quadrant of the Forum. At the peak of the Forum’s glory, this temple was full of expensive statues made of silver and gold. Even after restoration today, it is striking evidence of the skills and abilities of the Roman builders.
Temples abounded in the Forum including Temples to Castor, Pollux, Vespasian, Saturn and many others and the ability of Roman builders to construct such a vast diversity of temples is a testimony to the vision, the leadership and the ability of Roman architects to make that vision a reality. In addition to the temples, the Forum had many other kinds of buildings as well.
Many of the walkways are lined with arches, including the Arch of Septimus Severus and Titus. The Romans invented and perfected the arch, and no one has improved on that design for at least 1000 years.
The Roman Forum was also a place for political dialog and The Rostra was a perfect place for a Roman politician to state his case. If you stand under the Rostra, you can get a feel for what it was like to live in those times. Along with temples, many shrines such as the Lapis Niger (or Black Stone) and the Via Sacra demonstrate the creative imagination that Roman builders were capable of bringing to a project.
On a trip to Rome, you really have not experienced the true history of the area until you have given a day to touring the Roman Forum and taking in some of these sites. It will give you good perspective not only on the ability of early civilized man to accomplish great things but also on mankind’s ability to lose it all if we are not careful.
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August 30 2008 09:01 am | Vacations