The Imperial Fori

Introduction

A forum was much more than a mere market place. In the Republican forum it had held the Comitium, where public meetings were held; the Rostra, where orators spoke to the crowds, and trials were held. The Graecostasis, where foreign ambassadors came to speak to the Roman people. The forum had even been used to hold gladiatorial games. It was the very heart of the city of Rome. By the end of the Republic however, the city had outgrown its forum. Many public meetings, for example the election of consuls, had moved to the Campus Martius.

The Forum of Caesar

During Caesar's conquest of Gaul he arranged for Cicero to buy a tract of land close to the republican forum upon which a new forum was to be built. It measured 160x75 metres and was surrounded by a double colonnade on 3 sides with the temple of Venus Genetrix on its west. The Temple was inaugurated by Octavian in 46BC though the forum itself was not completed until after Caesar's death. According to Suetonius Caesar paid over 1 million sesterces for the land.

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The Forum of Augustus

In the mean time, after the assassination of Caesar, a civil war had broken out with Anthony and Octavian finally defeating the republicans in 42BC at the battle of Phillipi. Following the battle Octavian made a vow to construct a new forum. The Augustan Forum took 40 years to build and was completed in 2 BC. Its North side was dominated by a Temple dedicated to Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger). The centrepiece of the forum was a statue of Augustus riding triumphant in a chariot.

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The Forum of Nerva

The forum of Nerva was actually commissioned by Domitian. He was killed before it was finished and Nerva, who was voted in by the Senate to succeed him, completed it by AD 98. As there was no room for a new colonnade the portico of the existing temple of peace was used instead. The forum was also known by the names Forum transitorum (because of the Argiletum which passed through it), Forum Palladium, and Forum Minervae after the goddess to whom it was dedicated.

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The Forum of Trajan

The largest and most complex of all the Imperial Fori is that of Trajan. Measuring 300 x 85 metres it was designed by Apollodorus and its construction involved the removal of a part of a ridge of the Quirinal Hill. A large part of the forum lies under the Via de Fori Imperiali and the paved areas at its sides. There's more information about Trajan's forum on the Trajan page.

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The Via de Fori Imperiali
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