Roman Forum, Rome

Not many columns remain in the forum - compared to how many there used to be and the busy traffic from the main road alongside is damaging the few that are left :-(
Still these ones are a fine example.
I think one is from the Temple of Saturn - but please correct me if I'm wrong.

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The Roman Forum, Forum Romanum, was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce and the administration of justice took place. The communal hearth was also located here. It was built on the site of a past cemetery.

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 other major monuments, buildings, and ancient ruins.
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 and the Colosseum.

The Roman Forum is the ancient place, where you can walk and feel the breath of history, after you visiting the Colosseum.
You can walk across the Forum, to arrive at Capitoline Hill.

You all know the history anyway. No need to repeat it.

A jumble of thoughts the first time I see it. I walk down into it, down the Via Sacra toward the Rostrum. As I touch the stone and the marble around me, thoughts swirling: Julius Caesar might have leaned against this. Cicero's hand might have touched this spot. Marcus Aurelius, Augustus, Scipio, Nero......

Suddenly these people seem very real to me, no longer comic book characters.

I've touched what they touched.

The Forum used to be free, now sadly, you must buy a 10E ticket. (This makes me sad, as I used to walk through the Forum almost every day when in Rome.) The same ticket is good for the Colosseum and Palatine Hill as well. Open every day, from 9 to an hour before sunset.

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“Next to temple of Juppiter Capitolinus the temple of Saturn is the oldest sanctuary dedicated after the fall of the kingdom. The Consul T. Larcius dedicated it December B.C. 498; but according to tradition an altar dedicated by Hercules stood originally on the same spot.”
From “The Roman Forum — Its History and Its Monuments” by Christian Hülsen, published by Ermanno Loescher & Co., publishers to H. M. the Queen of Italy, 1906

The Temple of Saturn served not only as a place of worship but also as Rome’s treasury and as a repository for the state’s records. Since 497 BC a temple to Saturn has stood on the same spot where the eight remaining columns of the 42 BC reconstruction now stand.

The Romans believed that Saturn was a god-king who presided over a Golden Age in Italy. His feast day, 17.December, marked the end of the year; the week-long celebrating was known as Saturnalia. Slaves were permitted to drink and eat with their masters, sometimes, in a role-reversal, being served by them. Schools were closed; the courts were closed; war could not be waged; prisoners could not be punished. In private, family members exchanged gifts and played games.

It is believed that Christians, in order not to draw attention to their celebration of Christ’s birth, choose to celebrate it at this time of year.

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“Descending from the Capitol to the Forum, is the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, less perfect than that of Constantine, though from its proportions and magnitude, a most impressive monument.”
From a letter from Percey Shelley to a friend, T.L.P., Esq. dated 23.March.1819, Rome

The dynasty of the Severi, that dominated Rome until AD 235, began with the military coup d’état of AD 193; it placed Septimius Severus (AD 193-211) on the throne. Settimius Severus reduced the real power of the Senate, imposed the importance of the army, whose officers took on privileges that a senator would enjoy. A skilled general, he devoted himself to the defense and strengthening of the empire’s borders, traveling from Africa to the Danube, from East Mesopotamia to Britain, where he died in AD 211, having led the army beyond Hadrian’s Wall.

Standing at the western end of the Foro Romano, the Arco di Settimio Severo (the Arch of Septimius Severus) was built in AD 203 on the 10th anniversary of the emperor’s ascent to the throne. The monument was dedicated to him and to his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, with whom he shared the glory of the military victories in Parthia, modern-day Iran and Iraq. Unlike other arches in and around the Forum this monument did not have a triumphal purpose, but rather commemorative one.

The arch is made up of three interconnected barrel-vaults, with four fluted columns of different orders on each side; it is a harmonious monument that is quite pleasing. From the coins of the time it is known that there originally there was a large chariot, drawn by six horses, and the symbols of the emperor topping the arch. The arch shows signs of conflict within the Severi dynasty. After Caracalla ordered that his brother Geta be killed in AD 211, Geta’s name was chipped away. Dejected figures of shackled barbarians can be on the pedestals of the columns (see photo #5).

During the Middle Ages, the 69-feet high, 75-feet wide arch, as often happened after Rome fell, was included as a gate to a building; consequently, it is still in good condition.

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“Mrs. Slade leaned back, brooding, her eyes ranging from the ruins which faced her to the long green hollow of the Forum, … .”
from “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

The marshy land that lay at the foot of the seven hills of Rome — the Palatine, the Caelian, the Esquiline, the Velia, the Vimnal, the Quirinal and the Capitoline — was always a gathering place for city’s inhabitants, even before there was a city. By 500 BC it had become a true town square, and for almost 1,000 years it would remain as such.

This marsh was drained and became the Foro Romano, the Roman Forum, the administrative and corporate heart of Rome, home to the Roman Senate, and Rostra Speaker’s platform. The word forum is Latin, meaning an open space or market place. Generally this word referred to the open space in any Roman town where business, judicial, civic, or religious activities were conducted. A typical forum might include temples, shops, and basilicas, large, covered buildings used for several purposes, including legal, religious, and commercial. The Forum in Rome became a spectacular showcase for the Empire, filled with marble sculpture and buildings.

The Forum is traversed by the Via Sacra, the Sacred Way, which led to the Capitoline Hill. It was the route of triumphal processions of victorious generals; they made their way to the Capitoline to thank Jupiter for their success.

Access to the Foro Romano had always been free, until St. Patrick’s Day, 17.March.2008, when a fee began to be charged to help fund preservation of Rome’s rich archeological history, and to help discover more of it! The ticket price will include admittance to the Palatine Hill, the Colosseum and the Forum.

The Forum can be entered from Via dei Fori Imperiali, as well as opposite from the Colosseum.

The Roman Forum was long the seat of commerce, government, and religion. It drew all of Rome to its porticoes to discus the business of state and to check out the farmers and merchants hawking their ware.

At the far end of the Roman Forum you will find the Arch of Titus which celebrated the sac of Jerusalem by the emperor Titus. You will also see sacred objects, among them a menorah, being brought back to Rome as spoils of war.

Beyond and outside the Forum stands the largest and best preserved of all, the Arch of Constantine. Its reliefs are very well done and depict the emperor doing braves deeds.

NOTE: There has been a reintroduction entrance ticket for the Roman Forum. Maintenance costs have warranted the ticket fee (€9, or €11 if there's some kind of special show going on) which will also include the Colosseum and the Palatine.

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The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum) (also known as 'the Forum Magnum' or 'the Forum') is located in a valley between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill. Originally the area of the Forum was not suitable for construction, as it was humid and covered in grass. In the 7th century, the area was drained by the Tarquins with a sewer system called the Cloaca Maxima which is based on a natural stream. The area functioned as a site of a cemetery for a while before being converted into a center of political and social activity; a area around which ancient Rome developed, where commerce and the administration of justice took place and where the communal hearth was located. As so many of us might have heard the saying "All the roads lead to Rome", Fortum Romana used to house, the Umbilicus Urbi, a designated centre of the city from which and to which all distances in Rome and the Roman Empire were measured.

The Forum as it is now is a result of the changes made by Julius Caesar. Caesar didn't see all his plans realised before his death, but most was finished by his adopted son and heir, Octavian, who was later proclaimed Augustus. The Roman Forum essentially is Augustan: the Temples of Saturn, Concord, Castor and Pollux, Divine Julius, the Basilicas of Julia and Aemilia, the Curia and Rostra all took their final form during the triumvirate and principate of Augustus who boasted that he had "found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble."

Since this time, much of the ancient forum has been destroyed. The Forum suffered damage and destruction repeatedly. When political strife in republican times deteriorated into violence, the Forum would regularly be the scene of fierce fights between rivalling factions, often followed by destructive fires. Parts of the Forum burnt down several times, the worst fire being in 283 CE. Later the Forum suffered destruction and pillage at the hands of invaders. Most of the buildings on the Forum was destroyed completely in 410 CE. Many religious sites were abandoned and fell in ruin after the ban of non-Christian cults in 394 CE.

After the fall of the empire in the west, the Forum was abandoned. A few buildings were converted into churches, including the Curia, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the Temple of Divus Romulus; the rest was left to shepherds and their animals, to the extent that the popular name of the area became "Campo Vaccino" (the cattle field).

Nowadays, there are only scattered columns and stone blocks that remain of some of the temples that once stood in the place. The arch of Titus and the arch of Septimius Severus still stand and are in good shape, but the vast amount of major monuments, buildings, and ancient ruins such as temples, basilicas, arches, the residence or the main HQ of the Roman kings, senate house and law courts now lay in ruins.

Like many other ancient Roman buildings, stone blocks have been removed from the Forum and used to build nearby churches and palaces. The Forum was only fully excavated in the early 20th century.

Admission: Combined ticket with the Colosseum 11 EUR (2007)