Roman Forum

THE ANCIENT ROMAN FORUM
The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome was developed. The location of the Roman Forum was named the Campo Vaccinio or 'cattle field'. The Forum was located between the Capitoline Hill and the Colosseum and had a processional way crossing it called the Via Sacra which linked the ancient Roman Forum to the Colosseum.

The ancient Roman Forum was where business, commerce, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place for many years. Throughout the Middle Ages the memory of the Forum Romanum persisted, however most of its monuments were buried under debris. By the end of the Empire the Roman Forum had lost its everyday use and simply remained as a sacred place.

Following the return of Pope Urban V from Avignon in 1367 there was new interest in ancient monuments. This was partly for their moral lesson and partly as a quarry for new buildings being undertaken in Rome after a long lapse. In the late fifteenth century artists drew the ruins in the Forum and antiquaries copied inscriptions from the sixteenth century.

In the eighteenth century they began an excavation lead by Carlo Fea. He began by clearing the debris from the Arch of Septimius Severus. Archaeologists under the Napoleonic regime began clearing the Forum, which was only fully excavated in the early twentieth century. Today you can see remains from several centuries all together. This is due to the Roman practice of building over earlier ruins.

Today the Roman Forum is famous for it's remains, which show the use of urban spaces during the Roman Age. The Roman Forum is home to major monuments, buildings and other ancient ruins. These include the Temple of Castor and Pollux, Temple of Jupiter, Temple of Romulus, Temple of Saturn, Temple of Vesta, Temple of Venus and Roma, Basilica Aemilia, Basilica Julia, Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Arch of Septimius Severus, Arch of Titus, Tabularium, Curia Hostilia the site of the Roman Senate and Rostra, from where politicians made their speeches to the Roman citizens. The last monument built inside the Forum was the Column of Phocas.