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The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum. NEWS UPDATE. ROME - Archaeologists digging beneath the Roman Forum have discovered a 3,000-year-old tomb that predates the birth of ancient Rome by several hundred years.

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The Roman Forum

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  1. The Roman Forum

  2. NEWS UPDATE ROME - Archaeologists digging beneath the Roman Forum have discovered a 3,000-year-old tomb that predates the birth of ancient Rome by several hundred years. State TV Thursday night showed an excavation team removing vases from the tomb, which resembled a deep well. Archaeologists were excavating under the level of the ancient forum, a popular tourist site, when they dug up the tomb, which they suspect is part of an entire necropolis, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. "I am convinced that the excavations will bring more tombs to light," ANSA quoted Rome's archaeology commissioner, Eugenio La Rocca, as saying. Also found inside the tomb was a funerary urn, ANSA said. State TV quoted experts as saying the tomb appeared to date to about 1,000 B.C., meaning the people who constructed the necropolis predated the ancient Romans by hundreds of years. Legend has it that Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the god of war, Mars. Last year, archaeologists who have been digging for some two decades in the forum said they believed they found evidence of a royal palace roughly dating to the period of the legendary founding.

  3. The Roman Forum is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill. • Was a marsh, but the Romans drained the area and turned it into a center of political and social activity.  • Was the marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic center. • Expanded to include temples, a senate house and law courts. • When the Roman Empire fell, the Forum became forgotten, buried and was used as a cattle pasture during the Middle Ages.

  4. The forum was the center of political, commercial and judicial life in ancient Rome. The largest buildings were the basilicas, where legal cases were heard.

  5. Sacred Way • The main street and the widest street in the Forum. • In the fifth century B.C., the road was supported by a substructure to protect it from the rain. • Later it was paved and during the reign of Nero it was lined with colonnades. • This road was the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's history • Solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat, throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice on this street.

  6. Temple of Venus and Roma • Enormous temple built and designed by Hadrian on the plateau at the top of the Velia. • Faced the imperial fora in one direction and the Colosseum in the other. • The two goddesses honored in the temple were Venus and Roma. • The cellae of the dual temple stood back to back so that the part of the temple dedicated to Roma faced the Forum and the part sacred to Venus faced the amphitheater. • Ancient writers have described the domes and semi domes which were characteristic of many of Hadrian's building projects. • This temple was one of the sights of Rome admired by the emperor Constantine.

  7. Temple of Julius Caesar • Sits on the site of the funeral pyre of Julius Caesar. • Augustus had the structure built after the battle of Actium. • Today one sees several portions of the foundation. • It is thought that the altar on which Caesar's body had been cremated was in the center of a platform in the temple.

  8. Arch of Titus • The arch of Titus is located at the opposite end of the forum from the arch of Septimius Severus. • Titus was the emperor that had sacked the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The arch was built in his honor. • Sculptures on this arch show the treasure of the Jews being taken through the streets of Rome. • On the inside of the left leg of this arch, there is a well known sculpture of Romans carrying away a Jewish menorah.

  9. Basilica of Maxentius • Also called the Basilica of Constantine • Built in the 4th century. • Last structure built in the city which shows the magnificence of Ancient Rome. • Rome's public law courts. • Begun by Maxentius and was completed by Constantine. • Part of the structure which faces the Forum has been restored. • Inspired the plans for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.  • Modern basilicas get their name from this structure. • The word basilica is defined in the dictionary as an oblong building ending in a semi-circular apse used in ancient Rome

  10. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina • Best preserved building in the Forum • The Emperor Antonius Pius lost his wife Faustina. • After her death the Emperor built a magnificent temple in her honor in 141 AD. • This temple was changed in the middle ages into the church of "San Lorenzo in Miranda".

  11. Regia • King Numa erected the Regia, or king's house • he spent the greater part of his time, performing divine service, instructing the priests, or conversing with them on sacred subjects. • Headquarters of the Pontifex Maximus • Archives for • pontiffs • the formulas of all kinds of prayers, vows, sacrifices • state calendar of sacred days • Annales, the record of events of each year for public reference • laws relating to marriage, death, wills • Ancilia, the shields of Mars, which had fallen from Heaven

  12. House of the Vestals • Home of The Vestal Virgins • Only daughters of Roman patricians were selected to be Vestals. • Between the ages of six and ten • The first duty was to protect the fire in the Temple of Vesta, the oldest and most sacred shrine in the forum • The Vestal Virgins had special privileges as well: • they were free and independent • they could make a will

  13. Temple of Vesta • Round temple at the eastern end of the Forum • Built by the king Numa, who established the sisterhood of the Vestal Virgins. • Most sacred building in Rome • Contained: • the sacred fire (the "hearth fire" of the city) • kept burning until after Christianity had become the religion of the Empire • Palladium, a wooden statue of Pallas Athena • Brought from Troy to Italy by Aeneas • The emperor Theodosius about 395 A.D. ordered the temple closed and the Vestals banished from the Atrium. • The priestesses watched the flames flicker and die, then destroyed the inmost shrine • No one knows what became of the sacred emblems which they guarded.

  14. Temple of Castor and Pollux • Erected in honor of Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Jupiter. • Legend of the battle of Lake Regillus • Three massive columns remain from the Temple of Castor and Pollux. • They are over forty-eight feet high • The temple had been, rebuilt between 7 B.C. and 6 A.D. • The statues of Castor and Pollux can be seen at the top of the stairs of the Capitoline Hill.

  15. Basilica Julia • 54 B.C Juilius Caesar began building the Basilica Iulia on the site of the old Basilica Sempronia. • Dedicated by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. although it was not yet finished. • After its completion and final dedication by Augustus it became a favorite haunt of the Romans people. • This new Basilica housed public meeting places and shops, but it was used mainly as a law court. • From the Via Sacra, one climbed steps up to the vestibulum. On the pavement of the portico, diagrams of games scratched into the white marble are still visible today. • The building was destroyed by fire three times and was last restored in 416 A.D.

  16. Temple of Saturn • Erected by the consul Titus Larcius in 17 B.C. in the month of December. • It was used as the public treasury and as a repository for the decrees of the senate. • Treasures were held in an underground chamber. • The temple was enlarged in 42 B.C. and rebuilt after a fire in the 4th century A.D. • Eight columns remain of this temple.  • To the right are the three columns that remain of the temple of Vespasian which was built by the son of Domitian in 94 A.D. and later restored by Septimius Severus.   • To the left you can see part of the column of Phocas that commemorates the emperor Phocas's donation of the Pantheon to the Pope of Rome. 

  17. The Temple of Vespasian • Dedicated to Emperor Vespasian • Effective emperor, declared divus, divine. • Titus began the construction of the temple • Domitian completed the temple and dedicated it to both of his deceased predecessors. • Because of cramped space the temple backed right up to the Tabularium • What remains in the site are three white columns in a "v" which marks a corner of the porch.

  18. Temple of Concordia • Plebeians and Patricians fought for an equal share of the privileges • Camillus, dictator, stood on the steps of the Senate-house and "besought the gods that they would bring these troubles to a happy conclusion, solemnly vowing to build a temple to Concord." • Peace was restored, and in 367 B.C. there rose at the western end of the Forum a temple to the goddess Concord • The temple was restored in the late empire, standing until the 600 A.D.

  19. Rostra • Speaker's platform in the Forum • Constructed as a flat-topped platform forming part of the large, round Comitium • After Duilius won Rome's first major naval victory against Antium in 338 BCE, six bronze prows of enemy ships were attached to the front of the speaker's platform as trophies • Latin for prows is rostra

  20. Arch of Septimius Severus • The arch Septimius Severus has reliefs of Septimius Severus's victories in Iraq and Iran during the 3rd century carved into the arch. • It also honors his two sons, Caracalla and Geta who fought with him in the war. • It is located at one end of the Forum. • The Forum had been flooded, buried and forgotten for many centuries. During this time the half of the arch that was above ground was used to house a barber shop.

  21. The Curia • Largest brick building that still has a roof in the Forum • Roman Senate building • Constructed by Tullus Hostilius • A church until 1937, when the fascist government had interior removed and the original interior exposed. • What is left today of the ancient senate building is the original marble floor made out of Egyptian marble. • Also, the tiers that held the seats of the senators remain.

  22. Basilica Aemilia • Erected in 179 B.C. by the censors Aemilius and Fulvius. • Rebuilt by Augustus. • Occupied the whole space between the Argiletum and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. • One entered the structure from the porticus into several tabernae

  23. 1 = Basilica Julia 2 = Temple of Saturn 3 = Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (on Capitoline hill) 4 = Tabularium (Archive Building) 5 = Temple of Vespasian 6 = Rostra 7 = Temple of Concord 8 = Triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus

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