Roman Forum

Walking through Rome as a visitor, one would walk beside ruins which may appear to be an area in need of a clean up but the people of Rome and scholars have a great understanding of these ruins and their value which is worth keeping.  The Forum, rich in mythology, history, and architecture, was archaeologically unearthed in the early 20th century and stands today as ancient ruins; some towering to 100 feet tall, others a mere paving surface used by Caesar and Augustus.

The ruins of temples, judicial

buildings, and honorary columns allow for an imaginative understanding of the power and wealth held by the Roman Empire.The Roman Forum Romanum is the central area of Rome where the majority of the Roman civilization developed. The Roman Forum was altered and reconstructed many times over the 1,200 years that it was the epicenter of the Roman civilization. [2]

Challenge

Addressing the problems of seasonal rains and flooding proved more challenging—the valley required a landfill project as well as the construction of a drainage canal to manage standing water. Since the Tiber river tended to leave its banks regularly, the valley was prone to significant flooding, as a low saddle of land known as the Velabrum connects the forum valley to the riverine zone.

As coring studies conducted by Albert J. Ammerman have shown, a deliberate landfill project deposited fill in the forum valley in order to create usable, dry levels during the sixth century B.C.E. Twentieth century excavators, including Giacomo Boni and Einar Gjerstad, revealed important remains of Iron Age burials that pre-dated the establishment of the forum valley as a civic space; in particular the necropolis in the area known as theSepulcretum along the Sacra Via ("Sacred Way," the main sacred processional road of the city) has been extensively studied and published. The investigations of the burials themselves, and the patterns they followed, have allowed archaeologists to understand not only funeral customs but also social dynamics during Rome’s proto-urban phases.This major investment in the creation of civic space and the organization of labor also provides important information about the socio-economic structure of early Rome. [2]

The Roman Mythology

The Roman Forum's birth as the center of the Roman Empire is a complicated story embedded in Roman mythology involving gods and goddesses, death and deceit, and ravaging flood waters. The story starts with the exile of two brothers who were the offspring of the god Mars. The children were ordered to be drowned in the Tiber River by King Amulius for fear that the children would eventually kill him. However, by the will of a powerful god, the river flooded the ancient city and making it impossible for the brother's assassins to carry out the drowning at the main channel of the river. The assassins placed the boys, Romulus and Remus, in a wooden trough along the banks of a flooded marshland near a fig tree, certain that they would be carried down the Tiber River to their death. As the flood waters receded, the trough ran aground and the

boys, now stranded, were nourished by animals. A woodpecker brought bits of food and a she-wolf was found nursing the boys by a local shepherd. The shepherd adopted the two brothers and brought them to his home on the Palatine Hill. Later, Romulus killed his brother and founded the City of Rome at the Roman Forum around 750 BC.[1]

In its early development, The forum was used as an open space for giving speeches and holding gatherings. Later on it was divided into two parts- the Forum proper which became the marketplace and the Comitium which was the area for political holdings. Major development within the Roman Forum continued with construction of four Basilicas during the second century BC. The beginning of the first century BC marked the construction of the Tabularium at the west end of the Forum in the Comitium. The Tabularium provided a monumental western terminus of the Forum with the Basilica Sempronia to the north (future of Basilica Iula) and Basilica Fulvia- Aemilia on the south, created the initial enclosure of the Forum. The monumental building style of the Tabularium marked the beginning of re-thinking the use and organization of the Roman Forum as documented in the building projects by Julius Caesar and Augustus.[1]

Works Cited: http://people.umass.edu/latour/Italy/RomanForum/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/roman/beginners-guide-rome/a/forum-romanum-the-roman-forum