Foro Romano '23

This spring, Christine and I made Roma our second destination in a 2-city trip. After eight days spent in Amsterdam, we flew to Roma for another five.

For the purpose of THIS post however, I intend to discuss only our visit to the Ancient Roman Forum on our third day in Rome.

We made 'skip-the-line', pre-flight reservations for self-guided tours of the coliseum and forum, arrived at our scheduled hour and spent about 4 hours touring both sites.

(maybe about SIX hours would have been better...)

Since I am a giant Rome-Nerd I have this framed MAP of the Roman Forum at my house...so let's use it here to outline this blog post's eight point objective.

The map shows the eight features of our forum tour I'd like to discuss....We entered the forum near the Temple of Concord...so let's start there. 1. The Temple of Concorde. When we walked into the forum, I didn't recognize ANYTHING as I'd thought I would. I mean...I KNOW the forum well, from years of reading and study...but, this being my first actual visit, NOTHING seemed to be where it should be, according to my mind's eye.

Before beginning to panic, I told myself that, 'if I can just locate the 'Rostra'...the legendary speakers' platform at the west end of the open forum...the rest will begin to 'fall into place'. In the meantime...the lovely ruins of the 'Temple of Concordia' stood before us and begged our immediate attention. "Concordia", in Roman religion was a goddess who was the personification of “concord,” or “agreement,” especially among members or classes of the Roman state. She had several temples at Rome; the oldest and most important one was this one, located in the Forum at the very end of the Via Sacra. Here are a few illustrated views of Concordia...including a first century BC coin, which help us to visualize the temple in it's pre-ruined state...

'Concordia' may have been built originally as an appeasement to plebs after the murder of Gaius Gracchus (long story)....and quickly became a venue for historic Senate meetings, including one in which Cicero delivered his famous denunciation of Cataline for attempting a violent takeover of the Roman state...as depicted in this famous painting...

in another event, the 2nd Emperor Tiberius' trusted 'second', Sejanus was condemned to death after a trial that took place in the Temple of Concord...Here's an etching depicting Sejanus' arrest...famously carried out as he used Tiberius' liter, whilst the emperor was away...

Here are our photos of the temple's stunning ruins as they appeared to us during our visit....

notice the triumphal arch of Setptimus Severus adjacent to the ruins of Concordia in the center and right frames above. Severus contributed the arch to the forum after his victories against Parthia (roughly, today's Iran...) in 203AD. To me, the most interesting thing about this arch is in the changes it endured AFTER the death of Severus. When first placed, the arch's 'attic' (top inscription) introduced Severus' wife and two sons...."Geta and Carracalla". But upon Severus' death and expressed wish that his two sons would share the emperorship....his sons quarreled over their father's plan...and Caracalla actually had Geta murdered! THEN...he actually went about meticulously erasing Geta from any record of his having lived! Here (below) is a closeup of the attic-inscription, as it appears today....

In the 4th line down from the top, you can see a series of holes....The holes used to attach bronze letters...allowing a reconstruction of the original inscription... Originally it read: “P. Septimio L. fil Getae nobilissi(mo)”; translated as: “to the most noble son of Lucius Septimius, Publius Septimius: Geta”. Bit of a drag for young, Geta!

2. The Roman 'Rostra'.

As stated above...If I could only find the @#$% Rostra in this mass of ruins, I was confident that I could begin to formulate a big, familiar picture of the Forum and all it's treasures... After strolling away from the Concordia, Christine and I were walking and talking when I suddenly caught a glimpse of the gentle curve of the steps to the back of the vaunted Roman speaking dais!!! This was a great moment for me, as reaching the Rostra has always been something of a pilgrimage for me....and suddenly, here it was!

Compare the above to the reconstruction drawing below...

OH! and I was correct! Once we found the Rostra, I immediately started to know what EVERYTHING around us was! Haha! This was a GREAT moment for me. Once I had it all figured out I was as happy as I have been in a long while.

We hung out right there for a bit...imagining Caesar, Pompey, Cicero, Crassus, Cato, Gaius and Sempronius Gracchus, Sulla, Marius, Antony, Augustus all speaking to assemblies from perhaps the most significant speaking dais of human history...Even Cleopatra is said to have been introduced to Rome from the Rostra when she came to Rome to introduce her son to Caesar. This was a simply glorious moment for me.

Here above is a CAD drawing showing a proportionally correct view of a crowd assembled before a Rostra speaker....Note the Rostra is near the center of the frame facing the viewer. The Basilica Julia is at left, next to the temple of Castor & Pollux, nearer at the lower left. One cannot discuss the Rostra without mentioning perhaps its most well known, historic event: Marcus Antonius' eulogy for his friend and commander, Julius Caesar. As Shakespere remembered it, "Friends, Romans, countrymen...Lend me your ears...". Also, the Rostra is the place where Marcus Tullius CICERO, Rome's greatest orator and legal advocate made his name...Its therefore ironic that when Antonius finally tracked Cicero down after the last republican civil war, he assured that Cicero's head and hands, were displayed on the rostra from which Cicero had delivered his critical "Phillipics" oratory, lampooning Antony and likely keeping him from realizing a consulship.

As for the 2 sided coin shown here....It doesn't apply perfectly to the subject matter, but it certainly shows Rostra-speakers in Antonius and Octavian (Augustus)...AND it happens to be a coin I OWN!! (...a birthday gift from Christine about a decade ago...)

3. The Temple of Deified Caesar The first thing to know about the Temple of Caesar relates to its position in the forum and the event that dictated its construction in that precise spot. On the day Antonius eulogized Caesar, it's said that in addition to having Caesar's murdered body with him on the Rostra, he came prepared with a meticulously made, wax representation of Caesar's body, complete with the 23 bloody knife wounds perpetrated only hours earlier, by conspiring (and now HIDING) Senators led by Brutus and Cassius. Antony used the bloody model masterfully during his address to raise the emotions of his listeners to a fever pitch before finally exhorting them: 'take Caesar's body home!' With this, the frenzied mob seized Ceasar's body, carried it toward his official state-provided home at 'the Regia' (just behind the temple's future site) and emotionally committed his slain corpse to a funerary pyre. Nearly 3 years after Caesar's death, the temple bearing his name was built on the spot Antony's mob chose for Caesar's pyre...at Octavian's order.

Here above is a nice drawing that shows the path the mob used to carry Caesar 'home' from the Rostra.

Not much of the magnificent Temple of Caesar exists today. These photos below tell that story pretty well.

Note that the protective 'tin-roof, visible in both photos covers and protects the precise spot to which that angry, Antony-inspired mob carried Caesar's body on 16, March, 44 BCE...and, 'temple-or-not'....THAT is the spot I wanted to see on the day of my forum visit!

Note the curved wall of the remaining base of the temple under the roof, visible in the photo at left...

now...notice the same wall in the temple's reconstruction-drawing at left, below. And...notice the photo at right, showing the same wall again...

The Temple of Deified Caesar was designed and developed by the great Roman Architect, engineer and author, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. 'Vitruvius' was no stranger to Caesar, himself, having served under the General during his Gallic campaigns as an "artilleryman" by Vitruvius' own description, some six-to sixteen-years earlier. It's obvious today, even with the temple in such diminished ruin, that the great architect's intent was to preserve the exact spot of Caesar's pyre for the ages...and judging by my own pilgrimage and emotional response to finding the subject of the photo at right, above ...Vitruvius executed his objective quite well. A guide here on the day of my visit told me that coins and flowers have been left here (as visible in the photo) every day of the 12 years he has worked in the forum.

4. The Temple of Saturn

Here is my own photo of the remains of the Temple of Saturn. Do you notice that the inscription seems out of place? Perhaps a bit awkward, compared to the elegance of inscriptions on other Roman monuments?? Here the inscription reads: "Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) Incendio Consumptum Restituit". This translates to: "The Senate and people of Rome restored what had been consumed by fire." The 'fire' was actually set by invading Gauls in 360 AD. This Temple differs from all others in the Forum in that it uses Ionic column capitals, as opposed to the 'Corinthian' capitals featured on all the others. This temple also used many materials which were spoils of war ('Spolia') including these 'different-looking' Egyptian granite column shafts, taken as bootie from some war campaign.

Here below are a digital version of the appearance of the Temple of Saturn and an actual model of the ancient temple on a backlot of the famous Italian film studio, known as Cinecitta Studios. Note that just about EVERY roman movie you know was shot at this studio, just outside the REAL Rome. If you're a fan of the British television program, "Plebs", you probably recognize this 'Temple of Saturn' from the musical, opening intro to that TV-comedy! Note also that the coloring of the movie-temple is apparently correct. Traces of lead paint are still apparent enough on the face of ALL the forum structures, that recreating a realistic visual of how they were decorated is....pretty easy!

5. The Regia (and 'Temple of Vesta')

The 'Regia' was a structure of the forum which served originally as a residence and/or main headquarters for the kings of Rome who preceded the Roman Republic. After 'Tarquinius Superbus', the last king of Rome was exiled and the Republic embraced, the Regia became the residence of the 'Pontifex Maximus', Rome's chief religious figure and high priest of the state religion.

Here's an image of the forum you should now have some familiarity with....The Regia is the angular building within the circle and beside it is the round, 'Temple of Vesta'...where Rome's 'Vestal Virgins' had the responsibility of maintaining Rome's 'sacred hearth and its perpetual flame'. By the time of the late Roman Republic, the temple of Vesta and management of the efforts of the Vestal Virgins, were the responsibility of the Pontifex Maximus who resided within the Regia. As you can see from my photos below, nothing really exists these days, of the Regia. The area is defined by the sort-of raised, triangular foundation of the building...and a LOT of chunky, carved marble detail pieces of the former mini-palace lying about.

As Christine and I stood before the ruins here, the entrance to the building was apparent and that set us to visualizing. As Pontifex Maximus (AND Consul-Dictator) the Regia had long been Julius Caesar's home. On the day he was killed...Legend has it that as he began to leave home for his meeting at the theatre of Pompeius on the morning of his murder, his wife Calpurnia tried to stop him from leaving, owing to a premonition of his death she'd dreamed the night before. She pulled at his toga, causing a bust of Caesar to fall from its pedestal and shatter on the floor of the Regia near the entryway where we stood. We also imagined the direction Caesar and his comrade that morning, Decimus Brutus must have started on their way to the ill-fated meeting at Pompey's theatre. ...Goosebumps.

6. The Temple of Castor & Pollux I think the ruins of this temple are the most beautiful in the forum. The current construction was erected by the 'Princeps', Augustus in the final decade of the 1st century BCE, replacing the earlier temple to the twin sons of Jupiter, which had stood on the same site since 484 BCE. Today only the inner concrete core of the podium and three columns survive of this once massive structure.

I love the photo on the left. I have known of these three columns and their bit of architrave for most of my life and have always been appreciative of their doggedly determined presence and insistence to remain upright in this magnificent place.

Here below are a couple of images of Castor and Pollux in its youth. Notice the artist's indication of the position of the three remaining 'soldiers' in the rendering on the right.

7. The Via Sacra

The Via Sacra ('Sacred Way)' was the main street of ancient Rome. Via Sacra led from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through all of the most important religious temples and sites. The road was part of the traditional route of Roman Triumphs that began at the Campus Martius ('Field of Mars', which, excepting days of a 'triumph' was the closest any assembled army could get to the city, by law...) and proceeded through the Roman Forum.

Here, below is a general map of the route of a 'Triumph' and our photo of the unmistakable Via Sacra 'paving' stones that still exist in many places...especially around the Coliseum and through the forum.

Here below are some historical images depicting Roman 'Triumphs'... On the left, a relief showing the triumph of the Flavian Emperor, Titus whose sack of Jerusalem wildly enriched the empire. The middle piece depicts Caesar's triumph for his campaigns in Gaul...note that in both depictions, a slave rides along behind the 'triumphor', holding a wreath which never touches it's subject and traditionally whispers "Memento mori" a repeated message for the great man on his great day to, "Remember you're just a man". The third etching shows the display of bootie 'rescued' by the triumphant general. Roman citizens LOVED to see the bootie!

Here below is a GREAT photo of the Via Sacra as it passes the Basillica Julia, facing East in the heart of the Forum. That's the Basillica Julia on the right....columns of the Temple of Castor/Pollux are visible and further forward, the remains of the Temple of Vesta. When I think of Roman Triumphal processions...I think of THIS spot, lined on both sides by the triumphor's adoring public.

8. The Basilica Julia

Here below is my photo of the remains of the Basilica Julia. This is the Eastern end, 'corner stone' of the, by FAR largest building ruin in the Roman Forum. 'The viewer's side' of the small fence here IS actually the Via Sacra.

One factoid I knew about this beautiful ruin...and which I specifically looked for evidence of on the day of our visit, was the propensity of Romans to carve 'graffiti' into the building's steps. The ground at this Eastern end of the building was slightly lower than the Western end, so the steps were necessary to create a flat foundation....'Julia' was essentially a 'courthouse' for deciding citizen matters...so as now, there was obviously some waiting time to be expected on the day of one's 'case'.....and it seems like many of those citizens passed that time by scribing game boards into the stairs to help pass the time. I believe I found one of those very close to this cornerstone and another, further West along the Via Sacra. Could the one on the left, here below be a playing board for a game like "checkers"? Anyway...finding these markings (below) where previous reading told me I might....was quite exciting for me.

Here're a couple renderings showing the complete 'Julia'. The earlier, "cornerstone" photo would be at the closest corner of the rendering at below left.

The open area shown in the interior rendering (above, right) would have featured 'curtains' separating scores of 'court rooms' all hearing cases simultaneously. Must have been LOUD. Note the presence of our 'Rostra' AND 'Via Sacra' in the exterior rendering, above left. That's what I have for now.

Rome is for some reason, a huge part of who I am. I realize I have an unquenchable desire for more and more knowledge of that long-gone, great society... and I really have NO idea why. This was the third trip to Rome of my life...and due in great part to Christine's company this time, it was my greatest visit.

Look for at least one more Rome blog relative to this visit. Ciao bella!