For a thousand years, Rome ruled the known world, and the political, religious, and social center of this vast empire was a 5-acre patch of land known as the Forum.
Imagine Rome at its peak. This was the center of ancient Rome. The hill in the distance, with the bell tower, is Capitol Hill. Immediately to the left is Palatine Hill. The valley between is rectangular, running roughly east to west, from the Colosseum up to Capitol Hill. The rocky path down the middle is the Via Sacra, which runs through the trees, past the large brick Senate building, under another triumphal arch at the far end, and up Capitol Hill.
Picture being here when a conquering general returned to Rome with crates of booty. The valley was full of gleaming white marble buildings topped with bronze roofs. The Via Sacra – Main Street of the Forum – would be lined with citizens waving branches and carrying torches.
The trumpets would sound as the parade began. First came porters, carrying chests full of gold and jewels. Then a parade of exotic animals from conquered lands – elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses – all for the crowd to “ooh” and “ahh” at. Next came the prisoners in chains, with the captive king on a wheeled platform so people could jeer and spit at him. Finally, the conquering hero himself would drive down in this four-horse chariot, with rose petals strewn in his path.
The whole procession would run the length of the Forum and up the face of Capitol Hill to the Temple of Saturn. They’d place the booty in Rome’s treasury. Then they’d continue up to the summit of the Temple of Jupiter. Meeting the priests at the temple, they’d dedicate their victory to the King of the Gods. Conquest by conquest, Rome grew from a small band of tribespeople huddled in this valley, to an empire stretching all across Europe. The wealth of that far flung empire flowed inward to the city of Rome.
The Arch of Titus
This triumphal arch commemorated the Roman victory over the province of Judaea (or Israel) in AD 70. The Romans had a reputation as benevolent conquerors who tolerated the local customs. All they required was allegiance to the empire, shown by worshipping the emperor as a god. No problem for most conquered people, who already had half a dozen gods on their prayer list anyway. but the Jews of Israel believed in only one god, and it wasn’t the emperor. Israel revolted. After a short but bitter war, the Romans defeated the rebels, took Jerusalem, sacked their temple, and brought home 50,000 Jewish slaves. They were forced to build this arch which celebrates their defeat.
Roman propaganda decorates the inside of the arch. A relief shows the emperor Titus in a chariot being crowned by the goddess Victory. The other side shows booty from the sacking of the temple in Jerusalem – soldiers carrying off a precious Jewish menorah and other plunder. The two plaques on the poles are unfinished – they were to have listed the conquered cities.
The brutal crushing of the Jewish rebellion in AD 70 (and another one 60 years later) devastated the nation of Israel. With no temple as a center for their faith, the Jews scattered throughout the world – the Diaspora. There would be no Jewish political entity again for almost two thousand years, until modern Israel was created after World War II.
The Basilica of Constantine
These immense arches are only side niches of the basilica. Looking high at those nubs, one can imagine the main arches stretching high above, entirely across the big vacant lot. Completing this mammoth hall of justice in your mind – consider that those three arches were matched by three more on the other side, where only ruined pillars remain today. The hall itself was as long as a football field, lavishly furnished with colorful inlaid marble, a gilded bronze ceiling, and statues, and filled with strolling Romans. As this was the Basilica of Constantine, at the far end was an enormous marble statue of Emperor Constantine on a throne – his finger was as big as a person. Pieces of this statue are on display in the courtyard of Rome’s Capitoline Museum.
A basilica was a covered meeting place, often serving as a Roman hall of justice. In a society that was as legal-minded as America is today, you needed a lot of lawyers – and a big place to put them. Citizen came here to get building permits, settle inheritances, or to sue somebody.
The layout is as a long, central hall flanked by two side aisles. This spacious floor plan was later adopted by medieval Christians who required a larger meeting hall for their worship services than Roman temples provided. The Roman basilica became the model for virtually all Christian churches, from Italy to France to England, from Romanesque to Gothic to Renaissance. All have the same basic floor plan as a Roman basilica.
This basilica was begun by the emperor Maxentius, but after he was trounced in battle, the victor – Constantine – completed this massive building. No doubt about it, the Romans built monuments on a more epic scale than any previous Europeans, wowing their “barbarian” neighbors.
The Via Sacra
This is the main street of the ancient city. Imagine being an out-of-town visitor during Rome’s heyday – maybe from Gaul (modern France) or Londinium (modern London). You know a little Latin, but nothing would have prepared you for the bustle of Rome – a city of a million people. The street would be swarmed with tribunes, slaves, and courtesans. Chariots whizzed by. Wooden stalls lined the roads, where merchants peddled their goods.
House of the Vestal Virgins: The Vestal Virgins lived in a two-story building surrounding a long central courtyard with two pools at one end. Rows of statues depicting leading Vestal Virgins flanked the courtyard. This place was the model – both architecturally and sexually – for medieval convents and monasteries.
Think of all the history about us. We passed modern workers in roped-off archeological zones, digging down through the millennia. The Via Sacra was paved with large basalt stones. Think of it. Many of the stones under our feet were actually walked on by Caesar Augustus 2,000 years ago. Sturdy roads like Via Sacra were part of an efficient transportation network – about 50,000 miles of paved roads in all. Originally, roads like these were covered over with concrete and smooth-fitting stones. Roman businessmen traveled them on foot or in carts, the mail sped along in a kind of pony express system, and bureaucrats rode in chariots, allowing them to administer far off lands.
That green door is the original bronze door to the Temple of Romulus, still swinging on its ancient hinges after 17 centuries. And these days that ancient Temple is sometimes used for modern exhibits. No wonder they call Rome the Eternal City.
The Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina
This temple honors the 2nd-century Emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife, Faustina. The 50-foot-tall Corinthian columns – with their ornate and leafy capitals – must have been awe-inspiring to out-of-towners who grew up in thatched huts. Although the temple is now inhabited by a church, you can still see the basic layout – a staircase led to a shaded porch, where you see the columns. From here, you entered the main building (now the church). Inside the temple stood a statue of a Roman god.
Picture a Roman priest climbing these steps to make an offering to the god inside. For the superstitious Romans, religion was all about making peace with the gods to guarantee their blessing and good fortune. To appease the fickle gods, they paid priests to sacrifice an animal in their behalf, or to interpret the will of the gods by studying the animal’s internal organs.
Romans had a god for every important even in their lives. Scholars estimate Romans had about 30,000 gods to keep happy – the goddess of childbirth, the god of baby’s first steps, the goddess who made bread rise, and even Venus Cloacina, the sewer goddess. So when Emperor Antoninus’ beloved wife dies, he could declare her a goddess, built this temple in her honor, and no one blinked.
Imagine these stately columns in Rome’s heyday – with gilded capitals, supporting a triangular-shaped pediment decorated with brightly painted statues, and the whole building capped with a gleaming bronze roof. The stately gray rubble of today’s Forum is like a faded black-and-white photograph of a 3-D Technicolor era.
The Temple of Vesta
This is perhaps Rome’s most sacred spot. Notice that the temple remains are curved. Originally, this temple was circular, like a glorified farmer’s hut, the kind Rome’s first families lived in. Rome considered itself one big family, and inside this temple, a fire burned, just as in a Roman home. Although we think of the Romans as decadent, in fact they prided themselves on their family values. People venerated their parents, grandparents, and ancestors, even keeping small statues of them in sacred shrines in their homes. This temple represented those family values on a large scale; its fire symbolized the “hearth” of the extended family that was Rome.
And back in those days, you never wanted your fire to go out. People believed, as long as the sacred flame burned, Rome would stand. The flame was tended by six priestesses known as Vestal Virgins.
These six Vestal Virgins were chosen from noble families before they reached the age of 10. They served a 30-year term, tending the flame in the temple. the Vestals were honored and revered by the Romans. They had the power to pardon condemned criminals. They even had their own box at the Colosseum, opposite the emperor.
The Home of the Vestal Virgins
The Vestal Virgins lived in a two-story building that surrounded a long central courtyard. You can see two pools that decorated it at one end. The row of statues honored illustrious Vestal Virgins.
Their sacred duty was to be ritual homemakers, tending the temple-home from a sacred spring, cooked sacred food, and, I imagine, even polished the ritual silverware, and -most importantly – made sure the hearth fire never went out.
As the name implies, a Vestal took a vow of chastity. If she served her term faithfully – abstaining for 30 years – she was given a huge dowry, and allowed to marry. But if they found any Virgin who… wasn’t, she was strapped to a funeral cart, paraded through the streets of the Forum, taken to a crypt, give a loaf of bread and a lamp.. and buried alive. Many women suffered this latter fate.
The layout of this home for priestesses – an open-air courtyard surrounded by a covered walkway and living quarters, has become the model – both architecturally and sexually – for medieval convents and monasteries in the Christian era.
These three tall columns, with a crossbeam connecting them, marks the Temple of Castor and Pollux. It is one of the city’s oldest temples. These three columns have become the most photographed sight in the Forum. 🙂
The Forum’s Main Square
The word “forum” referred to this entire valley and its main square. The main square was this flat patch of land about the size of a football field, stretching to the base of Capitol Hill. It was the original “piazza,” an open area accomodating the gregarious and social nature of ancient Romans. Surrounding the square were temples, law courts, government buildings, and triumphal arches.
Rome was born right here. According to legend, twin brothers Romulus and Remus were orphaned in infancy and raised by a she-wolf on top of the Palatine. Growing up, they found it hard to get dats. 🙂 So they and their cohorts attacked the nearby Sabine tribe and kidnapped their women. Or so went the legend. Closer to fact, this marshy valley became the meeting place and then the trading center for the scattered tribes on the surrounding hillsides.
Throughout Rome’s long history, the square was the busiest, most crowded – and often seediest – section of town. Besides, the senators, politicians , and money exchangers, their were even sleazier types – souvenir hawkers, pickpockets, fortune-tellers, gamblers, slave traders, drunks, hookers, lawyers, even stock brokers. 🙂
The Forum is now rubble, but imagine it in its prime: gleaming white marble building with 40-foot-high columns and shining bronze roofs: rows of statues painted in realistic colors; processional chariots rattling down the Via Sacra. Mentally replace tourists in T-shirts with tribunes in togas. Imagine the buildings towering and the people buzzing around you while an orator give a rabble-rousing speech from the foot of Capitol Hill. If things still look like just a pile of rocks, at least tell yourself, “But Julius Caesar once leaned against these same rocks.”
The Temple of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar’s body was burned on this spot – under the metal roof – after his assassination in 44 B.C. Caesar, born in the year 100 BC, changed Rome – and the Forum – dramatically. Popular with the people because of his military victories and charisma, he gained control of the government, suspended the Roman constitution, and ruled like a king or dictator. In the Forum, he cleared out many of the wooden market stalls and replaced them with grand marble buildings. Caesar’s house was located behind the temple, In fact, Caesar walked right by here on the day he was assassinated – the place where the street-corner preacher called out to him: “Beware the ides of March!”
Though he was popular with the masses, not everyone liked Caesar’s politics. During a senate meeting, he was ambushed by a conspiracy of senators, including his adopted son, Brutus. One by one they stepped up to take turns stabbing him. Caesar died gasping his final astonished words to Brutus – “Et tu, Brute?” He died.
The funeral was held here, facing the main square. The citizens gathered, and speeches were made. Mar Antony stood up to say (in Shakespeare’s words), “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” When Caesar’s body was burned, the citizens who still loved him threw anything at hand on the fire. The fire grew huge, so huge it actually required the fire department to come put it out. Later, Emperor Augustus dedicated this temple in his name, making Caesar the first Roman to become a god. Behind the wall, under the tin roof, there is a small curved area that has a mount of dirt and normally fresh flowers – given to remember the man who, more than any other, personified the greatness of Rome.
The Curia, or Senate House
The Curia was the oldest and most important political building in the Forum. Since the birth of the republic, this was the site of Rome’s official center of government. Three hundred senators, elected by the citizens of Rome, donned their togas, tucked their scrolls under their arms and climbed the steps into this great hall. Inside, they gave speeches, debated policy, and created the laws of the land. They sat with their backs to the walls, surrounding the big hall on three sides, in bleachers stacked three tiers high. At the far end sat the Senate president – and later, the emperor – on his podium. The marble floor is from ancient times. The acoustics of this room are great – and imagine the stirring speeches and passionate debates that happened right here.
Rome prided itself on being a republic. Early in the city’s history, its people threw out the king and established rule by elected representatives. Each Roman citizen was free to speak his mind and have a say in public policy. Even when emperors became the supreme authority, the Senate was a power to be reckoned with.
The present Curia building dates from AD 283. It’s so well preserved because it was used as a church since early Christian times. In the 1930s, it was restored and opened to the public as a historic site.
By the way, although people say Julius Caesar was assassinated “on the steps” in “the Senate”, it wasn’t actually here – the Senate was temporarily meeting across town.
The Rostrum
Nowhere was Roman freedom more apparent than at this “Speaker Corner.” The Rostrum was a raised platform, 10 feet high and 80 feet long, decorated with statues, columns, and the prows of ships, called rostra in Latin.
On a stage like this, Rome’s orators, great and small, tried to draw a crowd and sway public opinion. Picture the backdrop these speakers would have had – a mountain of glorious marble buildings rising right up the Capitol Hill. It was here that Mark Antony rose up to offer Caesar the laurel-leaf crown of kingship, which Caesar publicly (and hypocritically) refused while privately becoming a dictator. Men such as Cicero railed against the corruption and decadence that came with the city’s newfound wealth. And Cicero paid the price: he was executed, and had his head and hands nailed to the Rostrum as a public warning.
In later years, when emperors ruled, it took real daring to speak out against the powers-that-be. Rome’s democratic spirit was increasingly squelched. Eventually ,the emperor and the army – not the Senate and the citizens – held ultimate power, and Rome’s vast empire began to rot from within.
The Arch of Septimius Severus
In Imperial times, the Rostrum’s voices of democracy would have been dwarfed by images of empire such as the huge, six-story-high Arch of Septimius Seversu (built in around AD 200). The reliefs commemorate the African-born emperor’s battles in Mesopotamia. Check out the reliefs near ground level – soldiers march captured barbarians back to Rome for the victory parade. More and more, Rome’s economy was based on slave power and foreign booty rather than on domestic production. And despite efficient rule by emperors like Severus, Rome’s empire was beginning to crumble under the weight of its own corruption, disease, and decaying infrastructure.
Remember that Rome lasted 1,000 years. To review: it grew for 500 years, peaked for 200 years and gradually fell for 300 years. The fall had many causes. Christians blamed the fall on moral decay. Pagans blamed it on Christians. Socialists blamed it on a shallow economy based on the spoils of war. Liberals blamed it on the Conservatives… and vise versa. And regardless of the problems within, there was always the presence of barbarian tribes on the fringes. The far-flung empire could no longer keep its grip on conquered lands, and the Roman Legions began backpedaling.
The Temple of Saturn and Column of Phocas – Rome’s End
These eight columns framed the entrance to the Forum’s oldest temple, from about 500 BC. Inside there once was a humble, very old wooden statue of the god Saturn. The statue’s claim to fame was its pedestal, which held the gold bars, coins, and jewels of Rome’s state treasury, the booty collected by conquering generals.
Standing here at one of the Forum’s first buildings, look out over the Forum, and find a lone, tall column that’s one of the Forum’s final monuments. The Column of Phocas, from AD 608, was a gift from the new dominant empire – Byzantium – to the old, fallen empire – Rome. Given to commemorate the pagan Pantheon becoming a Christian church, it’s like a symbolic last nail in ancient Rome’s-coffin.
After Rome’s 1,000-year reign, the once-vast empire had shrunk down to little more than the city itself, surrounded by a medieval-style wall. In AD 410 that wall was breached, and the city was looted. In 451, the pope had to personally plead with Attila the Hun for mercy. A thousand years of tradition was disintegrating. Finally, in 476, the last emperor sold his title for a comfy pension, checked out and switched off the lights, leaving a political vacuum and plunging Europe into a thousand years of darkness… poverty, ignorance, superstition – the Dark Ages.
The city of Rome shrank from over a million to about 10,000. The once-grand city center – the Forum – was abandoned, slowly covered up by centuries of silt and dirt. By medieval times, the Column of Phocas could barely pop its head above the ground. In the 1700s, an English historian named Edward Gibbon overlooked this spot from Capitol Hill. Hearing Christian monks singing at these pagan ruins, he looked out at the few columns poking up from the ground, pondered the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” and thought, “Hmm, that’s a catchy title… I think I’ll write a book.”
But the spirit of Rome has lived on through the centuries, especially in the Christian religion. IN the last years of the Roman Empire, Christianity had become the state religion. Senators became bishops, orators became priests, basilicas became churches, and the Roman Emperor (the Pontifex Maximus. Then around the year 1500, interest in ancient Rome was reborn in the Renaissance. And today, hints of Rome still exist in our everyday world. Our language, laws, literature, art, architecture, and science all have a basis in these enlightened people. The glory of Rome remains eternal.