Originally posted on July 12, 2012 by Canicus

The Forum

The city of Rome is approximately 2,750 years old. Cities (or perhaps more properly, city-states) were a center for the agricultural area surrounding it. Most of the population lived on farms, there were few residents who actually lived in the city proper. The city served as a market place, a center of public worship, governmental administration and defense. When the city-state was under attack, the rural population could withdraw within the walls of the city.

The area between the Palatine and Capitoline hills was originally a swamp. Sometime between 750 BC and 500 BC the kings of Rome built a drainage facility (still in use today) to drain the area, where they constructed a major forum. The forum was dominated by the Temple of Jupiter Greatest and Best atop the Capitoline Hill which served as an acropolis for the city’s defense. Down below in a huge area was the forum – and area for markets, politics and civil religious festivals. Considering the small population of Rome at the time and its insignificance in world affairs, clearly the kings envisioned something great for its future.

In the picture gallery I mention the Rostrum and the Tabularum. The Tabularum was where the records of Rome were stored. The Rostrum was the place where public speeches were made to the assembled Romans. The word comes from a Latin word meaning “rooster’s beak.” No, it’s not about orators crowing. Warships had a metal battering ram that resembled a rooster’s beak. Part of the naval battle consisted in ramming enemy vessels. Some of these rams captured from Carthaginian ships during the Punic Wars were installed on the platform.

The eastern end of the forum contained the Temple of Vesta, in which an eternal flame was maintained by the Vestal Virgins who lived in a house nearby. There was also the Temple of Romulus, the traditional founder of Rome. Both these temples are in the round Etruscan style rather than the more common rectangular temples.

Canicus Modius