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The Forum
Across the modern road which separates the Capitol from the Forum are the eight columns of the Temple of Saturn, where the state treasure was kept; the temple was built in 497 B.C.; the Ionic columns of the portico belong to the reconstruction of the IV century A.D. Near the temple of Saturn, under a protective roof, is the Vulcanal, or Altar of Vulcano, sacred to the forge, which according to tradition, was founded by Romulus, who made a pact near it with the Sabine King, Titus Tatius, after the rape of the Sabine women, The other place, which dates from the time of Romulus, which we can still see is the Comitium, the small open space between the Curia and the arch of Septimius Severus, where also the Rostra was, the platform from which orators used to address the people assembled in the Comitium. In this place we also find the Lapis Niger, a black marble stone inserted into the pavement, marking a sacred spot. Beneath the Lapis Niger are kept remains of monuments, among the earliest in the Forum, the so called Tomb of Romulus, and a truncated cone shaped column with an inscription in archaic Latin letters, which resemble the Greek alphabet. The superb triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus was dedicated in 203 by Caracalla and Geta, his sons, and, after Caracalla killed Geta, he erased his brother's name from the inscription. The present Curia dates from 305 A.D., rebuilt under Diocletian. The Roman Senate, the Council of the Elders (from Latin senex old), was the most permanent element in the Roman constitution; it may have been started by Romulus who chose 100 of his best subjects. At first only patricians were elegible, but later plebeians were also admitted. Under the Republic it was the chief governing body (510 B.C. to 29 B.C.); under the Empire (29 B.C. to 475 A.D.) it lost its independence of action. The senators, who met in the present Curia, were little more than ciphers. Built over the secretariat of the Senate, on the left of the Curia, is the Baroque church of SS Luca and Martina. In the open space on the right are the remains of the Basilica Aemilia, built in 79 B.C. The basilica is a type of building with a distinctive architecture which played a large part in the life of the Romans; these great public halls, of Greek inspiration, served mainly for general meetings and business transactions, but were also used as lawcourts, like the Basilica Julia, on the other side of the Forum, rebuilt by Julius Caesar over the old Sempronia. Near the ruins of the Julian Basilica stands a single column, the last monument added to the Forum and dedicated in 608 A.D. to the Byzantine usurper Phocas, who donated the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV. Further down, silhouetted against the dark mass of the Palatine, at the far end on the right, soar the three magnificent columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the brothers of Helen of Troy, which is one of the oldest temples; it was dedicated in 484 B.C. According to the legend, the twin gods brought to Rome the news of the victory of Lake Regillus, the final victory over the deposed Tarquin dynasty. To the left of the temple of Castor and Pollux, are the ruins of the small circular white temple of Vesta, whose cult survived immutable for about a thousand years. In that small temple the sacred fire burnt, symbol of the perpetuity of the Roman State and of the household fire. These ruins consist of fragments of the last reconstruction of the Vesta temple, in 191 A.D. Behind the temple are the remains of the house of the Vestal Virgins, who kept the fire alive; they were maintained by the State, enjoyed great influence, and after thirty years of austerity, they could leave the order and get married, but if they transgressed the oath of virginity, were entombed alive. On the left of the Vesta Temple are the scanty remains of the Altar of Caesar, the altar of the temple built over the spot where the body of Caesar was cremated on the improvised pyre, near the old Rostra, from which Mark Antony delivered his famous oration. At the far end of the Forum on the left, are the high steps and the corinthian columns of the pronaos of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the parents of Marcus Aurelius, the temple was dedicated in 14l A.D. and was made into a Christian Church, dedicated to San Lorenzo in Miranda; beyond the columns of the portico in the modest facade of 1602. Beyond this temple stands another mediaeval Church, Santa Maria Novella, which rose over the ruins of the temple of Venus and Rome, buil by Hadrian, and the GA vast mass of the Basilica of Constantine or Maxentius which towers behind it. In the far background stands the Arch of Titus, erected in A.D. 81, eleven years after the conquest of Jerusalem, which has a relief representing the spoils of the Temple. After identifyng the most outstanding landmarks of the Roman Forum let us try and picture something of its early days and comprehend the part which this square played in the history of Rome and in the evolution of mankind. The Forum, as we see, is in a depression of the terrain lying between the Palatine, the Quirinal and the Capitol. The Sabines lived on the Quirinale, Rome was founded by Romulus on the Palatine in 753 B.C. and this valley made from the very beginning a natural meeting point for those primitive people. This supplies the explanation for the center of Rome's development here. The Forum was always revered by the Romans as the cradle of their institutions, as here they established the first elements of an organised society, such as counting, measuring, monetary system, political and religious organisation etc. In the oldest inscriptions the first numbers we find are five and ten, the number of fingers, for measurements they used the length of the foot.
The inhabitants of the pastoral villages on the seven hills counted their wealth in heads of cattle, and that was their first currency. The official rate of exchange, for a long time, was ten sheep to one cow (in Latin sheep is pecus, from it originated the word pecuniary). The second Roman King, Numa Pompilius, coordinated the State Religion and founded the Vesta Temple; under the kings the buildings in the Forum were mainly of social and religious nature. Under the Republic our Forum became splendid and was the real center of city life, with its basilicas and temples, surrounded by tall buildings and colonnades; lined with attractive shops, and was also the scene of triumphs and sacrifices. With the death of Caesar (44 B.C.) and the accession of Augustus (29 B.C.) the Republic perished and that was the end of the free constitution and the beginning of the decline of the old Forum. With the spoils of the Gallic war Julius Caesar built his new Forum, at the same time as he built the Saepta Julia, great halls for political meetings. Augustus, Nerva, Vespasian and Trajan are the emperors who continued the reconstruction of the center of Rome on a larger scale, (under Trajan Rome had a population of one and a half million inhabitants). The Palatine, which during the Republic had been a fine residential quarter, was occupied by the imperial palaces; it became the new center of the Roman world. After the great days of the Republic, the power of the emperors replaced the power of the Senate, the letters SPQR lost their meaning and the voice of the people was never heard again. The old Forum became a place of idle gossip. The tremendous riches extorted from the conquered provinces caused profound psychological changes in the Romans. The most important changes were the decay of their morals and the loss of their stoic virtues of discipline, industry and frugality. The army was formed mainly from barbarian mercenaries, who were led by romanised barbarian commanders. To this add the greed of the soldiers (Claudius raised to the throne by the soldiers in 41 A.D., was the first to give them a salary bonus, which was subsequently exacted as a legal claim on the accession of every new emperor. More than once the Empire was sold to the best bidder by public auction). These are some of the reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The mother city of Western Civilisation fell in 475 A.D., was invaded and sacked twice before then, in 410 by the Goths of Alaric and in 455 by the Vandals of Genseric. It is, in any case, in the ruins of the old Forum, that we see the starting point of the power of Rome, of what we are pleased to call Civilisation, by which we mean the Western World, because Rome is not just the capitol of the ancient world, not just the capital of united Italy, not just the capital of Christianity, but Rome is Ours.
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At the foot the Capitol, where the Clivus Capitolinus begins, (the rising Roman street with the original paving still on the site) we notice the remains of three temples. They are: the Porticus Deorum Consentium,or the temple of the Twelve Gods, restored as we read in the inscription in 368, A.D., the last reaction of paganism. Right under the slope of the Capitol are the three Corinthian columns of the Temple of Vespaslan, started by Titus and finished by Domitian in 89 A.D., next to it is a platform and a few marble blocks, all that is left of the Temple of Concord, dedicated in 367 B.C. to commemorate the victory of the plebians, when the Licinio Sextian laws were passed, and plebeians were permitted to be elected consuls. That was one of the political victories, which gave the letters S.P.Q.R. their meaning. S.P.Q.R. stand for Senatus Populus Que Romanus, the Senate and the People of Rome.
