Roman forum

Introduction
 Forum were public places consisting of many
buildings
like temples, markets, amphitheatres, libraries etc.

 In Rome, the main forums are

1] Forum Romanum
2] Imperial Forums

In imperial forums ,
Forum julium, forum augustus, forum transitorium,
and forum of trajan.
Origin of Roman forum
 The victory of Caesar’s nephew over Antonius and
Cleopatra in 31 B.C. was one of the decisive event of
history.
 And by this Rome was divided into 2 warring camps. The
Greek speaking East and the Latin speaking West.
 Between these two there were points of contact, points of
mutual interaction and assimilation.
 These contacts grew stronger daily and were known as
FORUMS.
Forum Romanum
Forum Romanum
Plan of the Imperial Forums
The forum of Julius Caesar
 This was first attempt
to give the heart of
Rome a more formal
character. The long
rectangular forum was
flanked by double
colonnades with shops
behind them and had
the temple of Venus Carved soffit in the Temple of Venus Genatrix
Genatrix at its ahead.
The forum of Augustus
 Augustus, the great builder was guided by Julius Caesar.
 This forum was laid out at right angle to that Caesar.
 In this forum had built the temple of Mars Ultor. The
temple was dedicated to Mars the avenger, his adopted
father.
 The temple had a single, almost square cella. The cella
was flanked by relatively narrow wings that were formed
by continuing the outermost lines of the columns of deep
porch along its sides.
 The whole project of the forum and the temple was also a
public assertion of the achievement of Rome and
Augustus himself.
Temple of Mars Ultor

Detail of Soffit
The forum of Trajan
 The forum of Trajan, built by Apollodorus of Damascus,
dedicated in A.D. 113, the last and greatest of the Imperial
forums.
 To make way for it the slopes of the Quirinal hill were cut
back and the spur linking it with the Capitoline was
leveled.
 A grand entrance led into a large open square flanked by
porticoes, the central feature of which was a gilded
bronze statue of Trajan; at the far end of the square. in
the centre of smaller galleried courtyard flanked by a pair
of libraries, stood the Column of Trajan, carved with an
ascending spiral.
 After Trajan’s death the scheme was completed by the
building of a huge temple at the far end, facing the
column.
 Plan of Baths of Trajan
Column of Trajan

Detail of Column View of Baths of Trajan

Markets of Trajan