Imperial fora
Coordinates | 41°53′40″N 12°29′8″E / 41.89444°N 12.48556°E |
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The Imperial Fora (Fori Imperiali in Italian) are a series of monumental fora (public squares), constructed in Rome over a period of one and a half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The fora were the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire.
The Imperial Fora, while not part of the Roman Forum, are located relatively close to each other. Julius Caesar was the first to build in this section of Rome and rearranged both the Forum and the Comitium, another forum type space designated for politics, to do so. These fora were the centres of politics, religion and economy in the ancient Roman Empire.
During the early 20th century, Mussolini restored the Imperial Fora as part of his campaign to evoke and emulate the past glories of Ancient Rome, but he also built the Via dei Fori Imperiali across the middle of the site. The modern street and its heavy traffic has proved a source of damage to the buildings because of vibration and pollution. There have been a number of proposals to remove the road, but none have taken effect.
Forum of Caesar
The Forum of Caesar was constructed as an extension to the Roman Forum. The Forum was used as a replacement venue to the Roman Forum for public affairs as well as government; it was also designed as a celebration of Caesar's power. Caesar had placed, on the front of his forum, a temple devoted to Venus Genetrix, since Caesar's family (
Forum of Augustus
In the
This new complex lies at right angles to the Forum of Caesar. The temple consists of a very tall wall, and this still distinguishes itself from the popular neighbourhood of Suburra. This high wall served as a firebreak, protecting the Forum area from the frequent conflagrations from which Rome suffered. The rectangular square has long deep porticos with a surface that widens into large semicircular exedras.
Recently one more slightly smaller exedra was found south on the wall bordering the
The entire decoration of the Forum was tightly connected to the ideology of Augustus. According to myth, Rome herself was born from the god Mars through Romulus. This forum was occupied by . . .
Temple of Peace
In 75 AD, the Temple of Peace, also known as the Forum of Vespasian, was built under Emperor
The shape of the square was also different: the temple was constructed as a large apsidal hall that opened up like an exedra at the bottom of the portico. A row of columns distinguished the portico from the temple. The central area was not paved like other fora and served as a garden, with pools and pedestals for statues, so that it was similar to an open-air museum.
The monument was built to celebrate the
Forum of Nerva, or the Transitional Forum
Domitian decided to unify the previous complex and the free remaining irregular area, between the Temple of Peace and the Fora of Caesar and Augustus, and build another monumental forum which connected all of the other fora.
The limited space, partially occupied by one of the exedrae of the Forum of Augustus and by the via dell'Argileto, obliged Domitian to build the lateral porticos as simply decorations of the bounding walls of the forum. The temple, dedicated to Minerva as protector of the emperor, was built leaning on the exedra of the Forum of Augustus, so that the remaining space became a large monumental entrance (Porticus Absidatus) for all the fora.
Because of the death of Domitian, the forum was inaugurated by his successor, Nerva, who gave his own name to it. The Forum of Nerva is also known as Transitional Forum, because it worked as an access way, just like via dell'Argileto had done.
Forum of Trajan
It is probable that Domitian's projects were more ambitious than the building of the small Forum of Nerva and probably under his reign they started to remove the small saddle that united the Capitoline Hill to the Quirinal Hill, thus blocking the Fora towards Campus Martius, near to modern Piazza Venezia.
The project was resumed by Trajan with the construction of Trajan's Forum between 112 and 113. The occasion was the conquest of Dacia, whose spoils paid for this celebration of the military conquests of Rome.
The preparation of the Forum required a lot of work. It was necessary to remove the hilly saddle, and to support the cut of Quirinal Hill through the building of Trajan's market. The Forum square was closed by the Basilica Ulpia, with Trajan's Column at its back. In front of the basilica, a monumental façade was the background of a large, equestrian sculpture of the Emperor. The last Forum was also the biggest and greatest.[2]
Museum
In 2007, a museum dedicated to the Imperial Fora was opened in the
References
- ^ "News and Announcements | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences". Cals.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2013-08-31.
- ^ Tucci, Pier Luigi, ‘Nuove osservazioni sull’architettura del Templum Pacis’, in F. Coarelli (ed.), Divus Vespasianus. Il Bimillenario dei Flavi (Milan 2009), catalogue of the exhibition on the Flavian dynasty (Rome, March 2009 - January 2010) 158-167
- ^ Riccardo Bianchini. "Rome – The Museum of Imperial Fora". Inexhibit. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
External links
- James Grout: Imperial Fora, part of the Encyclopædia Romana
- Satellite image of the area of the Fora
- Rome, The Imperial Fora (2007 onwards) in: the "Fori Imperiali," of the: Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali,' Roma (2007) [text only available in Italian.
- Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. Interlink. ISBN 9781623710088.
Media related to Forums of Rome at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Roman Forum |
Landmarks of Rome Imperial fora |
Succeeded by Forum of Augustus |