Forum Romanum
The first Roman forum, built between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills
The Forum Romanum (forum=“market,” Romanum=“Roman”), was Rome’s first forum, and was built between the Palatine and Capitoline hills in response to the growing need for communal space in early Rome as the city continued to grow and develop. The valley between the two hills was largely marshland that had been used as a mass graveyard up until this point, and massive landfill and drainage projects were required to combat frequent flooding. The Forum Romanum initially served primarily religious and public purposes during the Regal period, and its first main features were temples (aedes) that acted as dedications to specific gods as well as administrative buildings. The first temple in the Forum Romanum, for example, was a temple dedicated to Saturn (Aedes Saturni) and also served as the state treasury building (Becker, n.d.). As Rome shifted from Monarchy to Republic, the Forum Romanum continued to expand and became the political center of the city. The main political areas of the Forum Romanum were the curia (meeting house for the senate) and the comitium (an open-air meeting space for public assemblies). While the curia was the primary meeting house for the senate for much of the Republican period, the senate could meet in any templa, or space marked sacred by the priesthood. The Forum Romanum continued to grow throughout the Republican period to include numerous templa (shrines), basilicae, and aedes (Becker, n.d.).
Bibliography
Latin Dictionary Entries
Forum - Perseus Digital Library
Romanus - Perseus Digital Library
Jay Brodzeller, 2022