Forma Orbis Romani
The Forma Orbis Romani (FOR) is a research project led by the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche . The naming is based on the Forma Urbis Romae , an ancient plan of the city of Rome made of marble .
As part of the project, discoveries on the former territory of the Roman Empire are to be researched and published. The aim is to create an archaeological cadastre that is primarily intended to protect the ancient heritage. The focus here is on researching former or existing centers of ancient civilization. Relevant topographical studies include all archaeological material from prehistory to late antiquity . You access excavation results, surveys and archive material. The archaeological maps created in the following are presented on a scale of 1:25,000 or 1:50,000. In addition, complete photographic documentation and detailed drawings are added. The objects are comprehensively described in text and classified scientifically. Above all, the surveys and the resulting knowledge and analysis of the topographical conditions of a location play a fundamental role and have had a long-lasting impact on similar projects in other and more limited areas.
The project was placed under the patronage of the Union Académique Internationale in 1922 on the initiative of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and Rodolfo Lanciani , where it is managed as a category C project. This created an international framework in which the Carta Archeologica d'Italia could be integrated and expanded. The idea of creating a Carta Archeologica d'Italia came up as early as 1885. The Carta Archeologica d'Italia was really tackled and implemented under the name Forma Italiae only in 1923 through the energetic commitment of Giuseppe Lugli and with the support of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the Unione Accademica Nazionale in Italy.
Lugli was also the first director of the project from 1924. In 1926 the first volume of the series of the same name appeared under the title “ Regio I, Latium et Campania. Vol. I, Ager Pomptinus, pars I, Anxur-Tarracina ”, which Lugli and the second volume from 1928 had edited himself. Lugli headed the responsible commission at the Union Académique Internationale until 1967. In 1968 his student Ferdinando Castagnoli followed him in the management, replaced in 1988 by Paolo Somella , who has headed the project ever since.
Since Somella has also been President of the Tabula Imperii Romani, which is funded by the Union Académique Internationale , the complementary collaboration between these two sister projects has increased, thanks in particular to the introduction of electronic data processing in both projects. This was made possible by the common use of a uniform georeferencing system for cartography . Since then , data created for the Forma Italiae , which achieve a much higher level of detail, can also be used for the Tabula Imperii Romani . For the future, it is planned to submit data entirely in electronic form, so that the boundaries between the two projects will become even more permeable.
In addition to the Forma Italiae, there is a contributing initiative, the Forma Conventus Tarraconensis in Catalonia , which so far published a volume in 1928. The Carte archéologique de la Gaule romaine in France and the Carte archéologique de la Belgique romaine in Belgium were also published in the name of the series . The Forma Italiae followed the Augustan regional division of Italy in the volume division until 1984, as can be seen in the quoted volume by Giuseppe Lugli. In this way, 18 of the 44 volumes of the Forma Italiae that have now been published were devoted to Regio I, Etruria as Region VII had 6 volumes, and all other regions, if at all, were taken into account with one or two volumes. Since 1996, the divisions have been based on the sheet division of the Istituto Geografico Militare , so that individual volumes cover excerpts from these maps, for example " Ager Tusculanus (IGM 150 III NE - II NO) ".