Roman imperial forums
The Imperial Forums are a series of expansions to the north and east of the Roman Forum that were made towards the end of the Roman Republic and in the early Imperial Era and named after those who built them.
The complex of a total of four imperial forums ( Caesar Forum , Augustus Forum , Nerva Forum or Transitorium and Trajan's Forum ) arose from the need to adapt the previous center for politics and administration of the city and state to the increased requirements and to expand it significantly. It was also at this point that there was a desire for the forum to look more grand and sophisticated.
Gaius Iulius Caesar had from 54 BC BC were the first to expand the ancient city center with a new forum , which was directly adjacent to the old one and was at the foot of the Capitol Hill . This forum was later given the name of the emperor Forum Iulium . It had an elongated rectangular shape, as was customary in public places in Greece , and was surrounded on three sides with porticos ; at the back was a temple.
About fifty years later Augustus added an extension to the east of the Caesar Forum according to the same scheme, which also took up about the same area. It was separated from the Subura quarter by a high wall to protect it from the fires that regularly break out there.
71-74, after his triumph in the Jewish War , Emperor Vespasian had a temple of peace built near the Augustus Forum, in which the riches stolen from the Temple of Jerusalem were kept. The large square in front of this temple was very similar to a forum square, and when Emperor Domitian later built a new forum on the area that had remained free between the Augustus forum and the temple, a single complex was created. This new forum was named after the emperor Nerva , since he had inaugurated it in 97, or transitory , because of its connecting function.
Nevertheless, Emperor Trajan added another forum in 107-112. Since the available area was insufficient, various buildings and monuments were demolished and even the hill that connected the Capitol to the Quirinal was removed. Thus a connection was created between the old forum and the old city and the new one, which in the meantime had arisen on the Marsfeld . The Trajan's Forum was the last and at the same time the most impressive of the imperial forums.
From 1924 to 1932, the boulevard Via dei Fori Imperiali was built across the ancient ruins of the Imperial Forums under Benito Mussolini .
literature
- Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide. Verlag von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2685-8 , pp. 109-147.
Web links
- The Imperial Forums at Roma Antiqua - Rome online
- Museum in the Trajan's Markets with exhibits from the Imperial Forums
Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 40 ″ N , 12 ° 29 ′ 8 ″ E