Malta to the Forum in Rome (6/10)

The taxi was on time and we were off to the airport at 6.29am. Check-in was a bit of Rafferty's rules. The board indicated the desk to line up at, but then all the screens would just scroll through the names of the destinations of every flight leaving, so it appeared that you could line up anywhere. That done Jill bought and wrote one last post card, then we went through security. Within the EU moving from country to country so easy. No customs checks at all. We boarded the flight and unfortunately didn't have a window seat which was a pity as the weather was fine. It would have been good views of Malta as we took off. We were late leaving, but the flight took just over an hour so I think the pilot put his foot down. It seemed to take ages to collect our luggage - forty-five minutes from touch down to collection of bags, and there was no customs check in that time. We caught the train into Rome Central because our hotel was within walking distance (as planned) of the station. Our room was ready so we were able to drop our bags and take advantage of the rest of the day.

The main street through the Forum.

We decided to walk down to the Forum, getting a feel for Rome on the way. Rome appears much cleaner than Palermo, and the driving is a little less fraught, although the drivers “take no prisoners”. They are far less tolerant of pedestrians than the Sicilians.
The Forum, or Forum Magnum as it was originally known, was really a marketplace and therefore the centre of Roman public life. Because it was where people gathered, it became the site of triumphal processions, elections, public speeches, criminal trials, etc, as well as normal commercial activity. Many of the oldest and most important structures such as shrines and temples were built close to the Forum for the same reason. Traditionally, the first forum was supposed to have been created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, sometime after 753 BC. As Rome grew larger, other forums were created centred around particular commerce such as fish, vegetables, meat, etc, while the judicial and administrative work was managed in the Senate House or Curia. At this stage the emperors built their own Imperial Forums, partly to deify themselves, and partly to celebrate a great victory or event in which they had been involved, and these were used for the main celebrations, speeches, elections, etc. Particularly around the Imperial Forums some of the temples would be built by army leaders in thanks to a particular god in return for a spectacular victory.

The Ancient Roman civilisation lasted for about 12 centuries and hence, as in any city, the buildings within the area were modified, destroyed, demolished, and rebuilt, and what archeologists are now trying to do is to uncover what was left after that civilisation collapsed and which has either been buried by soil build-up or utilised into other buildings which still exist today.

Allan was very surprised to see the extent of the archaeological excavations. They are far more extensive than when he was last in Rome (almost 40 years ago!), so there is a lot more information available now to piece together the history of the place.

There is no logical way way to take a tour of the area, so we will just describe some of the features that particularly caught our attention.

The temple to Saturn is the oldest one which has remains which are identifiable, and was dedicated in 497 BC, and one there is one to Castor and Pollux, dedicated in 483 BC. Some columns of these have been re-erected.

The first forum we passed was a small section of the Forum of Nerva, an Imperial Forum built by Nerva, an emperor you don't hear much of but was the first of the "five good emperors" (96AD). He was only around for a couple of years but managed to build a temple in that time.

The Forum of Augustus.
This area was only excavated in the last 10 years.

Next to this were buildings associated with the Forum of Augustus, which has been excavated since Allan was here years ago. What strikes you immediately is the size of the ruins which remain. These aren't just a couple of courses of stones lying in the ground. These are the remains of three and four storey buildings, all built in brick, and some which have been incorporated into more recent buildings and churches. There are sections of columns lying around, along with the occasional capitol, which give you a hint of the grandeur of ancient Rome. Marble was brought from all over the empire, eg marble from Egypt and Turkey was used for Augustus' forum. Augustus built the Temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated in 2 BC, after promising to do so if his army was victorious at Phillipi. Often it was the spoils of war which gave them the ability to pay for such undertakings, and for Augustus it was beating the Gauls.

Trajan's column

Trajan was able to build a forum, and the column for which he is famous, on the booty brought back from the war with the Dacians, whom he defeated. The Romans never baulked at a grandiose plan. To build his forum, sixty-one million cubic feet were removed from the base and side of the Quirinal hill! Apparently the height of the top of the column is the height of the hill before excavations started. Still standing are the semi-circular markets which formed one side of the forum, and some of the columns of his temple. Also standing is the column which depicts Trajan's two wars and his victory over the Dacians (in present Rumania). It consists of nineteen blocks of marble which are beautifully sculpted, and there is a spiral staircase inside it. There is now a continuous photograph of the carvings on the column which spiral all the way up from bottom to top. It records his victory over the Dacians in minute detail - bridges built, forts attacked, the enemy he attacked, killed, and captured.
From this part of the forum we crossed the street and were able to overlook what is left of Julius Caesar's temple and forum. This has many of its columns standing, but only because they have been reconstructed, incorporating pieces of columns, surmounted by capitols, recovered from the site.

The lock on these bronze doors
still works

We then headed up to the Capitoline Hill from where we were able to get a view along the length of the forum to the colosseum, the Arch of Constantine and across to the Palatine Hill. We could also see the ostentatious monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the "wedding cake" which is just so over the top, so Italian. From here we made our back down to the forum and found the entrance into the complex. Our ticket was a combined forum/colosseum ticket, so we weren't going to have to queue again for that. We headed towards the Colosseum passing a number of buildings which are still in use today, mostly as churches. These were often basilicas rather than temples as the basilicas were more usually a brick building with a columned portico. The Curia was the first of the forum's civic buildings, and was originally established in the 7th century BC, but the building itself underwent several transformations and its present location was chosen by Julius Caesar. It was originally the meeting place for the senate, but its use has changed over the centuries. It is now a church. Backing onto the Curia was the rostra which was the place where the orators and public officials addressed the people. Over time this also changed and became smaller. Another building still standing is the temple to Romulus and has managed to keep its 6th century bronze doors, still with a lock in working order. These buildings are three and four storeys high, or more. Fortunately there were very good information boards strategically located throughout the site because we didn't have a map.

Gardens and palace on the Palatine

We headed up to the Palatine Hill where the imperial palaces were built. This was the preferred living area for at least 300 years. These are staggering in their size. There was a huge bath house incorporated in the complex and a garden with a pool which was 160m long. Unfortunately there is no explanation as to how these palaces were used. The emperor lived here with his family, but did his retinue also live here as at Versailles, or was it empty most of the time, and was only built to impress? Don't know. We only see the brick core now. Originally these palaces were covered with marble both inside and out, floors were covered with mosaics, and some of the walls were frescoed. There would have been statues along the corridors. These palaces had running water and a sewerage system. The size leaves you open-mouthed, but when you think about the sourcing of the materials to build these you shake your head as well. These buildings are all brick, which had to be moulded and fired. Forests for miles around must have been stripped bare, unless the kilns themselves were some distance from the city, and the finished article was carted in. The logistics are just as amazing as the structures themselves when you take into consideration when they were built.

From the top of the Palatine Hill we were able to look down on the Circus Maximus, the home of chariot racing, which is 664m long by 123m wide, and initially seated 170,00, but was increased to 250,000 by Trajan. Virtually none of the structure remains, but the contour of the land indicates how it was laid out.

House of the Vestal Virgins

We returned to the forum area and continued past the temple and house to the Vestal Virgins. This was a cult is almost as old as Rome itself, having its roots back in the 8th century BC. The house was the equivalent of a convent of today, and the Vestals came from aristocratic families. They could enter in their early teens and stay for 30 years, and chastity was obligatory.

None of the temples remain in their original state, but several have three or more columns still standing to give you some idea of the height, at least twenty metres high. It must have been a very crowded area. Only the temples which faced onto the open forum and rostra would have been seen to advantage.  There were a number of other commemorative columns and triumphal arches scattered throughout the area.

By now the head was spinning with information (as yours probably is trying to follow this!) and the legs were feeling a little weary. The sun was also setting so we headed back to our hotel. The forum was at least two kms from the hotel as the crow flies so we had put in a few kms in our wanderings. As we were tired, we didn't stray too far from the hotel for dinner, but what we got suggested we should have made more of an effort.