What could a foreign visitor to Rome expect to see in the forum?

Answer 1

A forum was a market place. In the city of Rome, there were several fora for different purposes, such as fish, vegetables and meat. The main forum or Forum Romanum, although basically a market place with high priced shops surrounding it, was the civic center of the city. The public buildings and temples were in or around it and the rostra where speeches were made was there. Since the time of Julius Caesar the news of the senate meetings was posted for all to read. It was also a meeting place where various business deals could begin and, like the baths, gossip was exchanged.

Answer 2

The goods or services you could find in a Roman forum depended on what you wanted. A Roman forum was simply a market place. If you were looking for vegetables, for example, you would go the the forum holitorum, for fish, the forum piscarium. The Romans had these specialized market places along with their related goods.

In the Forum Romanum, the original forum in Rome, you would find public business, civic offices, temples which housed the treasury and public documents, places for judicial proceedings, bankers and law experts. You would find a posting of the Senate proceedings and the famous Rostra, where anyone could give a speech.

Answer 3

It depends. The Romans had two types of fora: the forum civilium and the forum venalium. The former was the civic forum and the latter was the commercial forum, or market. The forum civilium was the civic centre and the heart of a city and its public, political, judicial and administrative life. It had a comitium, the place where the popular assemblies met to vote, public speeches were made and public debates were held. It had a senate house. Roman towns had their own local senate, modelled on the senate of the city of Rome. It had the courts were trials were conducted and administrative offices. It had public buildings (basilicas), shops, entertainments and important temples.

The city of Rome had several fora (plural of forum) venalia (plural of venalium): the Forum Boarium (cattle market) the Forum Suarium (meat market) the Forum Piscarium (fish market) the Forum Holitorium (vegetable market) the Forum Vinarium (wine market) the Forum Pistorium (bakers' market) and the Forum Cuppedinis (delicatessen market).

In the city of Rome the Forum or Forum Magnum as the Romans called it (Roman Forum is a modern term) which was a forum civilium, also had the aerarium (the treasury) which has in the temple of Saturn, the tabularium (the state archives) which was built on the slope of the Capitoline Hill, the regia (the residence of the Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest of Roman state religion) and the saenaculum (which was a place where the senators gathered before the entering the senate house for formal summons). It also had several platforms for public speeches. The oldest one was called the rostra (plural of rostrum). The name came from the six rostra (warship rams) of captured warships which were and mounted to its side. It faced the north side of the comitium towards the senate house. Later it came to be called Rostra Vetera (Elder Rostra) when other platforms were built. These were called rostra with the addition of the name of their builders or the person it honoured. The was also the Graecostasis at the southwest end of the Comitium, to the west of the rostra., The name refers to the Greek ambassadors for whom the platform was built after the annexation of mainland Greece. It became a platform for representatives of foreign nations and dignitaries from the Roman provinces (conquered territories).

Answer 4

You would see the ruins of five fora (plural of forum): the Roman Forum (which the Romans called Forum Magnum), the Forum of Caesar, the Forum of Trajan, the Forum of Augustus and the Forum of Nerva.

The Forum Magnum was a forum civilium (civic centre) and the heart of the city's public, political, judicial and administrative life . It had the aerarium (the treasury) which has in the temple of Saturn, the tabularium (the state archives) which was built on the slope of the Capitoline Hill, the regia (the residence of the Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest of Roman state religion) the saenaculum (which was a place where the senators gathered before the entering the senate house for formal summons) the Curia Julia (the senate house). It had a comitium, the place where the popular assemblies met to vote, public speeches were made and public debates were held. It had a senate house. It had several platforms for public speeches. The oldest one was called the rostra (plural of rostrum). The name came from the six rostra (warship rams) of captured warships which were and mounted to its side. It faced the north side of the comitium towards the senate house. Later it came to be called Rostra Vetera (Elder Rostra) when other platforms were built. These were called rostra with the addition of the name of their builders or the person it honoured. There was also the Graecostasis at the southwest end of the Comitium, to the west of the rostra. The name refers to the Greek ambassadors for whom the platform was built after the annexation of mainland Greece. It became a platform for representatives of foreign nations and dignitaries from the Roman provinces (conquered territories). There were several temples: the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Saturn, , the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, the Temple of Caesar and the temple of Antonius and Faustina. There was the (triumphal) Arch of Septimius Severus which is extant. Just to the south-east of the Forum there are two other surviving arches, the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine. There were three basilicas, which were public buildings, the Basilica Aemilia, the Basilica Iulia and the Basilica of Maxentius. There was also the Miliarium Aureum (golden milestone) form where all distances in the Roman Empire were measured, and the The Lapis Niger (Black Stone), a shrine.

Answer 5

Large Roman towns had two types of fora (plural of Forum): the forum civilium, which was the civic centre, and the forum venalium, which was a market place. A forum civilium was the public heart of a city's political, judicial and administrative life. It had the senate house (Roman towns had a senate modelled on that or Rome), the seat of the head of the town, administrative offices, the place were voting assemblies met to vote, the courts, the basilicas (public buildings) and many of the temples of the town. In small towns, the civic centre and the market were combined in the same place.

The Forum Magnum (Roman forum is a modern term) in Rome was a forum civilium. It had the aerarium (the treasury) which has in the temple of Saturn, the tabularium (the state archives) which was built on the slope of the Capitoline Hill, the regia (the residence of the Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest of Roman state religion) the saenaculum (which was a place where the senators gathered before the entering the senate house for formal summons) the Curia Julia (the senate house). It had a comitium, the place where the popular assemblies met to vote, public speeches were made and public debates were held. It had a senate house. It had several platforms for public speeches. The oldest one was called the rostra (plural of rostrum). The name came from the six rostra (warship rams) of captured warships which were and mounted to its side. It faced the north side of the comitium towards the senate house. Later it came to be called Rostra Vetera (Elder Rostra) when other platforms were built. These were called rostra with the addition of the name of their builders or the person it honoured. There was also the Graecostasis at the southwest end of the Comitium, to the west of the rostra. The name refers to the Greek ambassadors for whom the platform was built after the annexation of mainland Greece. It became a platform for representatives of foreign nations and dignitaries from the Roman provinces (conquered territories). There were several temples: the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Saturn, , the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, the Temple of Caesar and the temple of Antonius and Faustina. There was the (triumphal) Arch of Septimius Severus is extant. Just to the south-east of the Forum there are two other surviving arches, the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine. There were three basilicas, which were public buildings, the Basilica Aemilia, the Basilica Iulia and the Basilica of Maxentius. There was also the Miliarium Aureum (golden milestone) form where all distances in the Roman Empire were measured, and the the Lapis Niger (Black Stone), a shrine.

The city of Rome had several fora venalia (plural of venalium): the Forum Boarium (cattle market) the Forum Suarium (meat market) the Forum Piscarium (fish market) the Forum Holitorium (vegetable market) the Forum Vinarium (wine market) the Forum Pistorium (bakers' market) and the Forum Cuppedinis (delicatessen market).

Answer 6

Goods were bought and sold. A forum was a marketplace. However, some fora, such as the Forum Romanum in Rome, were civic centers, with official buildings, temples, law courts, etc. In these places people could hear speeches, read the postings, conduct legal business and visit the temples which kept public records.