THE ROMAN FORUM. CHAPTER I. THE NORTH-WESTERN DIVISION OF THE FORUM, FROM THE TABULARIUM TO THE TEMPLE OF SATURN AND history of THE Roman Forum was once, according to an- CHAP. I. cient traditions confirmed by the physical cha- Traditional racter of the locality, a marshy valley subject to the Forum. frequent inundation by the Tiber, and even in the dry season partly covered with water. Hoc, ubi nunc fora sunt, udae tenuere paludes.1 Virgil presents a somewhat happier picture of the place, as viewed by Aeneas and Evander from the ascent of the Palatine hill. Talibus inter se dictis ad tecta subibant Pauperis Evandri, passimque armenta videbant. This space of ground, if we believe the legend- Ovid. Fast. vi. 401. B 2 CHAP. I. the enforced wives of the Romans, the kings Romulus and Tatius converted the battle-field into a market-place for their united peoples.3 Position and extent of the Forum. The centre in historical times of the religious, political, and social life of the nation, the Forum became surrounded and filled with the most important temples and public buildings of the city, and in its area was transacted the internal history of Rome. The ancient Forum lay until a recent period buried some twenty feet below the modern surface, and, with the exception of a few columns which still reared a part of their height above the Campo Vaccino, the situation of its monuments was unknown. Relying upon the evidence of ancient writers as to its position between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, it was the prevailing opinion of antiquaries, from Nardini in the seventeenth to Nibby in the nineteenth century, that its principal area extended southward 3 Mettius Curtius ab Sabinis princeps ab arce decucurrerat, et effusos egerat Romanos toto quantum foro spatium est. Nec procul iam a porta Palatii erat. Liv. i. 12. Τὸ δὲ ὑποκείμενον τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ πέδιον, ἐκκόψαντες τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ πεφυκυῖαν ὕλην, καὶ τῆς λίμνης, ἣ δὴ διὰ τὸ κοῖλον εἶναι τὸ χωρίον ἐπλήθυνε τοῖς κατιοῦσιν ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν νάμασι, τὰ πολλα χώσαντες, ἀγορὰν αὐτόθι κατεστήσαντο, ᾧ καὶ νῦν ἔτι χρώμενοι ̔Ρωμαῖοι διατελοῦσιν. Dionys. ii. 50. 4 Νομᾶς δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαβὼν τὰς μὲν ἰδίας οὐκ ἐκίνησε τῶν φρατριῶν ἑστίας, κοινὴν δὲ κατεστήσατο πάντων μίαν, ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ τοῦ τε Καπιτωλίου καὶ τοῦ Παλατίου χωρίῳ, συμπεπολισμένων ἤδη τῶν λόφων ἑνὶ περιβόλῳ καὶ μέσης ἀμφοῖν οὔσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς, ἐν ᾗ κατεσκεύασται τὸ iepóv. Dionys. ii. 66. See also Liv. i. 12 (Note 3); Plutarch. Rom. 18. from the columns which adorned the base of CHAP. I. the Capitol. This opinion was corrected by modern criticism; and recent explorations, in which the greater part of the Forum has been laid bare to its ancient level, have shewn beyond dispute that its longer measurement was from the north-west, on which side it was closed in by the Capitol, to the south-east, where it extended to the northern corner of the Palatine. Its length from the Tabularium to the Regia was about 230 yards. The width of its open area varied from 80 to 40 yards. larium. The Capitoline hill was composed of two The Tabuheights united by a lower ridge. Upon the south-eastern slope of this ridge was constructed a large edifice, a great part of which has survived to the present day, and is incorporated in the Senatorial Palace, of which the principal façade is in the Piazza del Campidoglio. On the opposite face the ancient external wall remains, and forms the north-western boundary of the Forum. In the upper part of this side of the building was a long loggia or arcade, one arch only of which is now open, with Doric half-columns at the sides; the capitals of several of the other half-columns are traceable at intervals in the wall. By an inscription which existed on its walls until the seventeenth century, this building is identified as the Tabularium or Public Record Office, the destruction of which by an incendiary Gallery of the Tabu larium. |