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Roman Forum - Casa Vestalis

Roman Forum Vestalis

Horrea Vespasiani

Horrea Vespasiani, Warehouse Buildings

Vespasian's Warehouses

After the fire of AD 64, the slopes of the Palatine became a commercial area. It was probably Vespasian who built a vast building here supported by pillars, perhaps used as a warehouse for imperial goods. A few years later Domitian turned Vespasian's warehouses (horrea Vespasiani) into a shopping centre, perhaps for foodstuffs, with numerous shops on two levels, arranged around two identical courtyards. Other shops faced onto the external porticoes.

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House of the Vestals

House of the Vestals
House of the Vestals
House of the Vestals
House of the Vestals
House of the Vestals

Atrium Vestae

The House of the Vestal Virgins (Latin: Atrium Vestae; Italian: Casa delle Vestali) was the residence of Vestal Virgins,[1] located behind the circular Temple of Vesta at the eastern edge of the Roman Forum, between the Regia and the Palatine Hill. The domus publica, where the Pontifex Maximus dwelled, was located near the Atrium until that role was assumed by the emperors.

The Atrium Vestae was a three-story 50-room palace in the ancient Roman Forum built around an elegant elongated atrium or court with a double pool. To the very east is an open vaulted hall with a statue of Numa Pompilius, the mythological founder of the cult.

The complex lay at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where a sacred grove that was slowly encroached upon lingered into Imperial times, when all was swept away by the Fire of Rome in 64. The House of the Vestals was rebuilt several times in the course of the Empire. After the dissolution of the College of the Vestals in the late 4th century AD, the House of the Vestals continued to serve as a residence building. It now housed officials of the imperial court, and subsequently the papal court. Archaeological finds from this period include a hoard of 397 gold coins from the 5th century and another 830 Anglo-Saxon coins dating from the 9th and 10th centuries. The site was abandoned in the 11th/12th century.

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Lacus Juturnae

Lacus Juturnae

Lacus Juturnae

Lacus Juturnae
Lacus Juturnae

Fonte di Giuturna

The Lacus Iuturnae, or Lacus Juturnae or Spring of Juturna, is the name of a formal pool built by the Romans near a spring or well in the Roman Forum.[1][2][3] The pool was part of a shrine dedicated to the water nymph Juturna, and the name Lacus Iuturnae is also used for the spring and the shrine, both next to the pool.

The shrine marks a place where Roman legend claims the divine twins Castor and Pollux stopped to water their horses while passing through the city, and where they announced Roman victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus, 495 BC. During the Roman Empire, when another spring in the city had dried up, the Vestal Virgins used this spring to supply water for their religious ceremonies. The water at the Lacus Iuturnae was thought to have healing properties. The elderly and infirm would go to the spring with offerings in order to secure the assistance of Juturna in curing their malady

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Temple of Castor and Pollux

Tempio dei Dioscuri
Temple of Castor and Pollux
Temple of Castor and Pollux
Temple of Castor and Pollux

Temple of Castor and Pollux

The Temple of Castor and Pollux (Italian: Tempio dei Dioscuri) is an ancient temple in the Roman Forum, Rome, Central Italy. It was originally built in gratitude for victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus (495 BC). Castor and Pollux (Greek Polydeuces) were the Dioscuri, the "twins" of Gemini, the twin sons of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leda. Their cult came to Rome from Greece via Magna Graecia and the Greek culture of Southern Italy.

The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and his allies, the Latins, waged war on the infant Roman Republic. Before the battle, the Roman dictator Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis vowed to build a temple to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) if the Republic were victorious.

According to legend, Castor and Pollux appeared on the battlefield as two able horsemen in aid of the Republic; and after the battle had been won they again appeared on the Forum in Rome watering their horses at the Spring of Juturna thereby announcing the victory. The temple stands on the supposed spot of their appearance.

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Basilica Julia

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Basilica Julia (left of frame, foreground)

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Basilica Julia

The Basilica Julia (Italian: Basilica Giulia) was a structure that once stood in the Roman Forum. It was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the Roman Empire. Its ruins have been excavated. What is left from its classical period are mostly foundations, floors, a small back corner wall with a few arches that are part of both the original building and later imperial reconstructions and a single column from its first building phase.

The Basilica Julia was built on the site of the earlier Basilica Sempronia (170 BC) along the south side of the Forum, opposite the Basilica Aemilia. It was initially dedicated in 46 BC by Julius Caesar, with building costs paid from the spoils of the Gallic War, and was completed by Augustus, who named the building after his adoptive father. The ruins which have been excavated date to a reconstruction of the Basilica by the Emperor Diocletian, after a fire in 283 AD destroyed the earlier structure.

The first iteration of the Basilica Julia was begun around 54 BC by Julius Caesar, though it was left to his heir Augustus to complete the construction and name it in honor of his adoptive father. The basilica was built over the remains of two important Republican structures: the Basilica Sempronia, which was demolished by Caesar to make way for the new basilica, and pre-dating both, the house of Scipio Africanus, Rome's legendary general.

The Basilica Julia was partially destroyed in 410 AD when the Visigoths sacked Rome[11] and the site slowly fell into ruin over the centuries. The marble was especially valuable in the medieval and early modern eras for burning into lime, a material used to make mortar. The remnants of kilns on the site, which were found in early excavations, confirmed that most of the building's components were destroyed in this way.

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Decennalia

780_2937_0899.jpg

Base of the Decennalia

780_3161_1123.jpg

Lacus Curtius

Decennalia

Decennalia or Decennia (Latin for "10th Anniversary") were Ancient Roman festivals celebrated with games every ten years by the Roman emperors.

A Five-Columns Monument was constructed behind the Rostra in early 4th century and dedicated during Diocletian's visit to Rome in 303.[6] This was one of the first major monuments to be erected in the Roman Forum since the reign of Septimius Severus, which then ensued the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Tetrarchy (the rule of four emperors), instituted by Diocletian around 293 CE to 313.

In 1547, a marble pedestal located near the Via Sacra was discovered . On this pedestal there are two chiseled winged victories who hold a shield on with an inscription that states CAESARUM DECENNALIA FELICITER, which translates to "Happy Tenth Anniversary of the Caesars." The other side of the marble base includes the sculpting of a sheep, bull, and pig, as well as other attendants. These animals were significant due to the fact that they were traditionally sacrificed to Mars. Another face of the monument depicts a procession of senators, as well as another side of the base which depicts a winged Victory flying to crown Caesar.

en.wikipedia.org

Lacus Curtius

The Lacus Curtius ("Lake Curtius") was a pit or pool in the ground of the Forum Romanum. The area where the Forum would be built was likely once a lake, as the wider area is known to have been surrounded by brooks and marshes. One part was never drained and gradually shrank until only a basin, known as the Lacus Curtius, was left.

According to the oldest story (8th century BCE), the Lacus Curtius was named after a champion of the Sabines, the horseman Mettius Curtius. In the war that followed the Rape of the Sabine Women, he was said to have gotten stuck in the marsh during battle. This is corroborated by the fact that the Forum was once marshland, the fact that the Curtia Gens was of Sabine origin, and that the name Mettius was an authentic Sabine one taken from the word medìss "leader".

A second version (~445 BCE), and also the most prosaic, says Gaius Curtius Philon, a consul, had consecrated the site after a lightning strike had hit it.

The Lacus Curtius may have been regarded with some veneration by ancient Romans. The most popular story (~362 BCE), and also the one Livy deemed most likely, was a myth glorifying the nation: Rome was endangered when a great chasm opened on the Forum. An oracle directed the people to throw into the chasm “that what constituted the greatest strength of the Roman people,” and doing so would make the Roman nation last forever. After dropping various things into the ravine without result, a young horseman named Marcus Curtius (again, of the Curtia gens) saved the city by realizing that it was virtus that the Romans held most dear. In full armour on his horse, he jumped into the chasm whereupon the earth closed over him and Rome was saved.[3][4] The story, though clearly epic in nature, was likely a copy of another very similar Greek story concerning king Midas.

en.wikipedia.org
Colonna di Foca

Column of Phocas

The Column of Phocas (Italian: Colonna di Foca) is a Roman monumental column in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, built when Rome was part of the Eastern Roman Empire after its reconquest from the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths.

Erected in front of the Rostra and dedicated or rededicated in honour of the Eastern Roman Emperor Phocas on August 1, 608 AD, it was the last architectural addition made to the Forum Romanum, after over 1,300 years of construction. The fluted Corinthian column stands 13.6 m (44 ft) tall on its cubical white marble socle. On stylistic grounds, the column seems to have been made in the 2nd century for an unknown structure, and then recycled for the present monument. Likewise, the socle was recycled from its original use supporting a statue dedicated to Diocletian.

en.wikipedia.org

Arch of Septimius Severus

Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Titus

The Arch of Septimius Severus

The Arch of Septimius Severus (Italian: Arco di Settimio Severo) at the northwestern end of the Roman Forum is a white marble triumphal arch dedicated in 203 AD to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, in the two campaigns against the Parthians of 194-195 and 197–199. After the death of Septimius Severus, his sons Caracalla and Geta were initially joint Emperors. Caracalla had Geta assassinated in Rome; in the practice now known as damnatio memoriae, Geta's memorials were destroyed and all images or mentions of him were removed from street buildings and monuments. Accordingly, Geta's image and inscriptions referring to him were removed from the arch.

en.wikipedia.org

The Arch of Septimius Severus - continued

The arch was raised on a travertine base originally approached by steps from the Forum's ancient level. The central archway, spanned by a richly coffered semicircular vault, has lateral openings to each side archway, a feature copied in many Early Modern triumphal arches. The Arch is about 23 meters in height, 25 meters in width. The arch bears two sets of reliefs. The first set includes four large panels on each face of the attic and the second set consists of eight panels that are set into the inner face of the four archways

The three archways rest on piers, which are composite columns on pedestals. Winged Victories are carved in relief in the spandrels. A staircase in the south pier leads to the top of the monument. Previously, the top of the arch had statues of the emperor and his two sons in a four-horse chariot (quadriga), accompanied by soldiers.

Since the arch was created with the purpose of acting as a show of victory and Imperialistic propaganda, the ornamentation was essential and specific. The arch shows the vertical elevation that is common in the Roman canon of decoration and how the designer added horizontal accents.

In Roman mythology, Saturn ruled during the Golden Age, and he continued to be associated with wealth. His temple housed the treasury, the aerarium, where the Roman Republic's reserves of gold and silver were stored. The state archives and the insignia and official scale for the weighing of metals were also housed there. Later, the aerarium was moved to another building, and the archives were transferred to the nearby Tabularium. The temple's podium, constructed out of concrete covered with travertine, was used for posting bills.

en.wikipedia.org

Temple of Saturn

Temple of Saturn

The Temple of Saturn

The Temple of Saturn (Latin: Templum Saturni or Aedes Saturni; Italian: Tempio di Saturno) was an ancient Roman temple to the god Saturn, in what is now Rome, Italy. Its ruins stand at the foot of the Capitoline Hill at the western end of the Roman Forum. The original dedication of the temple is traditionally dated to 497 BC,[1][2] but ancient writers disagreed greatly about the history of this site.

Construction of the temple is thought to have begun in the later years of the Roman Kingdom under Tarquinius Superbus. Its inauguration by the consul Titus Larcius took place in the early years of the Republic, making it the oldest Republican temple after the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The altar of Saturn, which stood in front of the temple, is thought to have been much older and was associated with Saturn's founding of the city on Capitoline Hill.[4] The temple was completely reconstructed by Munatius Plancus in 42 BC.

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