The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum Review

From the main entrance on Via dei Fori Imperali, descend into the extraordinary archaeologial complex that is the Foro Romano. This was once the heart of Republican Rome, the austere enclave that preceded the hedonistic society of the emperors and the pleasure-crazed citizens of imperial Rome from the 1st to the 4th century AD. It began life as a marshy valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills—a valley crossed by a mud track and used as a cemetery by Iron Age settlers. Over the years a market center and some huts were established here, and after the land was drained in the 6th century BC, the site eventually became a political, religious, and commercial center—namely, the Forum.

Hundreds of years of plunder reduced the Forum to its current desolate state. It's difficult to imagine that this enormous area was once Rome's pulsating heart, filled with stately and extravagant temples, palaces, and shops, and crowded with people from all corners of the empire. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Forum developed over many centuries; what you see today are not the ruins from just one period but from a span of almost 900 years, from about 500 BC to AD 400. Nonetheless, the enduring romance of the place, with its lonely columns and great broken fragments of sculpted marble and stone, makes for a quintessential Roman experience.