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ParadiseLost

#13. TEMPLE OF SATURN
Still sitting behind the Rostra, look to the left at the 8 standing columns with the top connecting section (architrave) still in place.
That is the 'Temple of Saturn'.

This is the oldest temple in the Forum that they actually are records on in the Pontifical Archives, the exact date is unclear but somewhere between 501-493BC but usually placed ~497.

 A couple of *Traditions* put it earlier, one to 3rd King of Rome (673+BC) and another to the last (7th) King of Rome (535+BC).  Bottomline; A recorded temple was built here just after the Kings were overthrown and Rome became a Republic (509BC) which possibly replaced an earlier temple.  

 Nothing much is known about this 1st temple except that it was probably built like an Etruscan temple and was similar to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill.

 Tradition says it was built on the spot where Hercules dedicated an altar to Saturn.
But that myth over the years got the *exact location* mixed-up with the 'Altar of Saturn' *in front* of the temple?

 Not much is known about the early God Saturn but originally he might have been a God for farming (crops & herds) or possibly an Etruscan god named Satre. (I think the evidence points to a farming God).

 But by the 3rdC-BC Saturn merges with the Greek God Kronos and becomes a 'Party' God which makes him *very popular* with the Romans.

 His festival is called Saturnalia where adults exchange gifts and children get small earthenware dolls.
Rules are relaxed and the Partying begins, public gambling is allowed, informal clothes are worn rather than the toga, everyone wears a pilleus which is a felt cap worn by Freedmen to show liberty, sometimes Masters and slaves even exchange roles but more often the slaves just get a vacation from their duties.
 After a huge number of animal sacrifices at the temple there is a large public feast.
 
 Originally just a 1 day festival but by Julius Caesar's day it's a week long party.
 Party-pooper Emperor Augustus tried to limit it to 3 days but no one paid him any attention.

 Saturnalia originally started on Dec. 17 but by the time Paganism fell it was closer to New Years and with that fall this very popular Pagan holiday became Christmas.

Saturn's statue was unusual by Roman standards, it was hollow and held olive oil within it, many sources even say it was made of wood.

Saturn wears a toga but is bare chested and veiled (toga draped over head-face visible) and holds a pruning knife or sickle.
Also the feet are bound in wool thru out the year but released for the Saturnalia.

 Olive oil and the sickle are related to farming and possibly the bound feet represent the farmers flock contained to his land and not wandering away.
 But later the unbound feet represent the freedom to cut-loose and raise Hell for the week of Saturnalia.

 This statue would also be carried in military Triumphs.

In 42BC L. Munatius Plancus is Consul along with Lipidus. Plancus has a pocketful of war booty from his Alpine victory and decides he's going to rebuilt and enlarge this temple.

This was the last major temple rebuilt/constructed by a private person which was very common to get your name out there for political purposes.
But once Augustus becomes Emperor all temple projects will be state funded and the Emperors will get the credit.

No traces of the pre-42BC earlier temples are visible today but we can see remains of this 42BC temple.
 Like the podium (the foundation's concrete core 40×22.5m height 9m) and its outer Travertine facing.

 In 283AD a massive fire destroys this temple and much of the Forum.
Emperor Diocletian rebuilds the temple on top of the 42BC podium which keeps it the same size.

 But this temple's reconstruction is haphazard which is very common in the later Empire.
  And you can see this half-as... opps I mean haphazard construction technique today. This type of construction is called 'Spolia' which means using recycled elements from older buildings, so you get alot of mismatching pieces.

 The COLUMNS are mostly recycled and not all the columns, bases and capitals match-up.
 The columns are all Egyptian Granite, the 6 in front are grey and the 2 on the sides are pink and they come from a few different colonnades.
 3 are monoliths but the others were made by joining 2 broken columns together some upside-down.

The BASES are also different Attic and Corinthian with and without a plinth.

 The marble IONIC CAPITALS on top of the columns were made new for this rebuilding.

 And the ARCHITRAVE blocks are very likely from the original 42BC temple as they date to around that time.
The inner side of these blocks are decorated with leaves and palmettes.
 And on top of the architrave there were statues of Tritons with horses (most likely bronze).
 The INSCRIPTION on the architrave was once inlaid with bronze letters.
 It reads:
"Senatus populusque romanus incendio consumptum restituit"; meaning "The Roman senate and people restored what fire had consumed".

 Now this temple was also restored in 360-380 AD by some disgruntled Senators hoping to revive Paganism.
Most (now dead) archaeologists and historians *always* placed the inscription with the 283AD rebuilding but the Oxford Archaeological Guide places it with the 360-380AD rebuilding?
I'm assuming it's a mistake or do they have more recent evidence? But most likely it was the 283 rebuilding caused by fire.

 I've also read that Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211AD) did some restoration on the Temple and also possibly some restoration (fire? architectural problems?) shortly after it was built during Augustus' reign.


NOW WALK OVER TO THE LEFTSIDE OF THE TEMPLE, see a couple of steps that leads into a area that would be beneath the massive temple's front stairs.
This was the entrance into the AERARIUM or TREASURY.
 You can see the holes for the door on the leftside and also in the threshold at your feet.
Some of these holes were for the hinges and the round ones to support locking bars.

 Also look to the left of this door, there is a large block of travertine projecting from the podium/platform with large holes for metal fastening there was either a statue or *column* once there.
They never found exactly where the Miliarium Aureum was located in that general area...I wonder?

 Also on this side of the podium holes remain from where a plate was attached for the posting of public documents and acts pertinent to the Aerarium.
  Also it's believed that other public notices might have been posted on the long street-level wall of the Temple on your left (perfect spot for a bulletin board).        
 
 This Aerarium/treasury was actually 2 seperate treasuries located beneath the temple in the podium/foundation i.e. the basement of the bldg.

 And this doorway opened into a room beneath the temple steps in which this basement treasury could only be entered. (BTW temple steps were always odd numbered so your 1st and last step into a temple was on the right foot, superstition.)

 One treasury was a common treasury funded by taxes and used to run the State.

 The other treasury was like a 'rainy day' fund. It was funded by war spoilts and a 5% tax on freed slaves and only to be used in emergencies (war, famine, etc).

 The common treasury was started when Rome threw-out the Kings and became a Republic (509BC).

 The emergency treasury was started after the Gauls sacked Rome in 390BC (and likely burned-down this temple).

Sometime during the Imperial Age (post 29BC) the Emperors took charge of these treasuries and the money was considered their's alone.
 But they left a seperate smaller treasury section for the Senate to run day-to-day governmental things.

 Also during the Republic 'The Standards of the Legions' were kept here along with bronze Law tablets, decrees from the Senate and financial records.
These tablets, decrees and records were probably moved to the Tabularium (78BC).

 There was a pair of scales inside, it sounds like they were ceremonial but also functioning scales.
 I wonder if they were in this 1st room beneath the stairs? Weighing the gold and silver has it came in or out?

 Now while standing in this doorway travel back to 49BC.  Julius Caesar has crossed the Rubicon River and marched into Rome unopposed.

It's civil war and General Pompey and his troops with much of the Senate have left Rome, they plan to organize other Legions and fight Caesar when the time is right.

 But they left behind the Treasury and Caesar wants it!

Wars and loyalites cost money and there is a Jackpot behind that door.

So picture Caesar standing before this door.
He has ordered the keys brought to him but they cannot be found.

Caesar then orders his men to break-down the door.
A Tribune named Caecilius Metellus loudly protests to Caesar that it is wrong to break-in to Rome's Treasury and steal the money!

 Caesar looks to the Tribune and then raised his voice and threatened to kill him if he did not stop interfering.

"And young man, you know well enough that I dislike saying this more than I would dislike doing it."

He then broke down the door and removed fifteen thousand bars of gold, thirty thousand bars of silver, and fifty million sesterces of coined money.

 In the early days of Rome when its wealth was in the havest and its flocks it's believed that the citizens brought small offerings of their crops and flocks to this temple for Saturn to bless and guard the remainder.

 Later as Rome expands and becomes rich Saturn is still called upon to guard their wealth which is now gold, silver, etc.   So this might be why the Roman Treasury ended-up in the Temple of Saturn.

 And according to Plutarch.

"Or is this a matter of ancient history, and was Valerius Publicola the first to make the temple of Saturn the treasury, when the kings had been overthrown, because he believed that the place was well-protected, in plain sight, and hard to attack (rob) secretly?"

 Also when Julius Caesar was in power there was a urban legend that he replaced many of the gold bars with gold painted lead bars to enhance his personal wealth.

ParadiseLost

#14. SCHOLA XANTHA, VIADUCT, LACUS SERVILIUS, ARCH OF TIBERIUS, VIA JUGARIUS

#14.1
Ok now, turn your back on the Temple of Saturn and walk back over to the rightside of the Rostra.
 Below the railing you will see the remains of a small room with remains of a marble paved floor and some upright marble wall slabs.

That is the 'SCHOLA XANTHA', 'Schola' means basically in this case a business office for the clerks and bean counters in charge of 'public works'.

 And 'Xantha' is a modern name given to this bldg based on an inscription (a person's name), they don't know what it was actually called in ancient times.
Now remember originally at this end of the Rostra ||||||| Emperor Augustus set-up the Miliarium Aureum o in 20BC to match the Umbilicus Urbis o at the other end of the Rosta, like this o|||||||||o.

 But it seems that during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (Augustus' successor) it was moved across the street and a small building was built here right against the Rostra, like this o|||||||||==.

 Ok now, why put a business office in this prime location? Because these boys are the clerks, copyists and herolds of the 'Curule Aediles' in charge of public works like aqueducts, sewers, markets, temples, public games, festivals and many etc's possibly even brothels.

 So you got money going out and in on these government contracts and the money is kept across the street under the Temple of Saturn in the treasury.
 So it's an excellent location to transact this exchange, I mean ya don't want gold, silver and coins *accidently* falling of the cart in transit.
 Plus it puts these gov't contract money exchanges in public view with the appearance of honestly, the shady dealings have already been made behind closed doors anyway.

This bldg was 1st excavated in 1540 when they were looting the Forum of its marble for Renaissance bldgs and lime kilts.  So much more once existed but was destroyed and its location was even lost.

 And later for a long time it was believed that the seven chambers beneath the 'Porticus Deorum Consentium' was actually the Schola Xantha.

 But in that 1540 excavation a double inscription on the architrave over the entrance was found. It was destroyed but they did record the inscription.
  It said that during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (14-37AD) an Imperial Freedman named Bebryx along with 'Aulus Fabius XANTHUS' (where they got the modern name XANTHA) built this Schola for the clerks and herolds of the Curule Aediles.

 This was a very elaborate office the inscription goes on to say that "placed there were 7 silver images on brackets, a bronze table, faced the walls with marble, erected a statue of Victory and furnished it with bronze seats and several ornaments".

The 2nd later inscription was added during the reign of Emperor Caracalla (211-217AD) and said that 'C. Avillius Licinius Trosius' restored the schola.

 Also if you look at the right-end of this bldg you will see a bricked half circle (think small brick pizza oven) which is below its floor level.
 That is a hypocaust which is actually a wood-fired furnace. The bldg's floor is raised and supported on small brick piers which create a large void below the floor.
 A fire is built just inside this half circle opening which heated the floor in cold or damp weather.

 Often clay pipes were built within the walls to heat them also as the heat and smoke vented out.
 There was most likely a floor/structure above this section and slaves would be in this basement tending this furnace.
 So perhaps this section was another small room of the schola?
 Here's a photo of the Schola remains
http://www.tesoridiroma.net/galleria..._xantha_01.jpg OR http://tinyurl.com/2e57hk the Rostra is in the background and the Temple of Saturn is too the right (not shown).


#14.2
Ok now look to the right of the Schola and walk-over (15m) to that corner of the Forum, as you see the street you are on makes a 90deg left and that street runs alongside the Forum Sq.
 That corner is empty except for some fragments and it's below groundlevel (hole).

Ok so now we are standing in the SW corner of the Forum Sq.
The Via Sacra comes-up from the other end of the Forum Sq. and runs between the Forum Sq. and the Basilica Julia then it hits the side of the Temple of Saturn.
 At this point the street 'T's, if you go LEFT that is the Vicus Jugarius which runs between the end of the Basilica Julia and the side of the Temple of Saturn and out of the Forum.
 If you go RIGHT that is the beginning of the Clivus Capitolinus which goes around the Temple of Saturn and up to the Capitoline Hill.

The Triumphs (military victory parades) would come up the Via Sacra and turn right on the Clivus Capitolinus and up to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill.

CLIVUS CAPITOLINUS VIADUCT
 Now look at the Clivius Capitolinus you just walked over and this is what you'll see
http://www.tesoridiroma.net/galleria...tiberio_01.jpg OR http://tinyurl.com/2b4cme
 The Schola is off to the right (not shown) and the Temple of Saturn is above the photo (not shown).

 Whatever was in this hole is now gone but we'll get to that later.  But look below the street level and you see a small arch structure followed by a wall section followed by 2 more small arch structures -^-^^.

 That 1st arch is a just modern reconstruction using some fragments from the Arch of Tiberius that was located here.

 The brick space to the right has a small marble plaque saying 'Arco di Tibero'.

 And to the right of that are 2 arch structures. These 2 arch structures are 2 of the original 8 arch structures.

The 1st one was where the modern reconstruction is, the 2nd was where the brick space with the plaque is and then to the right of the 2 original ones are 4 more (these arches are excellent examples of opus reticulatum).

 These small arches make a small viaduct for the street above.

When the Temple of Saturn was rebuilt larger in 42BC that street was farther back and had to be moved ~2m closer to the Forum Sq.
So rather than wall and then fill this space with dirt they built this viaduct and put the street on top of it (the brick wall there today is modern).

 When the arch section (out of view) to the right was 1st discovered in the 19C they wrongly thought it was Julius Caesar's Rostra that had been built-over when Augustus' Rostra was built.

 Now the 2 missing original arches (where the reconstructioned arch and wall with the plaque are) were demolished or built-over when the Arch of Tiberius was built in the area in front them.

 But 1st there *might* have been something else here before the Arch of Tiberius?


#14.3
It's possible that this was the location of the 'LACUS SERVILIUS'.
 Lacus in this case would be a small pool (lacus=lake) of water like the Lacus Curtius in the Forum (behind you in the Forum between the 3rd and 4th (of 7) large brick structures.

 Both these areas never really drained even after the Forum was canalled.
 Likely there were springs where the water surfaced, either way they were very small and this one probably had a circular well structure build around it like the Lacus Curtius.

 This lacus was traditionally named after 'Servilius Tullius' the 6th King of Rome (578BC).
  So it's very old if the tradition is true and later when Rome got water supplied by aqueducts it was very likely made into an aboveground ornamental fountain.

From ancient writings it's a guess that this is the location: (1) It could be seen when entering the Forum from the Vicus Jugarius.
(2) It was at the beginning of the Vicus Jugarius.
The Vicus Jugarius is that fenced-off ancient street between the Basilica Julia on the left of you and the Temple of Saturn.

 It also could have been just across the street where the Vicus Jugarius 1st enters the Forum and 1 source further puts it down the Vicus alittle ways at the SW corner of the Basilica Julia.

 The Oxford Archaeological Guide puts it in this location but they also put the Arch of Tiberius in the wrong spot.

 Well I've got to put it somewhere and I like this location for 3 reasons.

1. It's a good hi-profile location to display heads.
2. I could be wrong but this fountain seems to have disappeared from history after the Arch ofTiberius was built?
3. The Oxford Guide puts it here. 

 This fountain is where the Dictator Sulla placed some of the heads of those whom he had ordered beheaded, mostly Senators.

 And if he had caught the young Julius Caesar, that is most likely where his head would have ended up.
 Sulla told Caesar to divorce his wife and marry another to form an alliance with him.
Caesar refused and split town.
So it was either for love or Caesar just didn't like to be ordered around, I like to think it was the former.

 It's believed that this fountain was also used for displaying the heads of criminals even before Sulla's time.

A fanciful model of the fountain, in the background the Basilica Julia(?). http://home.surewest.net/fifi/forum16.jpg

Apres_Londee

Thanks for this!

dmdevl

Wow! Bookmarking for Nov trip.

gentlemagician

Hi Walter

Many thanks for this.
Sooo I am going to print it out on bright orange paper. Fellow 'Fodors', if you see me in late November, early December be sure to stop me and we can compare 'notes'
Katt

ParadiseLost

#14.4
ARCH OF TIBERIUS (~17AD)
Ok we have 3 possible locations for this arch in this corner of the Forum.

(1) This is no proof that it spanned the Via Sacra, meaning 1 pier butted up to the Basilica Julia and the other was in this hole in front of the 1st 2 arches of the Viaduct (the reconstructed 1 using fragments of this Arch and the bricked 1 marked 'Arco di Tibero').
That is where many like to put because these Arches always spanned streets.

(2) It spanned the Vicus Jugarius between the Basilica Julia and the Temple of Saturn.
 This theory is because a latter relief on the Arch of Constantine shows a side view of the Rostra with the Temple of Saturn in the background with an arch spanning this street over to the Basilica Julia.
 There was an unnamed arch or gateway that spanned the Vicus but that is dated to the 4thC before this relief was made but it could have been an earlier arch.

 Or perhaps the sculptor just used 'artistic license' and turned the Tiberius Arch to fit in the relief.
Remember it is just background the real scene is the Emperor on the Rostra.

 But the best evidence is the Plutei in the Curia, they are dated 100+yrs after the Arch of Tiberius was built and it only shows an empty space for the Vicus Jugarius.

(3) This is the one we have proof of.
In this hole there is a large unseen concrete foundation that goes from the edge of the Via Sacra over to the Schola Xantha.

 Also the Via Sacra was narrowed here (which you can plainly see), meaning once the Via Sacra was also partially over this hole section at your feet.
That via section was removed so that the arch's pier could be squeezed into this area.

 This makes sense, the Schola was built during Tiberius reign and his Arch was built next to it.

 This Arch was more ornamental and only for pedestrian traffic. A few steps lead up to it from the Forum and I assume the otherside was level with the higher Clivius Capitolinus.

 Below is what the 19C archaeologists wrote after they excavated this section.
 "It stood at the NW corner of the Basilica Julia, not spanning the Sacra Via but just North of it.
The street was made narrower at this point and the curb (between the street and Forum Sq.) bent toward the South to afford room for the arch.
The concrete foundations 9m long by 6.3m wide have recently been found.
 This arch was single and was approached by steps from the level of the Forum.
 Its foundation blocked up 2 of the arches at the SW end of the Clivius Capitolinus, 2 of the pits (Pozzi Rituali?) in line of the street, and also the arched opening of a drain built of tufa block.
Into this drain at this point ran 2 other drains at an acute angle and a block of tufa set in the floor of the archway served to regulate the flow of the currents (you can see a drain in this hole).
 Some architechural fragments of this arch and part of the inscription have been recovered."
 So except for some scattered fragments and its concrete foundation nothing is left.
 My *guess* is possibly after the Arch was scavenged for building materials perhaps the section between the concrete foundation and groundlevel of the arch used large stone blocks which were also scavenged?
That would account for its almost complete disappearance?

 Also if my #2 is correct in that it actually shows some unnamed arch then we have no images of Tiberius' Arch which could have been anything from basic to very elaborate, probably the later.

 So now at this end of the Forum we have the Miliarium Aureum 'o', the Rostra '||||||', the Schola Xantha '==' and the Arch of Tiberius '||^||' and then the Via Sacra '#' and the Basilica Julia '[]' like this
o||||||==||^||#[].

 This model photo shows the Arch, Schola and the Rostra taken from the Basilica Julia. http://home.surewest.net/fifi/forum23.jpg


Ok, why a Triumphal Arch for Tiberius?
 Augustus had decreed that only the Emperor could have triumphal arch built because they were the real Leaders and the Generals were just following their orders and under their command.

 But in reality it was for General Germanicus' victory (~16AD) when he recovered the Legion Standards that were lost when Varus got his 3 Legions wiped-out in 9AD in the Teutoburg Forest.

Germanicus is a war hero and *very popular* with the people and the army, and loyal to Emperor Tiberius.
 He is also Tiberius' nephew, adopted son and heir to the Throne plus Emperor Augustus was his great uncle and his wife's grandfather.
 But being popular and successor to the throne can sometimes be a bad combination. 

 Look down the Via Sacra and imagine;
Germanicus is awarded a Triumph and rides in a chariot with his wife and 3 sons (think JFK, Jackie and kids in 1963), the Romans love this man and his family and are cheering wildly.

 2-3 years later Germanicus is dead, most Romans believed he was poisoned on Tiberius' orders but it's really unknown although the Roman Governor of Syria and Tiberius' confidant committed suicide when charged with Germanicus' murder.  

 12yrs later Germanicus' wife (Agrippina) and their 2 eldest sons are imprisoned, mother and 1 son on a small island and the other in Rome (possibly in Tiberius' Palace on the Palatine Hill), all are dead in a few years.

But Tiberius feels Gemanicus' youngest son his grand-nephew is no real threat because of his young age and is allowed to live.
 Tiberius leaves Rome to live on Capri, later Germanicus' youngest son is ordered to live there with him also.
 Tiberius and his loyal followers watch him like a hawk for any sign of him wanting revenge. But he just 'parties on' (sex, sadism, wine and food) with no ill thoughts towards his grand-uncle or no inclinations to power...or so it seems!

Tiberius dies in 37AD and Germanicus' youngest son becomes co-emperor with the younger Gemellus (Tiberius' grandson, who will be murdered shortly).

And Germanicus' only surviving son's name was 'Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus' but he had a cute little childhood nickname that we all know him by 'Little Boots'...In Latin, Caligula!
 
So who was TIBERIUS? (Born 42BC on the Palatine Hill; Died 37AD)
 Tiberius was unloved by everyone as Emperor, the people's chant upon his death was "Tiberius to the Tiber".
  Meaning throw his body into the river as they would a criminal, traitor or enemy.

 He was a really bad Emperor, later living as a recluse in his Capri palace the last 11yrs of his reign and never returned to Rome.

 If the ancient authors and rumors are true he was sadistic and quite a sexual deviant.

 Another reason Tiberius was so hated was the proscription of many Roman citizens while he was off to Capri and Sejanus was in complete control of Rome.
 Remember the 'Stairs of Mourning' behind the Arch of S. Severius they got *alot* of use under Sejanus.
Sometimes as many as 20 executions a day, even women and children usually families of the condemned men (by Roman law virgins couldn't be executed, so they weren't when finally strangled and thrown down these Stairs).

 Tiberius' mother (Livia) was married and had 4yr old Tiberius when Octavian (who later became Emperor Augustus and is also married) ordered her to divorce her husband and marry him.

 Legend is, it was love at 1st sight for him but historians say it was a political marriage.

 But they were married and childless for 51yrs and he wanted a male heir desperately, so it's odd he never divorced her.
So I'm going either with true Love or that Livia was a sexual vixen and knew his fetish (shown in HBO's Rome).

 Tiberius grew-up and was a good General and good public official in the different gov't offices he held.

 He was a Prince but not Augustus' 1st choice as far as taking over as Emperor which is just fine with Tiberius.

 But Fate with possibly his mother's underhanded dealings made him Emperor upon Augustus' death (14AD).  

 Tiberius is forced onto this path but he inherits a vast Empire!
He gets all that for just one *little* sacrifice on his part which is forced upon him...he must leave his Love forever .

 History records him as an unloved, evil, vile, preverted Emperor.
But what if he never had to give-up his Love in life?
Did this event change him for the worst?

 ~35BC Augustus betroths his 7yr old stepson Tiberius to his best friend, heir and righthand man's (Marcus Agrippa) 1yr old daughter Vipsania.

 At 22 and 16 they are married.

 Eight yrs later Marcus Agrippa dies and Augustus needs an adult heir to the throne standing-by just in case.

 So adopting Tiberius and marrying him to his nymphomaniac daughter Julia who is also Marcus Agrippa's widow will do the trick.

 Plus Julia has always had the 'hots' for Tiberius.
But Tiberius thinks she is a sl.. ahhh better to go with Suetonius' description "Tiberius disappoves of her character".

 Tiberius has a son and his wife is pregnant with their 2nd child. And he really truely loves his wife.  

 Augustus orders him to divorce his wife and marry the nymphomaniac Princess.
 Vipsania upon hearing Augustus' decree is so distraught she loses her baby.

 Tiberius must obey, he sadly divorces his true love and marrys Julia.

 But then one day Vipsania and Tiberius paths accidently cross!
 Suetonius wrote;
 "He followed her with an intense and tearful gaze"... "after that, care was taken to avoid their paths *ever* crossing again" .
 Remember he is now the Emperor's adopted son, heir to the Empire and married to the Emperor's daughter, he *can not ever* be seen crying over this lost love , that would be *very unmanly* and *very unRoman*.

 Just showing affection for your wife in public or even the rumor that you are affectionate in private was seen as a major weakness in a man.
 Pompey was often ridiculed as a "sex mad General" because he truely and passionately loved his wife Julia (Caesar's daughter), this was very scandalous behavior.

 And for a Roman wife. 'Lucretius' "A matron has no need of lascivious squirmings", so frigid, rigid with dignified immobility and anything above that could label you prostitute-like in your husband's eyes.

 Before we leave this area go back in time and imagine.
 Little 9yr old Tiberius is over on the Rostra delivering a eulogy for his birth father.   

And around the time he hits puberty he coming up the Via Sacra riding the left lead horse on Augustus' chariot in a Triumph.

 Later as a man and adopted son of Augustus, Tiberius stops his chariot right here before the right turn onto the Clivus.

 He walks over to the Rostra and falls to his knees before Augustus who is presiding over the ceremonies.

 This is symbolic, a new born child is 1st brought to the father and laid at his feet.
 If it is a son and he accepts it as his and healthy, he picks it up.
If not he walks away and the child is killed.

 If it's a girl he either walks away and it is killed or just says "feed her" and walks away and she is accepted.

Now imagine Emperor Tiberius standing in the Forum admiring his newly built triumphal arch.

 He will never know or care that later during his reign one of his Roman Governors in a far-off province will crucify an unknown and insignificant religious rabble-rouser.

 But ~375yrs later all the Pagan Temples that now surround him will be gone, the buildings still intact but the statues of their Gods destroyed, their inscriptions erased and his religion outlawed.

annhig

hi, paradise lost,

what a great help - wish we'd had this when we went to Rome 18 months aso - i found the forum a real puzzle.

i recognise a lot of the names, mostly from reading and watching Robert Graves' I claudius - have you seen the BBC series? it was repeated here in the UK recently, and it was just as gory as I remembered from 20 years ago.

booking marking for another trip to Rome,

regards, ann

ParadiseLost

14.5
  Ok now walk over to the fenced-off section between the side of the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia.

 That is a street called the 'VICUS JUGARIUS' which in Roman times went from the Forum to the Porta Carmentalis (a gate in the Sevian Wall).
 This gate was just before the 'Temple of Portunus'.

 This street connected the Forum to the Forum Holitorium (vegetable market and indirectly to the Forum Boarium-cattle market) and the southern end of the Campus Martius

 In pre-Roman times this street (actually a dirt path for trade caravans) went from the Quirinal Hill (~1km north of you) right down to the Tiber River.

 Now the street we see today originally entered the Forum alittle more to the left but was moved over when the Basilica Julia was built.

 And on leaving the Forum it hugged the Capitoline Hill, they know this because in 192 BC there was a rock fall from the Capitoline Hill which killed several people walking on this street.

 In Republican and Imperial times there were high-end shops located on this street.
 They know of one from a man's sepulchral (tomb) inscription which listed his trade as a Purpurarius (a dealer in purple. I assume clothing, cloth, dyes? It was a royal color and very expensive).

 There was an arch on this street that was built against the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia. Look just inside this modern fence for the concrete and brick arch remains (just the side piers) on the Temple and Basilica side.

 I also noticed by each end of the fence large stone blocks that could have been for an arch? But that is just a wild guess so stick with the 1st one which is documented.

 They don't know the name of this arch but it could be nothing more than just a decorative gateway.
 One source says that this concrete and brick arch can be no earlier than the C4 AD.

 Anyway it's not the Arch of Tiberius as some claim.
 Also they are excavating the ruins in that area and the plans are to open up that area for visitors sometime in the future (don't hold your breath).

 Ok let's start with the words VICUS & JUGARIUS.
Both these words have many meanings and usages.

 'Vicus' most common meaning is 'village' which doesn't apply here in the city.
 In the city (Rome) it means a district or precinct but also the main street thru that district.
 Example: The Vicus Tuscus is where Etruscans once lived (Tuscus=Etruscans).
(1) The fire burned-out everything in the Vicus Tuscus (district).
(2) From the Roman Forum take the Vicus Tuscus (street) to the Circus Maximus.

Also the sidestreets in the district would be called 'Semitae' and dead-ends or alleyways 'Angiporta'.

 Now for the word 'JUGARIUS' and this is going to be a 'what came 1st the chicken or the egg' .

 We'll 1st go with this name coming from an ancient trade route that predates the founding of Rome by centuries.

 Thousands of years ago and ~750m from where you are standing there was a shallow crossing in the Tiber River just downstream of Tiber Island.
 During low water it could *possibly* be crossed on foot or horseback but the caravan's cargo would have to be ferried across (a raft poled across or pulled by ropes).
 The island caused this shallow and the shallow made this an important land trade route.

 And the river also gave access downstream to the sea trade routes plus inland trade routes arriving from upstream.

 This is a very major trade route junction and I wonder how the pre-Roman boys living on the hills (Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine) took advantage of this transportation hub right in their backyard?
 Did they charge Tolls, control the river crossing ferries or perhaps provided services (safe lodging, food, brothels, supplies, labor, protection etc)?
 
 Now along the Tiber was marshland and it often overflowed it's banks.
So a trade route like the Via Salaria (salaria = salt so salt caravans) enters the future city of Rome from the Northeast and heads for this shallow crossing.
 Their route wants to stay on high ground as long as possible so they arrive at the Capitoline Hill's north-northeast corner and follow the base of the hill around to the otherside and beeline straight to the river crossing.

 So picture these ancient caravans travelling on a dirt road between the Curia and the Capitoline Hill, passing between the Hill and the Forum Sq. (which is a marsh), then right-by you and hugging the Hill for a bit more before turning-off and heading for the shallow river crossing (1st bridge is possibly built in 600BC).

 [Below I'm just using Jugarius and not all of its root word spellings]

Now in that above pre-founding of Rome scenario 'Jugarius' could mean 'ridge' (also yoke or ox herd) as in the ridge road around the Capitoline Hill.

 So this could be the original meaning that was later lost and replaced by a new meaning after the founding of Rome?

 Now its other meanings could be to bind, connect, couple, yoke together or marry.

 In Julius Caesar's day and even centuries before they believed this street got its name from an altar at the base of the Capitoline Hill (possibly in a cave) along this street.

 This altar was dedicated to 'Juno Juga', Juno was a godess married to Jupiter and Juga in this case would be for marriage (joining, uniting, yoking together).

 Gods and Godesses had many specialties with temples and altars dedicated to each specific one.
 So in this case Juno is a marriage godess (esp the engagement phrase) and the street took its name from the 'Juga' meaning of her altar.
 
 Juno is an all-round 'chick goddess' which Roman women worship because she watches over them, their marriage and their children.
 June was named after Juno which is why even to this day it's a lucky and popular month to get married (June Bride).

 So if you're a couple and don't mind alittle Paganism make a sacrifice to Juno to protect your marriage or future marriage while you're standing at the beginning of her street.
 A peacock would be great as it is sacred to Juno but perhaps just tossing a coin over the fence and onto the Vicus Jugarius would be for the best .

  Also I forgot to mention earlier but Cloacina (Shrine of Cloacina) is the protecter of sexual intercourse in marriage (guys keep that money sacrifice to a euro or less ).

[This procession along the Vicus Jugarius is mentioned by ancient authors] 

 Ok, look down the Vicus Jugarius the time is 218-217 BC and a religious procession is coming up the street.

 Hannibal is marching on Rome from Spain which is bad enough but there are bad omens happening thru-out the country (showers of stones, blood flowing thru a city gate, lightning strikes, an extremely large child is born but neither male or female {locked in a chest & tossed into the sea}, wolf attack on a guard in Capua, etc).

 The Roman Pontiffs decide to gather up all the Virgins in Rome and within a 10 Milestone radius.
 Thrice nine (27) of the fairest maidens are chosen (no they don't get sacrificed) to lead this religious procession thru the city to appease the Gods.

 But while they are practicing their hymn in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill the Temple of Juno on the Aventine Hill gets hit by lightning (very bad omen).

 Well obviously she's the most ticked-off of all the Gods & Godesses so she gets this parade in her honor now.

 25 of the 27 maidens give-up their dowries and the gold is melted down into a basin and given to Juno as a present.

 Later in her procession 2 sacrificial white heifers lead followed by the 27 maidens in long white robes singing a hymn written just for Juno.

 Up the Vicus Jugarius into the Forum where they halt.
The maidens then all take hold of a cord as a symbol of common purpose and they start singing while beating time with their feet.

 "And men remembered long the sight of these fair maidens".

 Really??? 27 of the hottest virgins in Rome in a singing and stomping frenzy with white robes flowing in the breeze and guys actually remembered this event even years later...amazing .

[You've noticed I've gotten into alot of sex stuff in these sections with alittle love thrown in when I can.
I'm just trying to add a human element to these sites esp if there is *nothing* left to see.
And the 3 things that can make a ancient site interesting are Sex, Love and Murder. ]

ParadiseLost

#15. BASILICA JULIA
  Ok still standing in this corner of the Forum with your back to the Temple of Saturn look down the Via Sacra.
 On the leftside is the fenced-off Forum Sq. and on the rightside is the fenced-off Basilica Julia.

 I'm going to do the Basilica now but in the next section as you walk down the Via Sacra you will be hitting sites on the Forum Sq. side, sites on the Basilica side and some on the Via itself.
 The reason is the Basilica is 100m long so it's easier too see them as you walk along the Via Sacra doing the Forum Sq. sites.

 The original BASILICA JULIA was built by Julius Caesar but still unfinished at the time of his assassination.

 But let's start at the beginning and look at this football field size area we see today.

 In Romulus' day this area was just a useless diseased marshland. But after the Forum area is canaled this land is reclaimed, legend is that during the 5th King of Rome's reign Tarquinius Priscus (616-579BC) the 1st shops are built on this side of the Forum.

 These shops are called Tabernae and the ones on this side of the Forum are called 'Tabernae Veteres', meaning shops on the shady-side of the Forum and the shops on the otherside of the Forum 'Tabernae Novae' or sunny-side.

These are just wooden stalls probably ramshackle-like where the basics are sold, butchers with meats, farmers with produce, wine sellers and I assume craftsmen with pots & pans, iron goods, etc.
I assume alot of business was done by barter in this early marketplace.

 And behind these shops are private homes, in the beginning probably just simple huts of some of these shop owners but later and for centuries after the homes of the rich and powerful.

 They have excavated (1960's) and found the atrium of one of these large aristocratic houses beneath the Basilica Julia and also part of the 1st Basilica built-over this house (it's either at the eastern end/center, look for groundlevel skylights & entrance door or dead center in the basilica where a large hole of an excavation *once* was or both).

 The cool part is that they know whose house it was and he was a *major player* in ancient history.
His tactics are still studied by the military Worldwide.

 His name was 'Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus' 236-183BC, better known as just Scipio Africanus.
 I believe in the movie Gladiator when the chariots attack Maximus and crew in the Colosseum that was supposed to be a re-enactment of a battle Scipio was in and lost during the 2nd Punic War against Carthage.
 After Maximus wins somone in the stands or Emperor's Box mentions "I thought we (Romans) lost that battle".

 Anyway Scipio was a member of one of Rome's 6 major Patrician families, a great Statesman and one of the greatest military commanders in history.
He was the General who defeated Hannibal. Here's a Wikipedia bio on him http://tinyurl.com/yon4bq

 One cool romantic story about him, was midway thru the Second Punic War (218-201BC) he goes on basically a suicide mission to Hispania (Spain).
 Hannibal's boys have conquered Spain which they will use as the beginning of an overland route to attack Italy via the Alps.  Scipio attacks Cartagena, Spain and wins the city.
But he also wishes to win the 'hearts and minds' of the locals and be seen as liberators rather than conquerors like Carthage was. Plus he also needs supplies and reinforcements for his small outnumbered army.
Scipio loves his wife and he grants her much more freedom and spending money than most Patrician husbands.
But he does have a weakness for beautiful women and it's said for pretty boys.

 After the city is taken his men capture a very beautiful woman and they bring her to their commander as a prize of war.  Even Scipio is astonished by her beauty. But he learns that the woman is betrothed to a local Chieftain named Allucius.
He returns her unharmed to her fiance along with the ransom money that was offered by her parents.
They marry and Allucius allies himself and his tribe with Scipio.

Throughout his career Scipio strongly believes in humanitarian conduct towards the conquered people and their lands also with prisoners and hostages.
 But in his army non-Roman deserters get beheaded and Roman deserters crucified.

After the war Scipio returns to Rome and this house, the people love him but he has political enemies who hassle him and his General brother for years.

 His ghost is walking past you right now . He used to leave this house and walk-up the Clivus Capitolinus to make daily sacrifices at the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. His enemies claimed this was just political PR too show he was a devout Pagan.

 In his later years he tires of the political attacks and retires to a villa far from the city he saved.

 After his death his son-in-law Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus has the house torn down and builts the Basilica Sempronia (his family name) on this site in 169BC.
 It's like a sister-basilica to the newly built (179BC) Basilica Aemilia on the otherside of the Forum.

 Nothing is known of its exact size or design but it still has shops in front facing the Forum Sq (Livy mentions butcher stalls and other shops there).

 Also Gracchus will have 2 famous sons who will fight for land reform and rights for the common people. In a few decades 1 of his sons will be in the Forum with his followers at a political rally.
 His 1st cousin who is also Scipio's (adopted?) grandson is on the opposing side and will lead an armed charge of Senators and others against him.
 Gracchus' son is clubbed to death with a stool leg and 100's of his followers killed.

 This basilica lasts for ~146yrs and probably needs replacement. So Julius Caesar with his war booty from the Gallic Wars decides to rebuild it in 54BC and rename it after his family's name Julia.
He is still 5yrs away from crossing the Rubicon and taking absolute power so this is just political PR for him.

I'm just *assuming* he builds it the same size as the original basilica possibly with the shops still in front?

Augustus dedicates it in 46BC (2yrs after Caesar's death) still unfinished.
 It burns down during his reign (9BC?) and Augustus rebuilds it but larger (the size we see today) and dedicates it in 12AD.
 But this time he renames it after his dead grandsons Gaius and Lucius Caesar (remember their Portico in front of the Basilica Aemila), the name never catches on and everyone still calls it the Basilica Julia.

 It's originally used for banking and business but later in that century (1stAD) it's used for civil court cases (Tribunals).

 'Pliny the Younger' tried cases here including one that packed the place.
 His client was the daughter of an 80yr old man who married a very young woman and disinherited the daughter 10 days later.
Pliny won his 'Anna Nicole Smith' case .

  The Basilica burns down in the major 'Fire of Carinus' 283AD and again in 410AD when the invading Visigoths torched it and it's last rebuilt in 416AD.
 
 In 476AD Rome's last Emperor abdicates, the Fall of the Roman Empire is now official.

 In the 7th or 8th a church is built in the SW section of the Basilica.

 In the Middle-Ages the Basilica is used for a Cannaparia (rope-walk) where rope is made, they need a long bldg protected from the weather.

 Stone cutters and lime kilns set-up shop inside and start stripping the bldg of it's marble.

 In 1496 the travertine is taken to be used in the Girand Torlonia Palace.
 More salvage excavations in 1500 & 1511/2.
1742 the eastern end is excavated and a cartload of the marble pavement is sold to a stone cutter.
 1780 more pavement and architectural pieces sold.

Also at one time the Basilica area is used as a cemetery for a hospital (I'm assuming ~ the Renaissance with the higher groundlevel in the Forum).

 1848-1872 the Basilica is excavated by archaeologists.
But they destroy the remains of the vaulted concrete ceiling with stucco molding (from a later rebuilding), I assume it had fallen in pieces and was lying on the ground...but still!

 To picture this basilica imagine a row of arcade arches surrounding this large (101X49m) rectangle, then 7.5m inside another row of arches and again in 7.5m another row of arches.  
 Now put a roof over them and build 3 more sets of arches on top of them and roof them also.
  So you have 2 corridors on 2 floors that go all around the bldg.
In the center is an open courtyard 82X16m with no roof.

So now on top of the 2nd floor wall-in this 82x16m opening with wooden walls, add *large* windows and then roof it over in wood.
The distance across the roof is too great for single beams of heavy stone and not practical for a heavy bulky concrete vaulted ceiling.
Large wooden beams like on the Curia's roof are the way too go, this roof is just to stop the rain with wall windows to light this interior area which is the heart of this basilica.

Now look down the Via Sacra and notice the steps leading up to the basilica.
 At this end there is only 1 step but notice there are more steps as the distance grows which ends with 7 steps at the far end.
That is because the ground slopes downhill along the Via.

 At the top of these steps 3 more steps lead into the actual bldg thru the 1st set of arches or arcade.
 This 1st arcade/corridor is more like a portico for the front of this bldg.

 Then 2 steps lead into the 2nd arcade/corridor and beyond that the large open central area (like an indoor courtyard).

 The front, rear and sides of Augustus' original basilica were of solid marble with the inner arcade arches using travertine faced-in marble.
 Now after the 283AD fire and rebuilding they will use concrete faced-in brick.
 And going by that interior stucco molding found and destroyed in the 19thC, I think it is safe to assume that all the bricks in this rebuilding were faced-in white stucco to give the impression of marble (like the Curia facade after the 283 rebuilding).

 But perhaps like the Curia the lower level was faced-in marble to make it look like real marble blocks at eye level?

 I don't know if any of the outside original Augustus' marble blocks (front & 2 sides) survived the fire.
But perhaps they did? Two statements by the 19thC archaeologists who 1st excavated the basilica.
"some of the brick pillars and arches of the outer aisles belonging to the restoration of Diocletian, together with some fragments of the marble pillars of the outside".
This is in the SW corner saved by the church. So there were *marble* pillars still on the outside wall after the 283 rebuilding?

"The amount and magnificence of the marble used in this basilica marked it as the special prey of the vandals of the middle ages, and a lime kiln was found on its very pavement".
If everything was later brick-faced concrete then just faced with thin marble slabs it wouldn't have been that big of a deal for the reuse of the large marble blocks (vandals) and for the lime kiln?

Now look into that SW corner and you will see the brick-faced concrete arches still intact from the 283 rebuilding.
 Also I assume that those still standing arches only survived because of the 7/8thC church that was built there, they probably used the arches as a foundation for the church.

 Now notice the large lone brick wall section closest to you, the one I pointed-out earlier as part of the unknown arch that spanned the Vicus Jugarius.
 If you look on the side of it that faces the basilica you'll notice it is thicker than the other walls, that is because it was reinforced and was actually part of this arch and the basilica.

 The rear of the basilica wasn't open like the front but instead had a line of 2-storied Tabernae (stair remains were found, SE corner) opening into the basilica.
But often it's claimed they opened out into the street but excavation plans show them opening into the basilica and closed on the street side.

Very likely there was another row of (commercial) shops behind them that opened into the street (proof later).

 These earlier Basilica shops very likely were for bankers and moneychangers but later when it became a courthouse they think these were for court related offices with a few bankers/money changers.

 The floor in the courtyard was colored marble (Numidian Yellow, Phrygian Purple, Lucullan Black) and the 2 surrounding corridors were white marble.
 This floor is slightly sloped and tilted to allow any water to run-off to the NE corner, this was noticed by an archaeologist during the 1878 flood of this area.

 A Middle Age 'lime kiln' was found on the floor when it was excavated, marble is burned which makes lime.

 The many short brick piers you see on the floor are just 19C recreations to show where the original arcade piers were located. But any fragments placed on top of them are original.

 We'll pass on the basilica early career as a boring business center and straight to it's use as civil courtrooms (Judge Wapner and Judge Judy are more entertaining ).
Now before this trials/tribunals were held outside in and around the Forum.

 This courtyard using 3 large curtains (some say large wooden partitions) could be divided up into 4, 3 or 2 seperate courtrooms, if it was a really big hi-profile case 1 courtroom (like that Pliny trial).

The spectators would be in that 2nd corridor with low marble balustrades (fences) between the arches too keep them back and also on the 2nd floor watching the proceedings.
 Also men on 1 side and woman on the other.

 These trials were a thrilling spectator sport, where anything went. Private citizens brought the charges against another often for revenge, power, money or for the accused political position. Outright lying, bribery, buying witnesses, spreading rumors, etc was all par for the course.  Cicero (not here though) once hired a woman and her young children and made them pityful looking and told the court that if his client was convicted what would happen to his poor wife and children, he wasn't married.

 But once Cicero definitely was going to win his prosecution of Clodius but a couple of days before the verdict an unknown slave visited the juror/judges at their homes. And with offers of money, sex with beautiful women or young upper-class boys (that class was forbidden fruit)...Clodius was aquitted.

 The Romans had the same word for both a prosecutor of these cases and a person on the stage...'actor'.
 It wasn't so much a lawyer by today's standards that did these cases but an orator whose powerful and witty words often won these cases like a popularity contest (OJ?).

A Roman orator named Vibius Crispus has a statue in this courtroom put there by Emperor Domition (81-96AD).
Crispus was a favorite and yes-man to the Emperor, which is a wise thing to be with someone like Domitian.
 He was very rich and influencial and a great orator and would take the side most favorable to the State while under Domitian.
He is also a delatore (political informer) but that's par for the course. He once prosecuted another delatore who ratted him out to Nero.

 It was called the Centumviral Court and there were 180 judges total. They didn't all have to present and would divide up among the 2,3,4 courtrooms. But for a big case they might all show-up.
And Emperor Trajan presided over this court a few times.
The judges sat on benches with the orator/lawyers before them on each side.

 Also a slave's testimony in any trial about anything was never truely valid unless it was also taken under torture .

LCBoniti

Very informative and witty post, as usual. Thanks for the additional information and your perspective.

mebe

Thank you Walter. You are amazing.

chocobon

WOW! AWESOME POSTING! THANKS!

jabolla

bookmarking. thanks!

ParadiseLost

#16.1 BASILICA JULIA GAME BOARDS, VIA SACRA, 7 HONORARY COLUMN BASES

[Correction; Earlier I said that the Basilica Julia was dedicated in 46BC by Emperor Augustus, actually it was dedicated by Julius Caesar. Also remember I am calling these Forum Sq. sections of street the Via Sacra although it isn't really (st. name unknown) but I have too call it something ]

 Ok we are still at the end of the Via Sacra with the Temple of Saturn just behind us, Vicus Jugarius on the right and the Rostra ~25m to the left.
 What we are going to cover is the front of the Basilica Julia, the Via Sacra and the 7 large brick column bases (last 2 have columns on them).

 This covers ~100m but we will only walk as far as between the 3rd & 4th column base. Because there is a small fenced-in area between them that allows you to enter a short distance in the Forum Sq. and that will be another section.


NOW before you move look down the Via Sacra and just after the 2nd column base (just called 'base' from now on) to just after the 3rd base right in the middle of the Via is a long retangular section marked-off with bricks with just dirt inside and not paving stones.
 Between you and that rectangle is a line of 5 'Pozzi Rituali' pits, like we seen earlier. Remember it's just usually 4 paving stones that form a square dirt center.

 The 1st one closest to you will have a small modern stone block with a metal pin in it (placed there after an earlier excavation, I assume), the 2nd pit is not there just an empty space but the next 4 going to the rectangle are very easy to see.
 I've read that these were put in by Julius Caesar when he built the Basilica Julia.
 So just keep them in mind as we do this short walk down the Via.


 OK, the main sites on the Basilica Julia side are the 'Tabulae Lusoriae' these are 'Game Boards' etched into the stone, I've already pointed-out a few on this walk.
 Here they are mainly on the steps of the Basilica.


 OK NOW start walking down the rightside of the Via Sacra, in the 1st 10m of the Basilica you will see a fairly famous and mysterious circle game on the Basilica's step (The Basilica is fenced-off with a thigh-high rail fence, just walk along it looking down to where the steps start).
http://sights.seindal.dk/img/orig/8313.jpg and here also http://tinyurl.com/2ab3l6 (the link on this site doesn't show this exact location just a photo of the steps).


Ok ancient Romans loved to gamble on everything but it is illegal except during the few days in December during Saturnalia.  I assume they legally played these games using game pieces and at the end the loser pays the winner. In the US in blue-collar bars and social clubs in my younger days I have gambled. The police would occassionally check on the bars and clubs and as long as there was no money in view (card tables or on pool tables) it was ok as no laws were being broken at that moment .


 Now the men playing these outdoor games are the Plebeian 'Bread and Circus' crowd. They are 2nd Class Roman citizens given free food, free entertainment and free public baths (if not free *very* cheap).
The Patricians are the elite rich aristocracy Romans who know they must keep this majority content with this Welfare/Dole system or they will have an angry Mob to content with.


 Now these Plebeians have alot of spare time on their hands but they live in crowded hot-to-cold, smelly, dark, firetrap apartment houses called Insulae.
 So during the day they want to be out in the sunny open air in places like the Games, Forums, public parks, etc and just idle their time away.

 And if there were no chariot races at the Circus or violent entertainment at an amphitheater some would also hang-out here at the Basilica and listen to any trials going-on, if not they could play these board games passing their time petty gambling.


 With 80 etched games found here (there surely was many more now lost) this seemed to be *the* place to play perhaps being on the shady-side of the Forum had something to do with that?


 1st off nothing was pitched or tossed onto these board games as the tour guides in the Forum usually claim, they were played with game pieces by seated players on the steps.


 There are 3 types of game boards, Hole boards, Circle/Round boards and rare chessboard-type boards (I'll point out one of these later).  


What I call 'HOLE GAMES' are usually (but sometimes scattered) 2 even rows of 4 holes [ :::: ] bored fairly deep into the stone's step or pavement and the most popular.
They look like this but usually the holes are deeper http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim//rooma/pages/350_002B.HTM OR http://tinyurl.com/2qasd6 (if url is dead try) http://tinyurl.com/28d6ow


 My guess is they were a version of these games but with less holes?

This is from East Africa c.1850; "Children usually prefer the game called indifferently Togantog and Saddikiya.
A double line of five or six holes is made in the ground, four counters are placed in each, and when in the course of play four men meet in the same hole, one of the adversary's is removed. It resembles the Bornou game, played with beans and holes in the sand".

 From another website; "the Bedouins still (i.e. today) play this game in the sand with pebbles".

 But as you will read below it was played widely except with 5-6 sets of holes vs 4 Roman sets.

Info and pictures of this game
www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Mancala.htm
http://members.aol.com/hyadessoft/ma...eum/index.html


 The 2nd most popular and with a cooler design are what I call 'CIRCLE GAMES' others call 'Round'.

 They usually look like a pizza cut-up into eighths. www.maat.com.au/images/Tablu2.jpg OR http://tinyurl.com/2b87pw.


 No one knows definitely how they were played but it seems likely it was a sort of tic-tac-toe type of game.

 This website
www.romanglassmakers.co.uk/games.htm shows it was possibly a round version of the '3 mens Morris' game because if you made that square game into a circle you would have the same 8 positions around the edge and 1 in the center?


 IMO It would be a very easy and boring game unless there were also plays to be made around the edge of the circle?
Like; 3 in a row or boxing-in or jumping your opponent and winning the center position?
I have written a trip report on the locations of these games all around the Roman Forum but back then I went along with the pitching or tossing onto these game boards so disregard that info http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34410922


OK NOW STILL STANDING IN FRONT OF THAT GAME BOARD http://sights.seindal.dk/img/orig/8313.jpg another view http://tinyurl.com/2qeynj

Notice the graffito etched within the circle which spells ORACVLO, this is the only circle game where I have ever seen a word within it.

ORACVLO is the Latin word for ORACLE.

 You can see this word on this bronze medallion from Emperor 'Philip the Arab' reign (244-249AD). http://tinyurl.com/yv5385
 On the front Philip, wife and son with the words 'CONCORDIA AVGVSTORVM' (Harmony in the Imperial Family) and on the flipside ET ORACVLO APOLLINIS (And Oracle Apollo) http://tinyurl.com/39my7b http://tinyurl.com/25vdh9


 Now the graffito is odd enough but also notice the unusual 'A' in the photos, it's a bit hard to see but you can make it out.
  It's like today's and the ancient Roman A, except here /\ there is no horizontal connecting line '-' instead in its place there is a small 'v'.


 There is also a pot or bowl shard in the Roman Forum Museum (Room 4-center case) from the 'Pozzo Repubblicano A' era, that has this same odd 'A' on it and reads ANI.

 From memory and the official Italian Roman Forum guidebook which says of this Room 4 center case which is labeled 'Pozzo Repubblicano A'.
 "...material from the Via Sacra and Republican wells".
'Pozzo' is Well (water?) or do they mean 'Pozzi Rituali' for those 'Wells' when esp referring to the Via Sacra where Pozzi Rituali pits have been excavated and bowl shards (believed to have been used in auguries {fortune-telling} by the Priests to examine an animal's organs, like bird's entrails, etc?) have been found?

 Or just plain water wells pre-aqueduct supplied water (there are a few well-like structures within the remains of the Domus Publica and other areas. Although I wonder if some/all of these might be Medieval or later?) or maybe their were ancient public water wells *alongside* the Via Sacra?


 I assume this odd 'A' on this bowl/pot shard from the 'Reppubbicano A' is from the earliest Republican Era (post 509BC, Reppubbicano B would be a later era)?

  Also I have never seen that type of 'A' on any inscriptions or in any other museums.
And the stele below the Lapis Niger has only standard 'A's on it, although the horizontal '-' connecting line is at a bit of an angle (this stele is written in the earliest form of Latin).


 Now this A seems to be archaic and if that pot/bowl shard *is* from an augury perhaps it's a ritualistic lettering?
 And maybe its use many centuries later in the word for Oracle would make the word more mystical and ancient?
Like we still do today for movie titles, book covers, Ye Ole English Pub, etc.


[I'm intrigued by this game board and FWIW here's another one of my off-the-wall theories ]

 Now why put a graffito in a game board or a game board over a graffito, they *must* be connected somehow?

There are 100's of meters of steps to place one or the other, so why both together?

 Also a graffitist wants his message to be seen & read and would have placed his message parallel to the steps === ( -- ) === to be read by passers-by on the Via and people going into the Basilica rather than vertical & tilted with the letters sideways? === ( \ ) ===


 These circle games had 2 players and 9 positions for the game pieces (8 around the edge and 1 in the center).
The vast majority/all of these games are like a pizza cut into eighths.


 This gameboard however doesn't have the intersecting lines etched thru it but if you look close you will see small lines ( ~1 inch) at 4 of the 8 points of the circle where those lines would have intersected the etched circle.

 Now this game seems to have its 8 positions in the circle and although unmarked the center would still be the 9th position.

 So no reason this game couldn't be played like the others it seems?


No one knows the rules for certain but it's believed to be some form of 3-in-a-row type game like tic-tac-toe?
 If so something would have had to also go on in the outer circle like jumping or boxing-in your opponent and taking his game piece (replaceable?), if not it's a very easy & boring game.

 Now the odd direction === ( \ ) === of the word ORACVLO on the steps could only be properly viewed by the player sitting on the rightside of the game board ( \ ) *.
And that side is easiest for a righthanded person to play, so probably 1st choice to sit (possibly the winner's position?).


 We'll never know but I wonder could this be someone's personal addition to this type of game?

 Like a side bet, each win buys a letter with one of your extra game pieces, 1st to spell oracvlo wins the pot?

 A different way or rules to play this *particular* gameboard where guessing or predicting (oracle) the moves was involved (also no intersecting lines)?

 A player's nickname? Perhaps so good and always winning they called him the Oracle .

 Just an aimless doodle?

 A religious statement from a closeted (late 4th-early 5th C) Pagan (ask the Oracle vs that Christian God) ?

 Or was this just some ancient crazy person's personal Oracle where he/she would cast bones or peer into the circle and shout predictions to the passers-by... "The End Is Near Romans" .


[FUSED BRASS WITHIN THIS GAMEBOARD]

 I noticed this ~6yrs ago, roughly in the center of this circle there is a small (size of a small orange seed) piece of metal fused into the step.

 I wet my finger to shine it up and my 1st thought was brass, later possibly copper or bronze (IIRC it did have a slight green tarnish like brass gets).


 At that time I had read that later in the Empire small thin metal tokens were used in these board games instead of round marked bone chips, colored stones or small colored glass tokens.

 I *closely* searched all of the exposed steps of the Basilica Julia (on this trip & others) and haven't found any other small pieces of fused metal on them.


 I was intrigued that *only* within this small round game board a piece of fused metal was found in 100's of meter's of steps!

And according to this site www.maat.com.au/contorniates.html ~350AD and later small thin brass commemorative unofficial tokens were produced.
 "Whatever their original purpose, it would seem that in practice the contorniates may have ended up being used as 'men' for a board game played on the Tabulae Lusoriae, such as those which now decorate the floor of the Basilica Julia in the Forum Romanum, palm and 'barred P' symbols commonly being incised on the flans presumable so as to differentiate the tokens".


 If? this fused metal is the remains of a Contorniate, how did it get fused into the step and why?

 And why would this Contorniate (and possibly others that didn't fuse) be left behind by the player?

 It had to be something that *suddenly* happened as no one walking by picked-up these unattended tokens in the *very crowded* Roman Forum?

Also it's not likely the Forum suddenly just burst into flames and the player and everyone else ran for their lives. 


 Now a fire could easily fuse just a *single* thin brass token into the Basilica's step.
Because like in the Basilica Amelia's 410AD fire not all the coins fused into the pavement, the vast majority of coins were intact and I believe found during a Renaissance excavation/looting.
 This IMO is because it needs a small space between a piece of flaming fallen debris and the metal coin/token, add oxygen being sucked into the fire from groundlevel and you have a blast furnace effect.
Flaming debris like a large wooden roof beam falling *flat* onto a coin/token and step would not be burning on the bottom.


 Now we need a fire in the Basilica Julia after these tokens are 1st produced, so post-350AD.
And that one I believe could only be Alaric's Visigoth 410 sacking and burning of Rome where the Basilca Julia was put to the torch.


[A WILD 'WHAT-IF' SCENARIO]

  It's August 24, 410AD after months of seige someone opens the Gate and the Visigoths suddenly storm into Rome.

 Their first logicial shopping stop would be the Roman Forum, Imperial Forums, Palatine & Capitoline Hills and surrounding area for the money and valuables.
 Now if they were bee-lining from that Gate (~NE of the Forum) they would have 1st entered the Roman Forum from the Curia-Basilica Aemila area.

 So if some poor staving Roman on the otherside of the Forum was just idling his time away playing this gameboard, he would suddenly hear shouts and screaming from his fellow citizens as they were running into the Forum just ahead of this invading horde.

 Around this time he would have to make a very quick decision;  Do I pick-up my basically worthless brass Contorniates or do I run for my #@%! life?

 Assuming the latter these worthless tokens would lay there for 3 days untouched, as everyone now is very busy playing either sacker or sackee.

 Likely on the 3rd day just before the Visigoths leave, the Basilica Julia is torched.

And did flaming debris fall down upon this game board and token???

THE LOCATION of this small piece of fused metal can be seen as dense cluster of marks in these 2 photos;
http://sights.seindal.dk/img/orig/8313.jpg   It is roughly in the exact center of the photo (not the circle).

 If you run a line from between the O and the R on the *same angle* that they tilted on \ you have very few marks/pits in the marble until you hit a cluster.

 The same goes for this photo
http://tinyurl.com/2qeynj clear sailing from the O & R on that same angle \ until the cluster.


 Also remember earlier I mentioned those ~1inch lines *inside* the circle on the etched circle that seem to divide it into eighths.
 In that photo you can see one below the 'A' (3 o'clock) and another to the left on the edge of the photo (4:30).

 In that other photo (remember it's taken at an angle) you can see the 3:00 & 4:30 plus 6:00 & 7:30. 9:00 o'clock is maybe a faded possibility there or not there at all and I think 10:30 can be see just before the green grass covers the circle.

 I do see some other shorter lines and a couple on the outer side of the circle.
  I don't know if they are just marks or what but the 3, 4:30, 6 & 7:30 seem spaced about right and in the right positions when looking at this game head-on.


  Often you will see Roman Forum tour guides standing in front of *this* game board explaining it.   And at one point they usually pick-up a small stone and toss it on the game board.
 
 But this photo (location unknown) shows deep holes in the locations where the game pieces would have been placed by hand. www.espr-archeologia.it/img/photo/94/big/160.jpg
 I assume it's a earlier game board (before contorniates) where perhaps colored stones, bone/glass/etc game pieces were used?

 This photo from the Basilica Julia
www.maat.com.au/images/Tablu2.jpg shows just shallow etched circles for the the game pieces, perhaps for the contorniates?

 But most games didn't bother, no need too I assume, just place your contorniate where the lines intersect?


This photo from Jerusalem http://tinyurl.com/2mjeaw shows a small square board (called 9 Men's Morris www.romanglassmakers.co.uk/games.htm) which was definitely played with game pieces and right next to it a small faded Round/Circle gameboard.

sierranevada

bookmarking (WOW!)

azresptech

Thank you Walter. I just happened on this thread today. What a tremendous amount of work you've done to put this together. I can't wait to read every word, and print it to take to Rome on my May vacation. It will make my visit to the Forum so much more interesting.

jfcarli

75 pages of cut and pasting in Word. Amazing. Thanks!

LizaMarie

great info thanks!

suz1672

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