Posted on Wednesday 17 November 2004

This is the Forum, the ancient heart of the city of Rome. Sometimes it is referred to as the Forum Romanum in order to distinguish it from the other forums (fora) that grew up and around the city, but this was not its original name. It was simply The Forum, and the name still resonates with us today as a place to meet.

I will show you where you can readily find men of every variety, so that no one will have to labour too laboriously if he wishes to meet anyone vicious or virtuous, worthy or worthless. In case you wish to meet a perjurer, go to the Comitium; for a liar and braggart, try the temple of Venus Cloacina; for wealthy married wasters, the Basilica. There too will be harlots, well-ripened ones, and men ready for a bargain, while at the fish-market are the members of eating clubs. In the lower forum citizens of repute and wealth stroll about; in the middle forum, near the Canal, there you find the merely showy set. Above the Lake are those brazen, garrulous, spiteful fellows who boldly decry other people without reason and are open to plenty of truthful criticism themselves. Below the Old Shops are those who lend and borrow upon usury. Behind the temple of Castor are those whom you would do ill to trust too quickly. In the Tuscan Quarter are those worthies who sell themselves–either those who turn themselves or give others a chance to turn. But there! a noise at the door! I must rein in my tongue.




Plautus’ Curculio Act IV, Scene I

This scale model of the Forum in 179 AD was built by Robert Garbisch. It took him two and half years and was completed in 1982. It now on display at the Goldfarb Library at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. In addition to some wonderfully detailed reconstructions of the buildings around the Forum, it also contains 720 miniature Roman citizens and 350 statues.


For a guided tour of the model Forum, follow this link. You might also like to take this map along with you.







Alas, the forum today lies in ruins but to see what remains of these buildings, and try this clickable guide.

Running left to right: The Arch of Septimus Severus, the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia. Behind the Arch is the Senate building, the Curia and next to this is the Basilica Aemilia, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the Temple of the Divine Julius (Caesar), the Temple of the Vesta and the Temple of Castor and Pollux.