Description
The Imperial Forums are five great monumental squares built in the heart of Rome over a century and a half, between 46 BC and AD 113, by Julius Caesar and the emperors up to Trajan. They stretch between the Capitoline, the Quirinal and the Colosseum, cut in two by Via dei Fori Imperiali.
Don't confuse them with the Roman Forum, the old city square that grew up a piece at a time. Here each square was a single project, ordered by one man, with porticoes, a temple at the far end and statues: architecture and propaganda in one.
Of the Forum of Caesar, the three columns of the Temple of Venus Genetrix remain, raised back onto their podium: Caesar claimed to descend from the goddess through Aeneas. Next to it, the Forum of Augustus keeps the podium of the Temple of Mars Ultor and the towering stone wall that separated it from the Subura, the working-class district.
The Forum of Trajan, the largest, ended at the back with the Basilica Ulpia, whose remains have come back to light. Behind it the Trajan's Column still stands intact, and on the flank of the Quirinal the red brick Trajan's Markets climb the slope.
More hidden are the Forum of Nerva, narrow as a passageway, and Vespasian's Temple of Peace: a garden with pools and statues, almost an open-air museum, with one wall covered by the great map of Rome carved on marble slabs.
Caesar paid for the land of his square out of his own pocket, and even had the new Curia, the seat of the Senate, turned around so that it lined up with his forum. Augustus had promised the temple to Mars the Avenger after defeating Caesar's assassins at Philippi: he inaugurated it forty years later.
Domitian built his square but died in a conspiracy before opening it: his successor Nerva did, and gave it his name. For his forum, Trajan used the spoils of Dacia to have the saddle of rock joining the Capitoline and the Quirinal cut away.
For centuries everything lay buried under houses and churches. Between 1928 and 1932 the Fascist regime demolished an entire district and opened Via dell'Impero, inaugurated by Mussolini: since 1945 it has been called Via dei Fori Imperiali, and for decades some have wanted to get rid of it to reunite the squares.
Don't confuse them with the Roman Forum, the old city square that grew up a piece at a time. Here each square was a single project, ordered by one man, with porticoes, a temple at the far end and statues: architecture and propaganda in one.
Of the Forum of Caesar, the three columns of the Temple of Venus Genetrix remain, raised back onto their podium: Caesar claimed to descend from the goddess through Aeneas. Next to it, the Forum of Augustus keeps the podium of the Temple of Mars Ultor and the towering stone wall that separated it from the Subura, the working-class district.
The Forum of Trajan, the largest, ended at the back with the Basilica Ulpia, whose remains have come back to light. Behind it the Trajan's Column still stands intact, and on the flank of the Quirinal the red brick Trajan's Markets climb the slope.
More hidden are the Forum of Nerva, narrow as a passageway, and Vespasian's Temple of Peace: a garden with pools and statues, almost an open-air museum, with one wall covered by the great map of Rome carved on marble slabs.
Caesar paid for the land of his square out of his own pocket, and even had the new Curia, the seat of the Senate, turned around so that it lined up with his forum. Augustus had promised the temple to Mars the Avenger after defeating Caesar's assassins at Philippi: he inaugurated it forty years later.
Domitian built his square but died in a conspiracy before opening it: his successor Nerva did, and gave it his name. For his forum, Trajan used the spoils of Dacia to have the saddle of rock joining the Capitoline and the Quirinal cut away.
For centuries everything lay buried under houses and churches. Between 1928 and 1932 the Fascist regime demolished an entire district and opened Via dell'Impero, inaugurated by Mussolini: since 1945 it has been called Via dei Fori Imperiali, and for decades some have wanted to get rid of it to reunite the squares.