FORUM AUGUSTUM
FORUM AUGUSTI
* the second of the imperial fora, adjoining
the
FORUM IULIUM (q.v.), built by Augustus to provide additional room
for the courts, and for other needs of the increasing population (Suet. Aug.
29. I ; Mon.
Anc. vi. 34; Cassiod. Chron. a. Abr. 1971). The site was
purchased by Augustus from its owners with the proceeds of the spoils
of war (Mon.
Anc. iv. 21), but he did not succeed in acquiring enough
land to carry out his original plan (Suet. Aug. 56. 2). Within the forum
was the temple of Mars Ultor (templum, aedes Suet. (Aug. 29), inscription
(
CIL vi. 8709;
Hermes 1879, 567-583), delubrum Suet. (Vitell. 8),
1
ναός Cass. Dio (lv. 10)), vowed by Octavianus at the battle of Philippi
pro ultione paterna (Suet. Aug. 29. 2; Ov.
Fast. v. 569-578), which
formed the essential element of the forum as the temple of Venus Genetrix
did that of the forum Iulium. The work was greatly delayed (Macrob.
Sat. ii. 4. 9), but that on the forum was hurried at last and this was
opened before the temple was finished (Suet. Aug. 29. I), although its
actual dedication is said to have taken place on Ist August, 2 B.C., at
the same time as that of the temple (Cass.
Dio lv. 10;
lx. 5. 3;
Vell.
ii. 100; but cf. Ov.
Fast. v. 551 ff., where 12th May seems to be given
as that of this temple also; cf.
Jord. i. 2. 444; CIL i². p. 318). Because
of.the temple of Mars, this forum was sometimes called forum Martis
(Schol.
Juv. xiv. 261-262; Pol. Silv. 545 ;
CIL xv. 7190; cf. cod. Laur.
Apul. subscriptio: ego Salustius legi (c. 395 A.D.) et emendavi Romae
in foro Martis), and this name is preserved in that of the via Marforio.
In 19 A.D. Tiberius erected two arches, one on each side of the temple,
2
in honour of the victories of Drusus and Germanicus in Germany (Tac.
Ann.
ii. 64;
CIL vi. 91 ). Pliny regarded this forum with the temple of Peace
and the basilica Aemilia, as the three most beautiful buildings in the
world (xxxvi. 102), and says that the timber used in its construction was cut
in the Raetian Alps in the dog days, considered to be the best time (xvi.
191). In fact, wooden dowels (see below) were found in the sixteenth
century so well preserved that they could be used again (Vacca, Memorie 89;
Mem. L. 3. xiii. 1884, 402). As might be expected, many works of art
were collected in the forum (Plin.
NH vii. 183;
xxxiv. 48;
xxxv. 27. 93-94;
Serv.
Aen. i. 294;
Paus. viii. 46. I. 4), including a quadriga dedicated
by the senate to Augustus (Mon.
Anc. vi. 26) ; and in the temple, which
was as magnificent as the rest of the structure (
Plin. xxxiv. 141; Ov.
Fast.
v. 551-552, 555-568;
Trist. ii. 295-296; Tac.
Ann. iii. 18;
xiii. 8; Suet.
Cal. 24). The forum was restored by Hadrian (Hist. Aug. Hadr. 19),
and is mentioned in the Notitia (Reg. VIII and app.) ; the temple incidentally in two inscriptions (
CIL vi. 8709:
αεδιτυυς αεδ. μαρτις υλτορις,
ανδ α δεδιξατιον το σιλϝανυς βψ ανοτηερ αεδιτυυς ιν τηε λατεραν μυσευμ;
see
RAP iii. 462) and elsewhere (Suet. Claud. 13;
Mart. vii. 51), and
perhaps in the Feriale Cumanum under date of 12th May (CIL i². p. 229:
συππλιξατιο μολιβυς μαρτις; cf. Ge' xiii. 23. 2 and
Hermes 1882, 637).
How long the forum was used for the courts is not known. Claudius
and Trajan sat in judgment here (Suet. Claud. 33; Cass. Dio lxviii. IO),
but the building of Trajan's forum probably diminished the importance
of all the others. Once at least Augustus celebrated the festival of
Mars in his forum on account of an inundation of the Tiber (Cass.
Dio
lvi. 27. 4), and the Arval Brethren sacrificed here (Act. Arv. ad a. 59,
69) to Mars Ultor, Salus and the genius of the princeps (Transactions of
the American Philological Association, 1920, 124-133).
Augustus placed in the forum bronze statues of all the Roman
triumphatores from Aeneas down (Suet. Aug. 31. I; Ov.
Fast. v. 563-566;
Cass. Dio lv. I. 3 ; Plin.
NH xxii. 3 ; GelI. ix. II. IO; Hist. Aug. Alex.
Sev. 28. 6, where the statues are said to have been of marble) with the
name and cursus honorum of each general engraved on the plinth and
his res gestae on a marble slab fixed to the wall below. Of these inscriptions a considerable number have been recovered (CIL i². pp. 186-202;
BC 1889, 26-34, 73-79, 481-482 ; 890, 251-259 ;
NS 1889, 15-16, 33-34;
1890, 318-320;
Mitt. 1889, 247-249;
1891, 94-101). Later, statues
of other persons, of varying degrees of distinction, were set up (
CIL vi.
1386; Tac.
Ann. iv. 15;
xiii. 8), and honorary inscriptions (
Vell. ii. 39. 2).
In the temple certain formalities were regularly observed, i.e. the
assumption of the toga virilis by young men, the formal leave-taking
of provincial governors when setting out for their posts, and their reception
when returning with signs of victory which were deposited here, together
with other less important functions (Cass. Dio Iv. 10. 3-5; Suet. Aug. 29.2;
Cal. 44). It served as a place of safe deposit until some thief stole the
helmet of Mars (luv. xiv. 261-262 and Schol.), and was the scene of the
famous banquets of the Salii (Suet. Claud. 33 ;
CIL vi. 2158;
LS i. 80).
It is usually supposed that the standards recovered from the Parthians
were kept in this temple after its completion (Mon.
Anc. v. 42), being
removed thither from the temple of Mars Ultor on the Capitol (CIL i².
p. 318).
The forum was rectangular in shape, about 125 metres long and 90
wide, and joined the forum Iulium on the north-east, its longest axis
being perpendicular to that of the latter. The regularity of this rectangle
was broken by two large semi-circular apses or exedrae on the south-east
and north-west sides, and also at the north-east end, where Augustus
had evidently not been able to get all the land he desired (see above).
Exactly in the middle of the north-east half of the forum stood the
temple, with its end abutting against the enclosure wall. The forum
was surrounded by an enormous wall, which served the double purpose
of protecting it against fire and shutting off the view of the squalid
quarters of the city in the immediate neighbourhood. A considerable
part of this wall at the north-east end, and of both exedrae, has been
preserved. It was originally nearly 36 metres high, and was built of
large blocks of peperino in alternate courses of headers and stretchers,
with wooden dowels (see above), but no mortar. On the outside two
courses of travertine divided it into three sections. Travertine is also
used at other points of stress. In the part of the wall now standing is
one of the original arched gateways, Arco dei Pantani, through which
the modern Via Bonella passes, 6 metres above the ancient level (III. 25).
The inner surface of the wall was covered with marble and stucco. Whether
a colonnade and porticus surrounded the south part of the forum -within
the wall is uncertain.
Each apse was separated from the forum area by a line of four pilasters
and six fluted columns of cipollino, 9.50 metres high, which supported
an entablature of white marble. In the curved wall of the apse were
two rows of rectangular niches, the lower about 2.50 metres and the
upper about 15, from the pavement. The wide wall-space (about
8.50 metres) between these two rows of niches, which appears to have
been bare of ornament other than the lining, was probably masked by
the entablature. About 5 metres above the upper row of niches ran a
cornice, and above this the wall rose again for a considerable height.
In each apse in the lower row were fourteen niches, not counting the large
one in the middle, and four between each apse and the temple, making
thirty-six in all. Whether there were more in the other portion of the
wall is not known. In the lower niches were the statues of the triumphatores, and in the upper probably trophies. Between the niches were
marble pilasters.
The temple was octostyle, and peripteral except at the north-east
end, where it joined the forum wall (Petersen, Ara Pacis Augustae,
Vienna
1902, 61 ff.
3;
BA 1911, 300 sqq.). Three of the columns with the architrave are still standing. They are of white marble, fluted, 15.30 metres
high and 1.76 in diameter, with Corinthian capitals (for a restoration
of the capital, see Mem. Am. Acad. ii. pi. 2).
4 It was thought that they
belonged to the restoration by Hadrian, and not to the structure of
Augustus. This theory has, however, now been abandoned by Huulsen
and Fiechter (
Toeb. i. 35-41; cf. 51), for we have neither record nor
traces of any restoration.
5 The cella wall is of peperino, lined with
Greek marble. Owing to the width of the cella it was divided into a
nave and two aisles by internal columns.
6 The ceiling of the peristyle,
between the cella wall and the columns, is coffered, with rosettes in the
centre of each coffer. The concrete base of the steps (III. 26) is well
preserved (though the steps are thought to have been relaid at a later
date), and so is a portion of the podium, with its facing of marble slabs
which shows signs of decoration with bronze reliefs. In the podium is
a chamber which was cut in the Middle Ages to serve as a burial vault.
A courtyard behind the north-west exedra, surrounded by an arcade,
is interesting; and the north-west exedra itself has been entirely
cleared. The work, which is still in progress, has not yet been fully
described. (For other literature on forum and temple, see
Jord. i. 2.
442-447;
Rosch. ii. 2392 ;
Gilb. iii. 229-232 ; WR 146; Mem. L. 3. xiii.
1884, 400-415;
Mitt. 1891, 94-98; LR 304-309;
LS i. 185; Thed.
181-189, 372-374; Valadier, Fabbriche di Roma, pt. vii.; Canina,
Edifizi ii. pls. 96-103; DAP 2. xv. 367; D'Esp.
Mon. ii. 99-102; ZA
36-4 ; YW 1924-25, 84; Capitolium, ii. 4-49; 395-402; Mem. L. 5. xvii.
511-513; ASA 53, 54, 7).