Two Public Spaces

A view of the Roman forum from the Palatine. The Curia Julia is at the top centre, the rostra were near the arch at the top left, the Basilica Julia with many column bases is on the near long side and the Basilica Aemilia was on the far side. The forum itself is the rectangular patch of grass in the middle. Nobody planned it exactly. The Roman Forum started out as a low boggy spot between the Seven Hills that would serve as a market once they dug a ditch to drain it. That ditch became a vaulted sewer, and a few temples started to be put up on the slopes of the hills, but the ground in between still served for buying and selling, holding assemblies and holding votes. But the population of Rome grew, and the wealth of Romans grew, and buildings started to encroach into the flat space. Rome acquired moneychangers and moneylenders, a civic bureaucracy and the cults of strange gods. By the time of the last wars of the Republic, Julius Caesar put up a columned hall along one long side, and…