The Forum Romanum. Source of image: http://ancientrome.ru/forum/forum.htm

The Rostra

On the Forum Romanum, the remains of two pedestals for public speakers can be found, which were referred to as "Rostra" in Antiquity: the old republican Rostra and the Rostra, which was mainly used in the imperial era.

The old republican Rostra was situated on the border between the Forum and the Comitium. The date of the oldest remaining stone masonry in this Rostra is about 338 BCE. Younger remains on this building date from the era of Sulla, who had the old Rostra repaired and added a curved front to it (around 85 BCE).

The place of the old Republican Rostra. Source of image: http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/forma-urbis/dig-in-rome/Platner-forum-romanum-96-ssh.jpg

In 46 BCE, Caesar had the old republican Rostra moved to the actual Forum square, because of the fact that room had to be made for the new Curia Julia and Forum Julium. The new Rostra was to be built on the western part of the Forum square. These building activities were finished during the reign of Augustus Caesar.

The imperial Rostra consists of two sections, an eastern and a western one, separated by a corridor parallel to the front wall. The western part of the Rostra is curved, the eastern part is the front with the prows. In the 3rd century CE, the corridor was made broader. In the 5th century CE, extra parts wer added to the Rostra, the so called "Rostra Vandalica".

The Late Republican and Imperial Rostra on the Forum square. Source of image: http://www.vroma.org/~forum/rostra.html

Reconstructions of the Late Republican and Imperial Rostra. Source of image: http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/dbcourses/kampen/large/rome_rostra2_0816.jpg

Testimonia in Latin literature:

Liv. AUC, VIII, 14: Naves Antiatium partim in navalia Romae subductae, partim incensae, rostrisque earum suggestum in foro exstructum adornari placuit, Rostraque id templum appellatum.

ASC.Mil., 37: Erant enim tunc Rostra non eo loco, quo nunc sunt, sed ad Comitium, prope iuncta Curiae.

Liv. AUC, IV, 17, 6: Legatorum (Romanorum), qui Fidenis caesi erant, statuae publice in Rostris positae sunt.

The Curia

The Curia Julia today. Source of image: http://icarito.latercera.cl/icarito/2005/02/img/09.jpg

Te Curia was originally situated on the Comitium, the area for political meetings to the north-east of the Forum Romanum. The oldest Curia was the so called "Curia Hostilia", according to Roman legendary tradition built by king Tullus Hostilius. A short building history on the Curia is as follows:

84-19 BCE: Sulla orders the Curia Hostilia to be renovated and redecorated.

52 BCE: The Curia Hostilia burns down to the ground, due to riots during Clodius Pulcher's burial ceremony. Shortly after this, the building is restored.

44 BCE: Caesar orders the Curia Hostilia to be demolished to make room for the new Curia Julia and Forum Julium, which are to be built in this area. On the site of the Comitium, as a sort of thru-way between the Forum Romanum and the Forum Julium, a new and larger Curia building is to be built: the Curia Julia.

29 BCE: Augustus Caesar inaugurates the finished Curia Julia.

94 CE: The Curia Julia is renovated during the reign of emperor Domitianus.

283 CE: The Curia burns to the ground during the reign of emperor Carinus and is restored by emperor Diocletianus.

7th cenury CE: The Curia is transformed into a Christian church, the San Adriano.

1930-1936: Mussolini has the San Adriano excavated and being restored into its old shape and function of Curia Julia (of course for archaeological purposes only).

The traces of the old Curia Hostilia are very rare and not reliable. Archaeologists are not quite sure whether the traces at the Comitium, which are supposed to be of the old Curia, really are what they seem.

Attempt to reconstruct the place and shape of the Curia Hostilia. Source of image: http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/R6XJ.jpg

Here are some facts about the Curia Julia:

It's height is 21 m, it's width is 18 m. and its length is 27 m. According to accoustical regulations, found in Vitruvius' De Architectura, to get good accoustics within a public building, the following rule has to be kept into consideration:

height= about 1/2 times width + length.

As far as the Curia Julia is concerned, this rule has been fairly kept into consideration.

In Antiquity, from the days of Augustus' reign on, a statue of the goddess Victoria was placed in a central part of the building, probably behind the chairman's seat. Nowadays, a relief sculpture, the so called "anaglypha" or "plutei Traiani" can be found inside the Curia. The Curia Julia can be visited when there are no restoration works going on and when teh Forum Romanum is not closed to the public.

Inside of the Curia Julia today. Source of image: http://www.wdbydana.com/rome/CuriaJulia_small.jpg

Testimonia in Latin literature:

Var. L., 5.155: Curiae duorum generum: nam et ubi curarent sacerdotes res divinas, ut curiae veteres, et, ubi senatus humanas, ut curia Hostilia, quod primus aedificavit Hostilius rex.

H.A. Hadr.: (Hadrianus) pueris ac puellis, quibus etiam Traianus alimenta detulerat, incrementum liberatis adiecit.

The Decennalia Base

This base, decorated on four side with low reliefs, is part of a five column monument, which was orginally placed behind the imperial Rostra on the Forum Romanum. The monument was erected in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the two augusti (the emperors Diocletianus and Maximianus) and the two caesares (the sub-emperors Galerius and Constantius Chlorus). The date of this base and the monument is 303 CE.

The Decennalia Base on the Forum Romanum. Source of image: www.sionmc.com/Rome/ forum/decennalia_base.htm

The monument consisted of four columns, on top of which the statues of the two augusti and the two caesars were placed and one separate column with the statue of Juppiter. The columns were made of porphyrium. Only this base is left of the entire monument. The fact that this base was one of five is known from coins of this period in Roman history and historical accounts.

On the Decennalia Base, four images can be seen:

Victoriae with plaque. Source of image: http://www.sionmc.com/Rome/forumw/images/decennaliavictories.jpg

I. Two victoriae, of which the one to the left is writing on a plaque: "Caesarum decennalia feliciter". We can also see captured people and trophies.

Suovetaurilia. Source of image: http://www.sionmc.com/Rome/forumw/images/decennalia.jpg

II. he Suovetaurilia: a religious very important sacrifice of a boar, a sheep and a bull to the State gods.

Sacrificial ceremony in honor of the Decennalia. Source of image: http://www.mediterranees.net/civilisation/Rich/Illustrations/Liens/Flamen.jpg

III. Several officials and priests (e.g. the flamines with their peaked caps) are gathered around a sacrifice to celebrate the occasion of the Decennalia. Who is who cannot be determined.

Procession of senators. Source of image: http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim/rooma/kuvat/x76_087a.jpg

IV. A procession of senators in honor of the Decennalia. On the background, 4 officers with vexilla, army flags.

The relief style is strongly linear and not very plastic. The deep grooves have been made by a so called "running drill" These grooves provide the effect of light and shadow. We can also see this in the reliefs on emperor Constantine the Great's Arch,between the Palatine and the Colosseum. On this Arch, by the way, a relief image has been made of the Rostra and the 5 column Decennalia monument.

Digital reconstruction of the Rostra with the Decennalia monument after coins and teh relief image on Constantine's Arch. Source of image: http://www.cvrlab.org/projects/real_time/roman_forum/rostra/images/small_rostraperspective1.jpg

Lapis Niger

The Lapis Niger, i.e. the object found underneath it, is regarded as one of the oldest monuments on the Forum Romanum, preserved to this day. In 1899, archaeologists found on the border between the Forum and the Comitium a square of black marble plates, which has been referred to as the "Lapis Niger" (the Black Stone) by ancient writers. It was also referred to as "Romulus' grave" in Antiquity. In May of 1899, they found a group of monuments under the black marble plates:

1. A square stele or stone, covered with inscriptions in archaeic Latin in boustrophedon, i.e. inscriptions running from the left to the right, then from the right to the left, etc.

2. The foundations of an altar or aedicula. Nowadays, it is thought that it was the foundation of an altar, cf. altars found at the sanctuaries at Lavinium (Latium). In front of the altar are two bases, which could have carried statues such as lions (as ancient sources refer to).

3. Next to the altar is the base of a conic column, which could have carried the statue of the person or divinity worshipped here.

Reconstruction of the area underneath the Lapis Niger. Source of image: http://sights.seindal.dk/img/orig/7956.jpg

Already the ancient Romans, at some point, seemed to have lost the meaning and function of this place. This is probably why it was torn down and buried underneath the plates of black marble in the 1st century BCE, to egalize the area for future builing purposes. Archaic Latin linguists have studied the heavily damaged inscription on the boustrophedon stone and concluded that the stone reveals the sacred meaning of the place:

Stele with boustrophedon inscription and transcription. Source of image: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/romanciv/romancivimages02/lapisniger.jpg

Ancient sources have mentioned this place as the so called "grave of Romulus". Others refer to it as the "grave of Hostus Hostilius", the father of king Tullus Hostilius. Excavations, dating 1955, have proved that there was no grave or burial between the monuments. As far as the dating of these very ancient monument is concerned: the stele with the inscription can be dated best in the 6th or medio 5th century BCE. F. Coarelli thinks that the stele dates from the era right before the institution of the Roman Republic. The word "recei" in the inscription probably refers to the king in all his powers, but other archaeologists think that the word may refer to the rex sacrificulus.

The area has also yielded a range of ceramic artifacts, which can be dated in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. It is generally thought that the sacred place dated from that era and was in optimal use then.

Bibliography:

Coarelli, F., uida archeologica di Roma, Verona, 1974

Nash, E., Bildlexikon zur Topographie des alten Rom, Tuebingen, 1961

Zanker, P., Forum Romanum, Tuebingen, 1972

Romanelli, P., Das Forum Romanum, Roma, 1964

Lugli, G., The Forum Romanum and the Palatine, Roma, 1955

Heck, A. van, Breviarium Urbis Romae Antiquae, Leiden, 1977

Grant, M., the Roman Forum, London, 1970

Dudley, D.R., Urbs Roma, Aberdeen, 1967