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Episode 9: The Roman Forum

Posted on August 9, 2020September 20, 2020 by romapodcast

 

Transcript:

You’re listening to an Audio Guide to Ancient Rome.  My name is Daron Green.

This intro and the next 15 podcast episodes are all relatively short – typically 5-10 minutes long with each focused on a specific building or area in the Roman Forum – note that there is an interactive google map available on rome-podcast.com to help navigate you around these episodes and the other locations I cover outside of the Forum.

You don’t have to visit these in numerical order indeed, part of the rationale for recording these separately was to let you choose the best route depending on how busy different areas are and what interests you the most.

For me, visiting the Roman Forum is really quite special as I, when I’m there, I always feel genuinely connected to Rome’s deep history.

From what was originally swampy marshland, the Romans drained the area and turned it into the control center of political and social activity for the most powerful society and military force in the world.

The forum was the marketplace of Rome, and later a gathering space for triumphal processions, criminal trials and gladiatorial matches. It has also seen executions, riots, assassinations, funerals, and both inspirational speeches that changed the course of history and botched cremations (one of which got so ridiculously out of hand that it burnt down the Senate building).

The Roman Forum was home to some of the oldest and most important buildings in the ancient city including shrines, temples, markets, a prison for captured enemies of the state, civic meeting areas, victory monuments and the official buildings that drove the administration and governance of first the republic and then the empire.

The Forum was largely abandoned in the Middle Ages, and over time, buried under layers of earth, some temples were transformed into Christian churches which helped significantly with their preservation while less fortunate neighboring structures were pillaged for raw materials.

Indeed, during the Renaissance the Forum became an all-too-convenient ready source of marble and stone which meant that many of the buildings were dismantled and much of the fine details and craftsmanship of the ancient Roman builders was lost.

As you will learn, the buildings in the forum often make statements about the people that commissioned them and the favor they wished to gain with the people of Rome, the Senate or with the gods. Some of the structures were financed by the spoils of war, others through extortion or simply from the riches of a successful family business.

To give some perspective on the deep history, when the Forum was majorly remodeled following a major fire in the year 283 it was already 1,000 years old.

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Podcast Episodes

  • Episode 35: The Column of Marcus Aurelius
  • Episode 34: The Mausoleum of Augustus
  • Episode 33: The Theater of Marcellus
  • Episode 32: The Pyramid of Cestius
  • Episode 31: The Mausoleum of Hadrian
  • Episode 30: The Palatine Hill
  • Episode 29: Largo Argentina
  • Episode 28: Trajan’s Column
  • Episode 27: The Circus Maximus
  • Episode 26: The Forum of Julius Caesar
  • Episode 25: The Basilica Julia
  • Episode 24: Temple of Vespasian and Titus
  • Episode 23: Temple of Saturn
  • Episode 22: The Temple of Concord
  • Episode 21: The Arch of Septimius Severus
  • Episode 20: The Curia Julia
  • Episode 19: Black Stone, Rostra and Phocas
  • Episode 18: The Basilica Paulli
  • Episode 17: The Temple of Castor and Pollux
  • Episode 16: The Temple of Divine Julius
  • Episode 15: The New Basilica
  • Episode 14: The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
  • Episode 13: Temple of Divus Romulus
  • Episode 12: The Temple of Vesta
  • Episode 11: Temple of Roma and Venus
  • Episode 10: The Arch of Titus
  • Episode 9: The Roman Forum
  • Episode 8: The Baths of Caracalla
  • Episode 7: The Piazza Navona
  • Episode 6: The Arch of Constantine
  • Episode 5: Ludus Magnus
  • Episode 4: The Capitoline Hill and Insula
  • Episode 3: The Colosseum
  • Episode 2: Ara Pacis
  • Episode 1: The Pantheon
  • Episode 0: Introduction

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