Transcript Temple of Castor and Pollux

The
Roman
Forum
ROME - Archaeologists digging beneath
the Roman Forum have discovered a
3,000-year-old tomb that predates the
birth of ancient Rome by several
hundred years.
State TV Thursday night showed an
excavation team removing vases
from the tomb, which resembled a
deep well.
Archaeologists were excavating under
the level of the ancient forum, a
popular tourist site, when they dug
up the tomb, which they suspect is
part of an entire necropolis, the
Italian news agency ANSA reported.
"I am convinced that the excavations
will bring more tombs to light,"
ANSA quoted Rome's archaeology
commissioner, Eugenio La Rocca, as
saying.
Also found inside the tomb was a
funerary urn, ANSA said.
State TV quoted experts as saying the
tomb appeared to date to about 1,000
B.C., meaning the people who
constructed the necropolis predated
the ancient Romans by hundreds of
years.
NEWS UPDATE
Legend has it that Rome was founded
in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, the
twin sons of the god of war, Mars.
Last year, archaeologists who have
been digging for some two decades in the
forum said they believed they found
evidence of a royal palace roughly dating
to the period of the legendary founding.
• The Roman Forum is located
between the Palatine hill and
the Capitoline hill.
• Was a marsh, but the Romans
drained the area and turned it
into a center of political and
social activity.
• Was the marketplace of Rome
and also the business district
and civic center.
• Expanded to include temples,
a senate house and law courts.
• When the Roman Empire fell,
the Forum became forgotten,
buried and was used as a cattle
pasture during the Middle
Ages.
The forum was the
center of political,
commercial and
judicial life in ancient
Rome. The largest
buildings were the
basilicas, where legal
cases were heard.
Sacred Way
• The main street and the widest street in the Forum.
• In the fifth century B.C., the road was supported by a substructure
to protect it from the rain.
• Later it was paved and during the reign of Nero it was lined with
colonnades.
• This road was the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's
history
• Solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious
generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat,
throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice on this street.
Temple of Venus and Roma
• Enormous temple built and designed by Hadrian on the plateau at the top of the
Velia.
• Faced the imperial fora in one direction and the Colosseum in the other.
• The two goddesses honored in the temple were Venus and Roma.
• The cellae of the dual temple stood back to back so that the part of the temple
dedicated to Roma faced the Forum and the part sacred to Venus faced the
amphitheater.
• Ancient writers have described the domes and semi domes which were
characteristic of many of Hadrian's building projects.
• This temple was one of the sights of Rome admired by the emperor
Constantine.
Temple of Julius Caesar
• Sits on the site of the funeral pyre of
Julius Caesar.
• Augustus had the structure built after
the battle of Actium.
• Today one sees several portions of the
foundation.
• It is thought that the altar on which
Caesar's body had been cremated was in
the center of a platform in the temple.
Arch of Titus
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The arch of Titus is located at the opposite end of
the forum from the arch of Septimius Severus.
Titus was the emperor that had sacked the great
Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The arch was built
in his honor.
Sculptures on this arch show the treasure of the
Jews being taken through the streets of Rome.
On the inside of the left leg of this arch, there is a
well known sculpture of Romans carrying away
a Jewish menorah.
Basilica of
Maxentius
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Also called the Basilica of Constantine
Built in the 4th century.
Last structure built in the city which
shows the magnificence of Ancient Rome.
Rome's public law courts.
Begun by Maxentius and was completed
by Constantine.
Part of the structure which faces the
Forum has been restored.
Inspired the plans for St. Peter's Basilica
in the Vatican.
Modern basilicas get their name from this
structure.
The word basilica is defined in the
dictionary as an oblong building ending in
a semi-circular apse used in ancient Rome
Temple of
Antoninus and
Faustina
• Best preserved building in the Forum
• The Emperor Antonius Pius lost his wife
Faustina.
• After her death the Emperor built a
magnificent temple in her honor in 141 AD.
• This temple was changed in the middle ages
into the church of "San Lorenzo in Miranda".
Regia
• King Numa erected the Regia, or king's house
– he spent the greater part of his time, performing divine service, instructing the
priests, or conversing with them on sacred subjects.
• Headquarters of the Pontifex Maximus
• Archives for
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pontiffs
the formulas of all kinds of prayers, vows, sacrifices
state calendar of sacred days
Annales, the record of events of each year for public reference
laws relating to marriage, death, wills
• Ancilia, the shields of Mars, which had fallen from Heaven
House of the Vestals
• Home of The Vestal Virgins
– Only daughters of Roman
patricians were selected to be
Vestals.
– Between the ages of six and ten
– The first duty was to protect the
fire in the Temple of Vesta, the
oldest and most sacred shrine in the
forum
• The Vestal Virgins had special
privileges as well:
– they were free and independent
– they could make a will
Temple of Vesta
• Round temple at the eastern end of the Forum
• Built by the king Numa, who established the
sisterhood of the Vestal Virgins.
• Most sacred building in Rome
– Contained:
• the sacred fire (the "hearth fire" of the city)
– kept burning until after Christianity had become the religion of the Empire
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Palladium, a wooden statue of Pallas Athena
– Brought from Troy to Italy by Aeneas
– The emperor Theodosius about 395 A.D. ordered the temple
closed and the Vestals banished from the Atrium.
• The priestesses watched the flames flicker and die, then destroyed the
inmost shrine
• No one knows what became of the sacred emblems which they guarded.
Temple of Castor and Pollux
• Erected in honor of Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of
Jupiter.
• Legend of the battle of Lake Regillus
• Three massive columns remain from the Temple of Castor
and Pollux.
– They are over forty-eight feet high
– The temple had been, rebuilt between 7 B.C. and 6 A.D.
– The statues of Castor and Pollux can be seen at the top of the
stairs of the Capitoline Hill.
• 54 B.C Juilius Caesar began building the
Basilica Iulia on the site of the old
Basilica Sempronia.
• Dedicated by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.
although it was not yet finished.
• After its completion and final dedication
by Augustus it became a favorite haunt of
the Romans people.
• This new Basilica housed public meeting
places and shops, but it was used mainly
as a law court.
• From the Via Sacra, one climbed steps up
to the vestibulum. On the pavement of the
portico, diagrams of games scratched into
the white marble are still visible today.
• The building was destroyed by fire three
times and was last restored in 416 A.D.
Basilica Julia
• Erected by the consul Titus
Larcius in 17 B.C. in the month
of December.
• It was used as the public treasury
and as a repository for the
decrees of the senate.
• Treasures were held in an
underground chamber.
• The temple was enlarged in 42
B.C. and rebuilt after a fire in the
4th century A.D.
• Eight columns remain of this
temple.
• To the right are the three
columns that remain of the
temple of Vespasian which was
built by the son of Domitian in 94
A.D. and later restored by
Septimius Severus.
• To the left you can see part of the
column of Phocas that
commemorates the emperor
Phocas's donation of the
Pantheon to the Pope of Rome.
Temple of Saturn
The Temple of
Vespasian
•Dedicated to Emperor Vespasian
•Effective emperor, declared divus,
divine.
• Titus began the construction of the
temple
• Domitian completed the temple and
dedicated it to both of his deceased
predecessors.
•Because of cramped space the
temple backed right up to the
Tabularium
•What remains in the site are three
white columns in a "v" which marks a
corner of the porch.
Temple of
Concordia
• Plebeians and Patricians fought for an equal share of the
privileges
– Camillus, dictator, stood on the steps of the Senate-house and
"besought the gods that they would bring these troubles to a
happy conclusion, solemnly vowing to build a temple to
Concord."
– Peace was restored, and in 367 B.C.
there rose at the western end of the
Forum a temple to the goddess Concord
• The temple was restored in the late
empire, standing until the 600 A.D.
Rostra
• Speaker's platform in the Forum
• Constructed as a flat-topped platform forming
part of the large, round Comitium
• After Duilius won Rome's first major naval
victory against Antium in 338 BCE, six bronze
prows of enemy ships were attached to the front of
the speaker's platform as trophies
• Latin for prows is rostra
Arch of
Septimius Severus
• The arch Septimius Severus has
reliefs of Septimius Severus's
victories in Iraq and Iran during the
3rd century carved into the arch.
• It also honors his two sons, Caracalla
and Geta who fought with him in the
war.
• It is located at one end of the Forum.
• The Forum had been flooded, buried
and forgotten for many centuries.
During this time the half of the arch
that was above ground was used to
house a barber shop.
The Curia
• Largest brick building that still has a
roof in the Forum
• Roman Senate building
• Constructed by Tullus Hostilius
• A church until 1937, when the fascist
government had interior removed and
the original interior exposed.
• What is left today of the ancient senate
building is the original marble floor
made out of Egyptian marble.
• Also, the tiers that held the seats of the
senators remain.
Basilica Aemilia
• Erected in 179 B.C. by the censors Aemilius and
Fulvius.
• Rebuilt by Augustus.
• Occupied the whole space between the Argiletum
and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.
• One entered the structure from the porticus into
several tabernae
1 = Basilica Julia
2 = Temple of Saturn
3 = Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (on Capitoline hill)
4 = Tabularium (Archive Building)
5 = Temple of Vespasian
6 = Rostra
7 = Temple of Concord
8 = Triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus