STEM Marvels and More: June 2013

The Roman Forum

For a thousand years, Rome ruled the known world, and the political, religious, and social center of this vast empire was a 5-acre patch of land known as the Forum. This was the center of ancient Rome. The hill in the distance, with the bell tower, is Capitol Hill. Immediately to your left, with all the trees, is Palatine Hill. The valley in between is rectangular, running roughly east to west, from the Colosseum (behind you) to Capitol Hill (up ahead). The rocky path at your feet is the Via Sacra, which runs through the trees, past the large brick Senate building, under another triumphal arch at the far end, and up Capitol Hill.

Picture being here when a conquering general returned to Rome with crates of booty. The trumpets would sound as the parade began. First came porters, carrying chests full of gold and jewels. Then a parade of exotic animals from the conquered lands — elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses — for the crowd to “ooh” and “ahh” at. Next came the prisoners in chains, with the captive king on a wheeled platform so the people could jeer and spit at him. Finally, the conquering hero himself would drive down in his four-horse chariot, with rose petals strewn in his path

The whole procession would run the length of the Forum and up the face of Capitol Hill to the Temple of Saturn. They’d place the booty in Rome’s coffers. Then they'd continue up to the summit to the Temple of Jupiter. Meeting the priests at the temple, they'd dedicate the victory to the King of the Gods. Conquest by conquest, Rome grew from a small band of barbarians huddled in this valley, to an empire stretching across Europe and beyond. The wealth of that far flung empire flowed inward to the city of Rome.

The Arch of Titus

The triumphal arch commemorated the Roman victory over the province of Judaea (or Israel) in a.d. 70. The Romans had a reputation as benevolent conquerors who tolerated the local customs and rulers. All they required was allegiance to the empire, shown by worshipping the emperor as a god. No problem for most conquered people, who already had half a dozen gods on their prayer lists anyway. But Israelites believed in only one god, and it wasn’t the emperor. Israel revolted. After a short but bitter war, the Romans defeated the rebels, took Jerusalem, sacked their temple, and brought home 50,000 Jewish slaves...who were forced to build this arch.

Roman propaganda decorates the inside of the arch. Check it out. A relief shows the emperor Titus in a chariot being crowned by the goddess Victory. The other side shows booty from the sacking of the temple in Jerusalem — soldiers carrying a Jewish menorah and other plunder. The two plaques on poles are unfinished — they were to have listed the conquered cities. The relief at the top of the ceiling. It shows Titus, after his death, riding an eagle to heaven, where he’ll become one of the gods.

The brutal crushing of the a.d. 70 rebellion (and another one 60 years later) devastated the nation of Israel. With no temple as a center for their faith, the Jews scattered throughout the world — the Diaspora. There would be no Jewish political entity again for almost two thousand years, until modern Israel was created after World War II.

The Basilica of Constantine

The hall itself was as long as a football field, lavishly furnished with colorful inlaid marble, a gilded bronze ceiling, and statues, and filled with strolling Romans. As this was the Basilica of Constantine, at the far end was an enormous marble statue of Emperor Constantine on a throne — his finger was as big as me.

A basilica was a covered public forum, often serving as a Roman hall of justice. Citizens came here to work out matters like inheritances and building permits, or to sue somebody.

This basilica was begun by the emperor Maxentius, but after he was trounced in battle, the victor, Constantine, completed this massive building.

The green door is the original bronze door to the Temple of Romulus, still swinging on its ancient hinges after 17 centuries. No wonder they call Rome the Eternal City, I never rots, or disappears!

The Forum’s Main Square

The original Forum, or main square, was this flat patch about the size of a football field, stretching to the foot of Capitol Hill. It was the original "piazza," an open area accommodating the gregarious and social nature of the Roman people. Surrounding the square were temples, law courts, government buildings, and triumphal arches.

Rome was born right here. According to legend, twin brothers Romulus and Remus were orphaned in infancy and raised by a she-wolf on top of the Palatine. Growing up, they found it hard to get dates. So they and their cohorts attacked the nearby Sabine tribe and kidnapped their women. Or so went the legend. Closer to fact, this marshy valley became the meeting place and then the trading center for the scattered tribes on the surrounding hillsides.

Throughout Rome's long history, the square was the busiest, the most crowded — and often the seediest — section of town. Besides the senators, politicians, and currency exchangers, there were even sleazier types — souvenir hawkers, pickpockets, fortune-tellers, gamblers, slave marketers, drunks, hookers, lawyers, and tour guides.

The Forum is now rubble, but imagine it in its prime: gleaming white marble buildings with 40-foot-high columns and shining bronze roofs; rows of statues painted in realistic colors; processional of chariots rattling down the Via Sacra.

The Temple of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar’s body was burned on this spot, under the metal roof, after his assassination in 44 B.C. Caesar, born in the year 100 b.c., changed Rome and the Forum dramatically. Popular with the people because of his military victories and charisma, he gained control of the government, suspended the Roman constitution, and ruled like a king or dictator. In the Forum, he cleared out many of the wooden market stalls and began to ring the square with grander buildings. Caesar’s house was located behind the temple, near that clump of trees. In fact, he walked right by here on the day he was assassinated, the place where a street-corner Etruscan preacher called out to him: “Beware the Ides of March!”

Though he was popular with the masses, not everyone liked Caesar’s politics. He was ambushed by a conspiracy of senators, including his adopted son, Brutus. One by one they stepped up to take turns stabbing him, and he died gasping his final astonished words to Brutus — “Et tu, Brute?”

The funeral was held here, facing the main square. The citizens gathered, and speeches were made. Marc Antony stood up to say (in Shakespeare’s words), “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” When Caesar’s body was burned, the citizens who still loved him threw anything at hand on the fire, requiring the fire department to come put it out. Later, Emperor Augustus dedicated this temple in his name, making Caesar the first Roman to become a god. Behind the wall into the small curved area, where a mound of dirt usually has fresh flowers, given to remember the man who, more than any other, personified the greatness of Rome.

The Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina

This temple honors the 2nd-century Emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife, Faustina. The 50-foot-tall Corinthian columns, with their leafy capitals, must have been awe-inspiring to out-of-towners who grew up in thatched huts. Although the temple is now inhabited by a church, you can still see the basic layout — a staircase led to a shaded porch (the columns), which admitted you to the main building (now the church), where the statue of the god sat.

Romans had a god for every important event in their lives. Scholars estimate Romans had about 30,000 gods to keep happy — the goddess of childbirth, the god of baby's first steps, the goddess who made bread rise, and Venus Cloacina the sewer goddess. So when Emperor Antoninus' beloved wife died, he could declare her a goddess and build this temple in her honor, and no one blinked.

The Temple of Vesta

This is perhaps Rome’s most sacred spot. Notice that the temple remains are curved. Originally, this temple was circular, like a glorified farmer's hut, the kind Rome's first families lived in. Rome considered itself one big family, and inside this temple, a fire burned, just as in a Roman home. Although we think of the Romans as decadent, in fact they prided themselves on their family values. People venerated their parents, grandparents, and ancestors, even keeping small statues of them in sacred shrines their homes. This temple represented those family values on a large scale; its fire symbolized the "hearth" of the extended family that was Rome.

And back in those days, you never wanted your fire to go out. As long as the sacred flame burned, Rome would stand. The flame was tended by six priestesses known as Vestal Virgins.

Those Vestal Virgins lived nearby. Circle around the back of the Temple of Vesta.

The six Vestal Virgins were chosen from noble families before they reached the age of 10. They served a 30-year term, tending the flame in the temple. Honored and revered by the Romans, the Vestals had the power to pardon condemned criminals. They even had their own box at the Colosseum, opposite the emperor.

The House of the Vestal Virgins

The Vestal Virgins lived in a two-story building surrounding a long central courtyard with these two pools at one end. Rows of statues depicting leading Vestal Virgins flanked the courtyard.

Their sacred duty was to be ritual homemakers, tending the temple-home of the goddess Vesta. They brought water from a sacred spring, cooked sacred food, polished the ritual silverware, and most importantly, made sure the hearth fire never went out.

As the name implies, a Vestal took a vow of chastity. If she served her term faithfully, abstaining for 30 years, she was given a huge dowry, and allowed to marry. But if they found any Virgin who... wasn’t faithful, she was strapped to a funeral cart, paraded through the streets of the Forum, taken to a crypt, given a loaf of bread and a lamp...and buried alive. Many women suffered the latter fate.

The Curia, or Senate House

The Curia was the oldest and most important political building in the Forum. Since the birth of the republic, this was the site of Rome’s official center of government. Three hundred senators, elected by the citizens of Rome, donned their togas, tucked their scrolls under their arms and climbed the steps into this great hall. Inside, they gave speeches, debated policy, and created the laws of the land. They sat with their backs to the walls, surrounding the big hall on three sides, in bleachers stacked three tiers high. At the far end sat the Senate president and later, the emperor, on his podium. The marble floor you see is from ancient times. Listen to the echoes in this vast room — the acoustics are great — and imagine the stirring speeches and passionate debates.

Rome prided itself on being a republic. Early in the city’s history, its people threw out the king and established rule by elected representatives. Each Roman citizen was free to speak his mind and have a say in public policy. Even when emperors became the supreme authority, the Senate was a power to be reckoned with.

The present Curia building dates from a.d. 283. It's so well preserved because it was used as a church since early Christian times. In the 1930s, it was restored and opened to the public as a historic site.

On display inside the Curia are a statue and two reliefs that help build our mental image of life in the Forum long ago. The statue (with its head, arms, and feet now missing) was made of porphyry marble in about a.d. 100. It was a tribute to an emperor, probably Hadrian or Trajan. The relief panel on the left shows people with big stone tablets standing in line to burn their debt records following a government amnesty. The other shows the distribution of grain (Rome’s welfare system), some buildings in the background, and the latest fashion in togas.

Go back down the Senate steps —

By the way, although Julius Caesar was assassinated "on the steps" in “the Senate,” it wasn’t actually here — the Senate was temporarily meeting across town.

At the foot of the steps, keep going and find the 10-foot-high wall at the base of Capitol Hill, marked "Rostri".

The Rostrum, or in Latin, "Rostra"

Nowhere was Roman freedom more apparent than at this “Speaker’s Corner.” The Rostrum was a raised platform, 10 feet high and 80 feet long, decorated with statues, columns, and the prows of ships, called rostra in Latin.

On a stage like this, Rome’s orators, great and small, tried to draw a crowd and sway public opinion. Picture the backdrop the speakers would have had, a mountain of marble buildings piling up on Capitol Hill. This is where Mark Antony rose to offer Caesar the laurel-leaf crown of kingship, which Caesar publicly refused while privately becoming a dictator. Men such as Cicero (106-43 BC) railed against the corruption and decadence that came with the city’s newfound wealth. Cicero paid the price: he was executed, and had his head and hands nailed to the Rostrum as a warning.

In later years, when emperors ruled, it took real daring to speak out against the powers-that-be. Rome's democratic spirit was increasingly squelched. Eventually, the emperor and the army, not the Senate and the citizens, held ultimate power, and Rome's vast empire began to rot from within.

The Arch of Septimius Severus

In imperial times, the Rostrum’s voices of democracy would have been dwarfed by images of empire such as the huge, six-story-high Arch of Septimius Severus (built in around a.d. 200). The reliefs commemorate the African-born emperor’s battles in Mesopotamia. Near ground level, see soldiers marching captured barbarians back to Rome for the victory parade. More and more, Rome's economy was based on slave power and foreign booty rather than on domestic production. And despite efficient rule by emperors like Severus, Rome’s empire was beginning to crumble under the weight of its own corruption, disease, and decaying infrastructure.

15. The Temple of Saturn and Column of Phocas — Rome's end

These eight columns framed the entrance to the Forum’s oldest temple, from about 500 b.c. Inside there once was a humble, very old wooden statue of the god Saturn. The statue’s claim to fame was its pedestal, which held the gold bars, coins, and jewels of Rome’s state treasury, the booty collected by conquering generals.

The Column of Phocas, from a.d. 608, was a gift from the new dominant empire, the Byzantium, to the old, fallen empire: Rome. Given to commemorate the pagan Pantheon’s becoming a Christian church, it’s like a symbolic last nail in ancient Rome’s coffin.

After Rome’s 1,000-year reign, the once-great empire had shrunk down to little more than the city itself, surrounded by a medieval-style wall. In A.D. 410 that wall was breached, and the city was looted. In 451, the pope had to personally plead with Attila the Hun for mercy. A thousand years of tradition was disintegrating. Finally, in 476, the last emperor sold his title for a comfy pension, checked out and switched off the lights, leaving a political vacuum and plunging Europe into a thousand years of darkness... poverty, ignorance, superstition... hand-me-down leotards — the Dark Ages.

The city of Rome shrank from a million-plus to about 10,000. The once-grand city center — the Forum — was abandoned, slowly covered up by centuries of silt and dirt. By medieval times, the Column of Phocas could barely pop its head out of the ground.

Palatine Hill

Palatine Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Located in between the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum evidence from archaeological digs demonstrates that the hill was inhabited as long ago as the 10th century BC.

The hill has a strong link to Roman mythology. It is believed that on Palatine Hill, the twins Romulus and Remus were found in the Lupercal Cave by their four-legged shepherd mother, who raised them. Ultimately, this is where Romulus decided to build the city.

By the time of Rome's Republican era, Palatine Hill became the place to live, due to the amazing views on the top of the hill, which stretches to a height of about 230 feetmabove the city. It was also believed that the air was cleaner atop the hill and that those who lived on it were less likely to catch the diseases of the working class that festered in the bad air below. Augustus, Cicero, and Marc Antony (Marcus Antonius) all had homes on the hill. Later, emperors built their domains here and, at one point, the entire hill was covered with imperial palaces.

Circus Maximus with Palatine Hill in the background of some pictures.

Chariot races were one of the Roman's most popular forms of entertainment. Romulus, the first of Rome's seven kings, is said to have held chariot races. The origins of the Circus Maximus go back to the 6th century BC when Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, created a track between the Palatine and Aventine hills.