ROMAN FORUM

 

This is one of the places i was most anxious to know. locates in the center of the city of Rome between the small valleys of Palatine and capitoline is also know as the most celebrated meeting place in the world. Many of the oldest and most important places in ancient rome were located in or near the forum for example the temple of Vesta. 130 years later Julius Caesar created the basilica amelia which was used for the same purposes with the exception that this place could supported more people replacing the roman forum. While walking at the forum i noticed that the floor was elevated the tour guide told me that because of the flooding of the tiber iver and erosion had causes the floor to rise over centuries. This place has many uses some are marketplace, criminal trial and gladiatorial matches. During the reign of constantine the great the forum took more importances until the fall of the western roman empire

 



 

roman forum long time ago

 

 

roman forum now in days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

 

The temple foundation is said to have been initiated by the fifth Tarquin King, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, but later completed by Rome's last Tarquin King, Lucius Tarquinius 509 BC in Capitoline hill. Is considered the most important religious center in rome it was decorated with terra cotta sculptures , the most important of them was the one in which the god jupiter was sitting in a chariot specifically a quadriga. This temple caused troubles since the beginning the dimension and plan of this temple caused a big debated . This place is full of very peculiar events. To start , the tour guide told us that this place was rebuilt three times. The first disaster came in the year of 83 AD during the dictatorship of Sulla one of the most important lost that left this fire are the sibylline Books. Sulla demand immediately for the temple to be rebuilt but could not see it finished because he died on the year of 78 Bc. Quintus Lutatius Catulus was the person incharged to finished the temple they used the same plan but this time they used more expensive materials superstructure. Again the temple was destructed in 69 AD when an army forced it enter looking for domitian. The new emperor vespian gave the order to reconstructed it he dedicated it to jupiter in 75 AD. During the reign of titus the temple was again destroyed by fire. The last time they reconstructed the building was by the order of domitian this time they used gold to build it. A characterictic i found is that all of the reconstruction were base on the same foundation they always kept the same designed. This temple supposedly lasted until the fifth century for more than four hundred years.

 

 

 The photo above give you and image of how the temple of jupiter look in it early years

 

 

 

 the photo above shows how the temple of jupiter is now in days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colosseum

 

When you thibk of rome one of the frist things that come to your mind is the roman colosseum made during the 70-80 A.D. The emeperor Vespasian  but mostly by flavin dynasty. Considered the largest ever built made by stone and concrete. Capabl of having 50,000 people first it was used as a gladiator contest, animal hunts and executions but that way of entertainment ceased in the early medieval era than for housing, workshop and religious purpose.

The current name has been derived from the statue of Colossus. From all the places i've seen in ancient rome the colosseum was the one that attracted my attention the most. it has a very complex structure it has four floors three of them has an wide-arched entrances the other a rectangular form. There are 76 entrances plus 4 that are reserved for the emperor, nobles and the gladiators. The interior is divided into three parts the arena were the show occures, the podium were the emperor and nobles were seated and the cavea were animals stayed before the combat. While looking at the arena i could see that the arena was made of wood and sand and a tall net which protect spectator from falling. The seats were arranged according to social status the first three seats from the first three rows were reserved for the nobles.

 

The photos below show how the colosseum look when it was just builted and how it looks now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temple of Bacchus Commentary

 

 

 

 

 This is how the Temple of Bacchus Commentary supposed to look in 150 A.D located in Baalbek, Lebanon. Many historians considered this the best-preserved roman temple of its size. Still in this days people don't know who  the architect that designed was but what we know is that it was dedicated to Bacchus the god of wine during the time of the emperor Antonius Pius. Ironically The Temple of Bacchus commentary is sometimes called ''the small temple'' when it is bigger then the parthenon in greece also is less known than the parthenon. The entrances is decorated with grapes and wine followd by smaller gates that lead to rooms in the second floor there are also columns engaged and the ceiling has representations of crowned ladies that represented cities that financed the building of the temple. Finally an interesting fact is that this temple was visited by the german emperor  nn one of the walls, you can easily recognize the double inscriptions of the German emperor Wilhelm II, who had visited the sanctuary in 1898.  The photo below shows how the temple of bacchus is in this days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mausoleum of S. Costanza Commentary

 

 

 

Mausoleum of S. Costanza Commentary

 

 

the photo above shows how the mausoleum look in it first years. It Built by Constantine as a mausoleum for his daughter Costanza. Later it was used as a church since the years of 1256. Like many roman mausoleum it had circular form. the ceiling is decorated with mosaics of geometric motifs and intertwined vines on a white background but the christian changed it later wehen they used it. Costantine died in 354 A.D and his other daughter Helena 360 A.D were buried in the mausoleum of s.constanza commmentary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FORUM OF THE TRAJAN

 

 

In the photo above you can see how was the forum of trajan the largest of the imperial forum in 107 A.D. created by the order of emperor trajan by the architect  Apollodorus of Damascus. While  I was exploring the forum i noticed that the great entranced was located on  the southern  side. It seems like  that t here were some  markets  a  temple  and  libraries  located  on  the northern  part. The structure was made with marbles and  rectangular  blocks.  Now in days only part of the market   and colums  remain in the forum because of the  heavy motor  vehivle,  smoke  and  acidic vapors. The photo belows  shows  the  forum  of  the  trajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STADIUM DOMITIAN

 

The photo on the top shows how stadium domitian look when it was just built. Also known as circus algonalis. It was a gifted from the emperor titus flavius to its  people and was mainly used for athletic contest in 86 A.D then in 217 AD was used for gladiator shows Made after the burning of many building in 79 AD. While exploring this place i could not  help  notice  that most of  its  frames were  made of brick and concrete. Part of the  south of the stadium  was used for recital, song and orations. The other  part, southeastern part, was used as a theater of  Pompey. In the lower arcades the Piazza Navona was located which included the  Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone. The population  started decreasing after the invasion of the  barbarians   Since if people no longer were there it  started deteriorated  because they were not keeping it clean. The  photo below shows how the stadium look now in days

 

 

 

BASILICA JULIA

 

 

 

The photo on the top shows how the basilica was in 170 B.C. It was large, ornate and used for meetings and other official business during the early Roman Empire. located opposite from the basilica emilia. Julias caesar was the one who started it but as always could not finished and Augustus finished it and named it after his adoptive father. Like it happend to the basilica Emilia, Basilica also burned and repared in 12 A.D. THe Basilica of julia as you can see has many similarities with basilica emilia, first it was in ancient rome, one person started and another finished it, then it was the thing that both basilicas burned, also they were both made of marble only that this one is white marble and last that they were used for meeting center and shop but mostly as a court. A peculiar thing about this basilica is that is marked with an eight by eight  square grids which my have been used to play games like chess. On the picture on the bottom you can

 

 

 

 

 

Basilica Emilia

BASILICA EMILIA

 

 

This is how the basilica is supposed to look when they had just constructed it .This wonderful place got its name after its founder a magistrate marco emilio lepido who found it in 179 b.c. IT is 328 feet long and 30 meter feet wide. Along the side are two orders of sixteen arches and it was accessed through one of three entrance, the central entrance. it was used as a civil court , a commercial activities and when there was bad climate. down it had some rooms used to sell there are two colums made of marble followed by a row of shops built with block of tufa. the basilica emilia is near via alessandria, via del fori imperiali and via del colosseo. the basilica emilia was victim of a fire which forced the people that live near it to rebuild it. This how the basilica looks after many years. it has gone through many natural disasters.

 

 

 

THE TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROMA

 

The photo on top demostrated how the temple look when it was just builted .The temple of Venus and Rome is said to be the largest temple in Italy started by the emperor Hadrian but he could not see the building finished becaused he died of a heart failure. Antonius Pius was the one who finished the temple in 141. this builidng is massive at 350 feet long and 150 feet wide. what caught my attention is that one side of this superstructure is that one side is in honor of the goddess Venus and the other side in honor of the goddess Roma  from their the name ‘'TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROMA’’.  While investigating I discovered that Venus is the goddess of love. And roma, reading it the other way around says Amor which if you translate it into English means love. Being the subject of this building '' Love''. while observing this wonderful place I notice that In the west and east sides had ten columns and on the north and south 18 columns, each 1.8 meters wide. Inside the temple there are the statues of venus and roma both seated on a throne. its located near Trastevere/Min. P.istruzione which is said to be the most charming neighborhood in rom. This is how the temple of venus and roma looks like