Roman Forum
Excerpt from the book On a Tall Budget and Short Attention Span from the Teresa the Traveler Series.
The entire next day was dedicated to exploring the Roman Forum, the political, religious, commercial and legal center of ancient Rome where the everyday life of ancient Romans took place. I visited the House of the Vestal Virgins, the Arch of Titus, the Comitium, Temple of Castor, Fountain of Juturna, the Velabrum., the Palatine and the Temple of Caesar.
The House of the Vestal Virgins The House of the Vestal Virgins was the home of the priestesses in charge of maintaining the Sacred Fire of Vesta (the goddess of fire and hearth) that burned in the temple. The Romans believed that keeping the fire burning would bring good fortune to the city and letting the fire go out would hurt Rome. The virgins, who were chosen by the high priest, were required to be free of any mental or physical defects, have two living parents and be the daughter of a free born resident of Italy. They entered the temple between the ages of six and ten and were the only female priests in Rome with many privileges not permitted to other women. Not only did they receive a rich dowry from the state, they could also own property, make a will and vote. The virgins were considered so sacred that if a condemned criminal crossed their path by chance, he received an immediate reprieve. There was, however, a downside to the job. They had to serve until the age thirty and were whipped if they let the fire go out. Worse yet, if they lost their virginity before serving their time, they were buried alive in the Field of the Wicked with only a loaf of bread and a lamp. That is a pretty harsh punishment by any standards. Perhaps that’s why Theodosius I disbanded the cult of the Vestal Virgins in 394. The Sacred Fire of Vesta was permanently extinguished and much to people’s surprise, Rome did not crumble. The Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus, built by Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus, commemorates Titus’s military victory in Jerusalem in 70. Prior to becoming emperor in 79, Titus was a renowned military commander serving in the first Jewish-Roman war between 67 and 70. In 70, he successfully besieged Jerusalem destroying Herod’s Temple and for that he was awarded his own triumphal arch. Herod’s Temple was the second Jewish temple to be built on the Temple Mount. The first, according to the bible, was King Solomon’s Temple built in the 1000 BC. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The second temple, built in 516 BC, was expanded by Herod the Great in 19 BC. Titus’s father, Emperor Vespasian, ordered Panger, the Duke of Arabia to destroy the temple and, when asked by Titus why he did not destroy the Western Wall as well, he replied he left it as a reminder of what Titus had conquered. He was then executed. According to Jewish tradition, God promised the wall could never be destroyed and that is why Panger left it standing. The wall was nicknamed the Wailing Wall because Jewish people come to the site to mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. Pictures on the Arch depict sacred articles stolen from the Temple of Jerusalem when Titus and his army desecrated it. Such items include the Menorah, trumpets and perhaps the Table of Showbread. These articles were never returned to Israel and their current whereabouts are still unknown. To this day many Jewish people refuse to walk under the arch. However, in 1948 (when the state of Israel was formed) a contingent of Roman Jews walked through the arch in the opposite direction from the original Roman triumphal march in celebration. The Comitium, Temple of Castor, Fountain of Juturna and the Velabrum In the Comitium, people elected their magistrates, made sacrifices to the Gods and held grand funerals for the deceased. In was here before the Rostra (the platform where political candidates rallied the crowd) where Mark Antony gave his famous speech in honor of Julius Caesar. Gladiator shows also took place in front of the Comitium prior to the opening of the Coliseum. In fact, during one famous fight organized by Caesar in 65 BC, 320 pairs of gladiators battled. Being the decadent leader he was, in 45 BC, Caesar organized a banquet with 20,000 guests to celebrate his triumph. The criminals and seedy characters hung out behind the Temple of Castor, while the sick drank from the Fountain of Juturna hoping for a miracle. The Velabrum was where the fortune-tellers, bankers, butchers and dancers went about their daily activities. |
The Palatine
The Palatine is located on the hill that is believed to be the birthplace of Rome –where Romulus (the twin who killed his brother and founded Rome) ploughed a square furrow and started the first settlement in 754 BC. Excavations uncovering the remains of bronze-aged huts support this claim.
Once inhabited by the rich and famous, the hill overlooks both the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus (the track where chariot racers such as Ben-Hur competed). In 44 BC Augustus moved his residence onto the hill and it became the royal residence for subsequent emperors.
Recent excavations have uncovered the remains of an ancient aristocratic house that archeologists believe to be the birth place of Augustus – son of Julius Caesar and Rome`s first emperor.
They have also uncovered what they believe to be the Lupercal, the famous cave in which the twins Romulus and Remus were cared for by the lactating female she-wolf.
According to legend, the she-wolf suckled them until they were found by a Sheppard named Faustulus who, along with his wife Acca Larentia, raised them.
At one time, the priests of Lupercus held ceremonies in the Lupercal but that practice was ended by Pope Gelasius I in 494 AD.
The Big Fire
In 64 AD a huge fire erupted in the area of the Circus Maximus spreading across the center of Rome and destroying most everything in its path. Nero, the already unpopular emperor, footed the blame. However, the Fire turned out to be a good thing because it cleared away the old buildings making room for a new Rome.
The Temple Of Caesar
After Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, his adopted son Octavius built the Temple of Divus Julius on the site where Caesars body was cremated. This Temple housed the new orator’s platform or Rostra. Bronze rams taken from the ships of Anthony and Cleopatra during the Battle of Actium decorated the platform. Caesar had a relationship with Cleopatra, the Queen on Egypt, and was even suspected of fathering her son Caesarion. He was not allowed to marry the queen because Roman law only recognized marriages between two Roman citizens. Caesar was killed in an assassination plot by members of his senate after which his son Octavian (Augustus) ruled Rome. Mark Anthony, who was a supporter and top military commander for Julius Caesar, formed a political alliance with Octavian.
But, in 33B,C the two had a falling out that erupted into a civil war in which Octavian defeated Anthony in the naval Battle of Actium and also in a land battle in Egypt. By this time Anthony had also become lovers with Cleopatra fathering her three children, in addition to the many children he fathered with his multiple wives in Rome. Having defeated Anthony, Octavian hunted him down and, with nowhere to seek refuge, Anthony committed suicide after mistakenly believing that Cleopatra had killed herself as well. Cleopatra committed suicide a few weeks later to avoid capture and humiliation by Octavian. Two of her servants also killed themselves while her son Caesarion, who was co-ruling Egypt with her at the time, was murdered. Queen Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh of Egypt. Her demise marked the end of the Hellenistic Era and the beginning of the Roman Era in Egypt.
The Palatine is located on the hill that is believed to be the birthplace of Rome –where Romulus (the twin who killed his brother and founded Rome) ploughed a square furrow and started the first settlement in 754 BC. Excavations uncovering the remains of bronze-aged huts support this claim.
Once inhabited by the rich and famous, the hill overlooks both the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus (the track where chariot racers such as Ben-Hur competed). In 44 BC Augustus moved his residence onto the hill and it became the royal residence for subsequent emperors.
Recent excavations have uncovered the remains of an ancient aristocratic house that archeologists believe to be the birth place of Augustus – son of Julius Caesar and Rome`s first emperor.
They have also uncovered what they believe to be the Lupercal, the famous cave in which the twins Romulus and Remus were cared for by the lactating female she-wolf.
According to legend, the she-wolf suckled them until they were found by a Sheppard named Faustulus who, along with his wife Acca Larentia, raised them.
At one time, the priests of Lupercus held ceremonies in the Lupercal but that practice was ended by Pope Gelasius I in 494 AD.
The Big Fire
In 64 AD a huge fire erupted in the area of the Circus Maximus spreading across the center of Rome and destroying most everything in its path. Nero, the already unpopular emperor, footed the blame. However, the Fire turned out to be a good thing because it cleared away the old buildings making room for a new Rome.
The Temple Of Caesar
After Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, his adopted son Octavius built the Temple of Divus Julius on the site where Caesars body was cremated. This Temple housed the new orator’s platform or Rostra. Bronze rams taken from the ships of Anthony and Cleopatra during the Battle of Actium decorated the platform. Caesar had a relationship with Cleopatra, the Queen on Egypt, and was even suspected of fathering her son Caesarion. He was not allowed to marry the queen because Roman law only recognized marriages between two Roman citizens. Caesar was killed in an assassination plot by members of his senate after which his son Octavian (Augustus) ruled Rome. Mark Anthony, who was a supporter and top military commander for Julius Caesar, formed a political alliance with Octavian.
But, in 33B,C the two had a falling out that erupted into a civil war in which Octavian defeated Anthony in the naval Battle of Actium and also in a land battle in Egypt. By this time Anthony had also become lovers with Cleopatra fathering her three children, in addition to the many children he fathered with his multiple wives in Rome. Having defeated Anthony, Octavian hunted him down and, with nowhere to seek refuge, Anthony committed suicide after mistakenly believing that Cleopatra had killed herself as well. Cleopatra committed suicide a few weeks later to avoid capture and humiliation by Octavian. Two of her servants also killed themselves while her son Caesarion, who was co-ruling Egypt with her at the time, was murdered. Queen Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh of Egypt. Her demise marked the end of the Hellenistic Era and the beginning of the Roman Era in Egypt.
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