THE FORUM OF AUGUSTUS EXPLAINED (2024)

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The southern exedra in the early first century AD

The image above shows a court of law taking place in this forum's exedra located at the east end of the southern portico. Notice all the wall niches that contain statues. A very large statue is displayed in the centre of the back wall - this is Romulus holding Spoila Optima (weapons of an enemy defeated in single combat). All those smaller statues are Summi Viri.

The exedra on the opposite side of the forum, branching off from the Northern Portico, also had wall niches but the statues were different in context from the Summi Viri. Instead, this exedra'a wall niches displayed sculptures of Augustus' legendary family members - known collectively as the Julian Dynasty. And Julius Caesar was also a member of this family that claimed descent from the goddess Venus. Other wall niches in the northern exedra contained sculptures of the Alban Kings whohad ruled in Italy four hundred years before Rome was founded.

The southern exedra in the year 2014
Licensed from Dreamstime

The purpose of these many statues went beyond art - they were symbols that legitimized the power and authority of the Julian family members by exploiting the Roman practice of the "Cult of Ancestors." This was ancient propaganda using sculptures and inscriptions whereby Augustus is saying to the Romans: "My legendary family has a long and noble history in Roman civilization, and we are descendants of the god Venus. I am practically divine and thus have a legitimate right to govern and to wield power."

Actually, beyond the numerous statues, the whole forum itself broadcasted that message loudly. It did so simply through its sheer size, and its lavish architecture and art which all worked to underscore the accomplishments of Augustus, his ancestors, and his connection with the gods Venus and Mars. Of course,such a large and luxurious forum also made obvious Augustus' wealth and power.

Location of Southern Exedra in the Forum of Augustus

Besides the physical propaganda aspects of the forum, however, the spaces and facilities it provided were indeed useful and much needed by the people of Rome. There was a lot of space to conduct civic affairs in his forum - the colonnades on either side of the temple were approximately 14 metres (46 feet) wide and 110 metres (360 feet) long, which provided much space to conduct business. Also, at the temple end of each colonnade were two huge Exedras (40 metres wide - 130 feet) used for holding courts of law and other administrative functions suchas meetings of the Roman Senate. And, of course, Augustus' forum did much to add to the grandeur and beauty of the city of Rome.

An interesting aspect of the northern and southern exedras is they each housed a huge statue within a large niche in the centre of their inner wall. The southern exedra house a large statue of Romulus, who founded the city of Rome. But the exedra branching off the northern portico housed a huge statue of Aenas (holding his father and son) from whom Augustus claimed descent (Aenas was the son of Venus). I have read claims that these statues were over 13 metres (45 feet) high - meaning there had to be a wall niche even higher to house it.

The roof of this temple is shown correctly in this website's drawings. However, often in other recreation drawings, you will see a large statue located at the centre of the roof - this is incorrect and is just an artistic licence. The Romans made stone reliefs showing theTemple of Mars Ultor, and these reliefs clearly show a temple with only two statues in front, located at the extreme left and right of the roof. They are statues of winged victories, also known as Nike to the Greeks.The image below of a marble relief of the temple shows how it looked.

Ancient Roman marble relief showing the Temple of Mars Ultor
Image courtesy of Ancientdigitalmaps - CC BY-NC 2.0

As you can see, the rooftop is empty except for one lone Nike statue at the far right. And, of course, there would have been another Nike on the other side, which has been destroyed. Another carved relief of the same temple roof shows the two statues, which you can see by clicking here.

Amazingly, a foot from one of those statues, which were large and made of beautiful gilded bronze, has survived - it is shown below. It is a miracle that this gilded bronze foot somehow survived the ravages of time - it must have been buried deep in the ground all those centuries and thus hidden from pillagers' eyes.

Surviving bronze foot of a Nike sculpture from the roof of the Temple of Mars Ultor
Image courtesy of Jamie Heath - CC BY-SA 2.0

And just below the roof of the temple, the exquisite marble capital shown below is from inside the Temple of Mars Ultor. You can see little Pegasus-like carvings on the side and flowers above the traditional Acanthus leaves found on all Corinthian-style capitals.

It is indeed fortunate that this capital survived so we can glimpse how ornate and beautiful the inside of the temple must have been. Look how the large and delicate Acanthus leaves fold over towards us - imagine the amount of work to reduce the marbleto produce that effect. As a sculptor myself, I can tell you that this capital represents a lot of work and skill - the artist who did this was a master of his trade. And he very likely had to produce many capitals just like this for the temple. It is such a shame that so much work like this ended up being destroyed in lime kilns to produce mortar.

Marble capital from inside of Temple of Mars Ultor
Image courtesy of Amphipolis - CC BY-SA 2.0

It is perhaps no wonder the temple was still not completed when the forum opened, as evidenced by just this one capital. Indeed, it must have taken the sculptor many days, perhaps weeks, to carve all the fine detail. Judging by the overall flat surface of this capital, it was located above a pilaster instead of a roundcolumn. And there were certainly many pilasters inside the temple, each requiring an ornate capital just like the one in the photo - so much work, so much lost over the centuries.

Not long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476AD, things fell apart pretty quickly in the Forum of Augustus. In fact, by the end of the fifth century, barbarians were already dismantling parts of the forum and this temple.Throughout the 500s and 600s, more destruction happened, and temple columns were taken apart and used elsewhere.For example, during the reign of barbarian Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great (454 - 526 AD), the whole temple was practically dismantled for its beautiful white marble and other desired building materials.

In addition to aggressive pillaging, a massive earthquake in 867AD severely damaged the forum, causing a general collapse of many of the remaining structures. I assume that portions of the porticos, exedras, and whatever remained of the temple collapsed. It is hard to ascertain whether the porticos, for example,were destroyed by pillaging or earthquakes or - more likely - a combination of the two.

By the ninth century, most of the temple was gone, and Basilian Monks built the monastery of Sancti Basilii Scala Mortuorum ("Saint Basil of the Ladder of the Dead") on top of the temple podium. What an interesting name for a monastery, I must say.

Monastery on podium of Temple of Mars Ultor in 10th century
Artist Unknown

As seen in the image above, the Temple of Minerva in the Forum of Nerva (lower right) was still standing, and it remained that way until it was demolished in the 1500s. The point is that it is ratherastonishing, in comparison to the other forums, how quickly the Temple of Mars Ultor and the Forum of Augustus fell apart and sank into oblivion.

By the 12th century, Benedictine monks took over, and the monastery's name changed to Sancti Basili Arcus Nervae ("Saint Basil's of the Arch of Nerva"). The last significant change to the temple was in 1566 when PiusV, Pope from 1566-1572, granted control of the whole temple and forum complex to the Dominican Nuns. Over the years,these nuns constructed the Santa Maria Annunziata ai Monti church dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation.Because of its small size, the church was better known to locals as Annunziatina (the "Little Annunciation").

In the 18th-century drawing below, you can see the bell tower of the convent church rising above the four remaining columns of the Temple of Mars Ultor.

Bell tower of convent church within the Forum of Augustus
"Chiesa e Monastero di S. Maria Annunziata"
Giusippe Vasi - 1750s

In the image above, the forum is mistakenly identified as the "Forum of Nerva" (... del foro di Nerva ...) - perhaps a sign that most people had no awareness that Augustus had actually built this forum. In addition, the arched gate into the ruins of the forum is high enough for a horse and carriage to enter, which contrasts with the recent photo further above that shows the same view.

As the centuries went on, more buildings, primarily religious, were constructed around the temple until the early 20th century,when demolitions, under the regime of Benito Mussolini, began from 1925 to 1932to restore the temple and forum to its former state. Apart from the demolitions of non-Roman structures, the 1920s and 1930s also saw the start of excavations responsible for the forum we see today.

It is said that the forum faded rather quickly from the memory of the people of Rome because it more or lessjust vanished as an entity after the western empire collapsed. Moreover, it was one of the first major Roman public buildings to fall apart. I am sure Augustus would have been quite astonished(and greatly dismayed) by how quickly his beautiful and vital forum fell apart. But, nevertheless, here we are today, talking about Augustus' forum and temple, so not all was lost I might say, on the positive side.

Furthermore, speaking of Augustus, it is time to look at the man, his history, and why he built this forum in the first place.

Born in 63BC, the man given the title "Augustus" actually was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar. His birth name was Gaius Octavius Thurinus from the town of Velletri, 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Rome's centre. While a teenager, he journeyed to Spain and crossed through the dangerous countryside to join his great-uncle Caesar who was battlingRoman General Pompey the Great. And Caesar was so impressed by his nephew's bravery that he decided to make him his heir, especially sincehis only legitimate child, Julia, had died in childbirth in 54BC, ten years before he was assassinated.

Augustus as Pontifex Maximus (Roman High Priest)
National Roman Museum

Two of the most critical events in Augustus' life were the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC and the subsequent reading of Caesar's will that made him, at only 18 years old, officially his heir. At this point, he changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus - more commonly known in English simply as "Octavian".

The death of Julius Caesar caused a civil war that Octavian won with the assistance of Roman GeneralMarc Antony in 42BC. Ten years later, in 32BC, after a severe schism with Marc Antony, who had divorced Octavian's sister and threatened the integrity of the Roman Empire, Octavian declared war on Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, who was in a relationship with Marc Antony.

This new civil war was ended a year later, in 31BC, by a decisive naval battle in Actium, Greece, which Octavian won. His victory gave him complete control of Rome and all its lands. His victory also meant that the Civil War and the division of the empire ended, ushering in a long period of peace and prosperity for Roman civilization.

Marble busts of Queen Cleopatra VII and Roman General Marc Antony

Four years later, in 27BC, the Roman Senate gave him the honorary title Augustus - The Venerable One - at which point he was now the first Roman Emperor though he never called himself that. Instead, he called himself by another title the Senate gave him - Princeps ("first citizen"). As the defacto first Emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus held all the power, and he used it to increase the size of the Roman Empire significantly. He also introduced many beneficial changes that led to two centuries of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) throughout much of Europe and the Mediterranean.

Some of Augustus' positive changes include a more fair and consistent tax system, improved coinage, and an expanded system of roads all over the empire. He also instituted the Vigiles Urbani (City Watchmen), Rome's first firefighter/police force. In addition, he created the Cursus Publicus, which was a courier system using relay stations all over the empire to quickly conveyofficials, tax revenue, message, and letters.

Perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments was summed up by Augustus himself when he proclaimed:

“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”
- - Augustus (according to Suetonius, Roman historian)

There is some truth in his statement. During his reign, new marble quarries opened up northwest of Rome and vast quantities of white Carrara marble became available.As a result, Augustus began numerous building projects that included temples, aqueducts, baths, and his own forum. Furthermore, for the first time, people in Rome walking in public sometimes found themselves walking on marble surfaces. And during the many building projects that lasted for decades, the streets of Rome were often clogged with large marble blocks being transported through the city.

Augustus' many achievements made him very popular and much loved by both the Roman people and the Roman Senate - and that, in itself, was a major accomplishment.

Res Gestae Divi Augusti complete version in Rome
Licensed from Dreamstime

The best list of Augustus' accomplishments was actually written by himself. He wrote about the events of his life and all his major accomplishments and placed the document in his will with instructions that it be inscribed in various places throughout the empire.In 1938, a new and complete Latin version, shown in the photo above, was recreated and placed near the Ara Pacis in Rome.The best-preserved ancient version is found inside the Temple of Augustus located in Ankara, Turkey. It can be found inscribed on the inside Cella walls of the temple, and it was inscribed in both Latin and Greek.

At age 60, the Roman Senate conferred the title Pater Patriae - "Father of the Country" - on Augustus in the year 2BC. This action by the Roman Senate that honoured him also coincided with the opening of the Forum of Augustus that same year.In his forum, below the beautiful Quadriga gilded bronze sculpture of a chariot pulled by four horses, Pater Patriae was inscribed on the pedestal.