DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0107
THE FORUMS OF ROME.
57
height of the vertical cutting which was made on the side of the
Quirinal in order to provide a sufficiently large site. On the top
ofTthe capital was a colossal bronze statue of the Emperor, 13
fefet high. On either side of this central court were libraries, one
for Greek, the other for Latin manuscripts. The third part of the
Forum was occupied by the temple of Trajan, which was of the
Corinthian order,1 octastyle and peristylar, mounted on a podium
and approached by a flight of steps. The temple stood in a court
surrounded on three sides by a peristyle in two storeys, and was an
addition made to Trajan’s Forum by Hadrian, who dedicated the
temple to the deified Trajan. The construction of the Forum of
Trajan finally solved the question of communication between the
Forum Romanum and the Campus Martius, which, it is interesting
to note, is one of the most pressing traffic problems in modern
Rome.
The plans of the several forums we have been describing were
governed to a certain extent by the sites selected, and the lofty
walls by which some of them were enclosed would seem to have
been deemed necessary to mask
adjoining heights of cliffs, other
buildings, and existing streets.
In the provincial towns, as in
Pompeii, throughout Europe
and in North Africa (see, as an
example, Fig. 11) the forum
was enclosed by the principal
temples and shrines, govern-
ment buildings, as the Basilica,
Senate House, etc., and
Municipal Buildings, serving
as markets. The forum itself
consisted of an open rectan-
gular area enclosed by a
Fig. 11.—Forum of Phuburbo, North Africa.
porticus or peristyle. On the
foundation of a new town the first consideration would appear
to have been the two chief thoroughfares, and these were laid
out at right angles to one another, running as a rule north to
south and east to west. In order to be as central as possible
1 A monolithic shaft of granite, 6 feet in diameter and 55 feet high, was
discovered on the site in 1887, and probably belonged to this temple.
57
height of the vertical cutting which was made on the side of the
Quirinal in order to provide a sufficiently large site. On the top
ofTthe capital was a colossal bronze statue of the Emperor, 13
fefet high. On either side of this central court were libraries, one
for Greek, the other for Latin manuscripts. The third part of the
Forum was occupied by the temple of Trajan, which was of the
Corinthian order,1 octastyle and peristylar, mounted on a podium
and approached by a flight of steps. The temple stood in a court
surrounded on three sides by a peristyle in two storeys, and was an
addition made to Trajan’s Forum by Hadrian, who dedicated the
temple to the deified Trajan. The construction of the Forum of
Trajan finally solved the question of communication between the
Forum Romanum and the Campus Martius, which, it is interesting
to note, is one of the most pressing traffic problems in modern
Rome.
The plans of the several forums we have been describing were
governed to a certain extent by the sites selected, and the lofty
walls by which some of them were enclosed would seem to have
been deemed necessary to mask
adjoining heights of cliffs, other
buildings, and existing streets.
In the provincial towns, as in
Pompeii, throughout Europe
and in North Africa (see, as an
example, Fig. 11) the forum
was enclosed by the principal
temples and shrines, govern-
ment buildings, as the Basilica,
Senate House, etc., and
Municipal Buildings, serving
as markets. The forum itself
consisted of an open rectan-
gular area enclosed by a
Fig. 11.—Forum of Phuburbo, North Africa.
porticus or peristyle. On the
foundation of a new town the first consideration would appear
to have been the two chief thoroughfares, and these were laid
out at right angles to one another, running as a rule north to
south and east to west. In order to be as central as possible
1 A monolithic shaft of granite, 6 feet in diameter and 55 feet high, was
discovered on the site in 1887, and probably belonged to this temple.