3. Forum

Via Marina opens up into Forum - the political, economic, and religious centre of any Roman city. Here, at the south end of Forum, behind the modern statue of a centaur, is curia (a lose term, which meant something like "local administration").

At the north end, facing curia, once stood Tempo di Giove ("Temple of Jupiter"), the main temple of the city. Now all that is left are those dark columns on a raised platform in the very back.

On the east side, opposite Via Marina entrance, is the house of Eumachia, a priestess of Venus and owner of a wool-production business, which she had inherited from her husband. At least, that′s what written on the white marble colonnade in front of the building. Show-off...

Now, let′s walk around Forum counter-clockwise.

The first thing, right behind our right shoulder, is Basilica.

In Ancient Rome, a basilica was a big open-space building, sort of a covered Forum, which could be used for various public purposes.

In Pompeii, Basilica housed the town′s law courts ⇨

⇨ and, probably, the Exchange - a place where businessmen conducted their transactions. The evidence of it is found in the inscriptions on the walls, some of them pretty vulgar.

These column stumps are not the result of the Vesuvius eruption. Basilica was destroyed in the same earthquake 17 years earlier, like the Temple of Venus (note that statue in the temple we saw earlier, peeking out from behind the ruins).

As with the temple, the Pompeiians were in the process of rebuilding Basilica, when the eruption happened. So these stumps are the unfinished replacement columns. That′s why they have such smooth, clear-cut tops.

Once finished, these brick columns would be covered with the same marble-dust stucco as the walls behind them, to make them look like marble, ⇨

⇨ a cheap way of making things seem more expensive than they really are. A common practice throughout the Roman world.

The next building in Forum counter-clockwise is the Curia complex, which housed the most important public offices of Pompeii.

Pompeii′s Curia consisted of the Office of Duumviri (the magistrates, sort of mayors), the Office of Aediles (the Public Works department, as in "roads and sewage"), Ordo Decurionum (City Council), and the municipal archives. (I wish, our contemporaries understood the importance of archives like the Romans did...)

This building, most likely, housed the City Council, judging by its marble floors and the apse in the far wall, probably, indicating the Council Chamber.

The marble pedestal in front of Curia once bore a statue of some important dude or other. The dude must have been very important, since his pedestal is cladded with coloured marble (the more colours are in the marble, the more expensive it is).

Behind the pedestal here, we see Comitium (literally, "a gathering place"), a building designed for ad-hoc public purposes (e.g., a polling station during municipal elections).

Comitium up close. The columns are its portico, the building itself occupied that patch of green grass.

Inside Comitium.

Looking at Curia from inside Comitium.

Inside Comitium′s portico.

Looking at Basilica from the opposite side of Forum.

Standing behind Forum′s east colonnade in front of Eumachia′s house. This is the colonnade, which Eumachia used to announce her good fortune as a rich dowager to the world.

Looking north, towards the Temple of Jupiter, with Vesuvius looming over it in the clouds. The three-arch gateway in the far right is the entrance to Macellum - a covered public market.

Since the rain makes it hard to see Vesuvius, I enhanced it, so that you get the idea. Imagine that bluish shape as the base of a single conical mountain, which would be the "original" Vesuvius. The rest of it was literally blown off by the eruption. And pretty much all that rock fell on Pompeii...

The Temple of Jupiter, or rather, what′s left of it. The pedestal at the front is the altar, with cella behind it. We still can see the columns of cella′s peristyle on a high platform and the walls of cella itself behind it.

Turning further to the left, we see a fragment of Forum′s white marble colonnade, which bordered the square on two long sides (eastern and western).

On this side (western), behind the colonnade we see the wall of the Temple of Apollo, and the almost destroyed granary (horreum) next to it. Horreum was an important facility in a Roman city. This is where the authorities would store food supplies (not only grains) and other staples for the centralized distribution among the populace. The degree to which the public life in Ancient Rome was organized, is astounding.

The most preserved part of Forum′s colonnade, giving the idea of how magnificent it looked when intact.

The colonnade continues into the south-west corner, ⇨

⇨ where we again are looking at Basilica, having made the full circle.

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