 |
The Forvm Avgvstvm
|
The young apprentice looked about him in awe as they stepped into the large courtyard of the Emperor's Forum. Crowds of people bustled past them with barely a glance, making their way into Porticoes to listen to lawsuits or simply to escape the growing heat of the day. Beneath their feet the courtyard floor shone with brightly coloured marble. Streaks of yellow, purple and deep red running through the stone. However, it was the building at the far end of the courtyard that filled the young doctors eyes. Rising upon an immense podium, a giant temple, eight columns wide stood before them. It shone in the morning light, its marble facade flecked with bright colours like that of the Forum paving. The Porticoes down either side of the temple, impressive as they were, only seemed to draw his eye back to the temple itself.
"That
is the temple of Mars
Ultor", answered Musa, half smiling at the expression on
the young man’s face. "This whole Forum has not been finished long. The
dedication itself was only three years ago and even then the temple was
not
complete(1)." Musa paused looking up at
the sky,
the angle of the sun was steadily getting higher. "Follow me to the
Porticus and I’ll show you some of
those statues your so interested in." Rubbing his head wearily he
added,
"and I can get some shade".
They
wove their way through the bunches of people towards the Porticus on
the left
side of the Forum courtyard.
Looking up, the young doctor noticed that the upper
storeys, facing the square were covered with columns in the forms of
young women
and shields decorated with strange heads. "Wait, Musa!" The young
doctor
called, pointing up towards the carvings, "Tell me what these are!"
Musa sighed and turned around, his head couldn’t take much more of the sun today. Shielding his eyes he looked up to see where the young Greek was pointing. "The columns themselves are handmaidens, they represent the enslavement of a vanquished people, and the shields framing them are decorated with the heads of ram-horned Jupiter Ammon." The young apprentice nodded to him-self, before eagerly following Musa under the Porticus. "You see, my friend", Musa said, pointing to the groups of people about them, "The Princeps built this Forum in order to cope with the number of lawsuits that take place in the city these days, it seems that the number of people in Rome gets greater day by day!" The Young apprentice nodded in appreciation, never had he been anywhere that heaved and hummed like the city about him now.(2)
Musa stopped as they reached the wall on the inside of the Porticus, "Now, you look at these statues and I’ll just wait here," he told the apprentice, letting his eyes shut for a moment. Each movement seemed to make the wine in his stomach threaten a return trip.
The
Greek doctor seemed not to notice, "But who are these people Musa?" he
asked
stepping forward to examine one of the statues that lined the niches in the
wall
before him.
Musa
sighed, "They are the great men of Rome. See the inscription below?
Each one
tells their name and the deeds they performed in their lifetime.
Further down
you will see the ancestors of Augustus himself".
"Walk
with me Musa," the young doctor pleaded, "You know so much about this
city." Despite his stomach Antonius Musa could not help but feel some
pride at
the comment.
"Very
well, but then let us go into the temple, this place stinks of people!"
Together they slowly made their way down the Portico, the young
apprentice
stopping at each statue to study the inscription below. Towards the end
the
Porticus widened out into a half-moon shaped area still lined with
Statues. Musa,
walking up to the central niche showed the young Apprentice how the
large
carving depicted Aeneas
fleeing Troy, carrying his father Anchises on his back
and leading his son Ascanius by the hand. In his hands Aeneas’ father
Anchises
held the precious household gods. Every aspect of the statue was
beautifully
carved, down to Roman armour Aeneas wore and the patrician footwear on
his feet.
Anchises himself even looked like an image of Augustus, with his head
veiled
like that of an Augustan priest. Musa was familiar with this image,
ones like
it could be found all over the city and so he found it easy to point
out the
details to the young Greek man. Musa's father too had often told him
how
important it was for Augustus that the people of Rome see and
understand his
heritage. On either side of this impressive carving stood
the Kings of Alba Longa and the ancestors of the Emperor himself. The
young
apprentice stepped closer to the statues as Musa talked, peering to get
a better
look. ‘On the other side’, the older doctor added, "Stands Romulus and
more of the great men of Rome."
"The emperor certainly seems to come from an impressive family". The young apprentice noted looking at the inscriptions beneath the statues, "But where is Julius Caesar?" He asked, turning back to where Musa was trying to resist the urge to lean too heavily on one of the Porticus columns. Musa nodded towards an entrance lined with two purple flecked marble columns at the end of the Porticus. Beyond the entrance lay a small room containing a giant statue.
"Julius
Caesar," Musa pointed out as they stood at the feet of the Emperors
adoptive
father, "is deified now and so does not stand with the Mortals."
"It
must be at least six times my size," the young apprentice breathed admiringly.
Musa
nodded, "Come, let us go into the temple... at last," he added
under
his breath. They walked out into the
bright sun of the Forum courtyard again and began to walk up the steps
to the
Temple of Mars Ultor. Without warning the young apprentice stopped,
‘What is that?’
He asked Musa, pointing at something peaking out from behind the temple
roof.
"Oh
that," said Musa, dismissing it with a shrug. It’s a wall to keep fires out
of the Forum. Behind it is the Subura region, fires start there
constantly so
these buildings have to be protected.’ The young doctor nodded and they
continued up the steps into the Temple. Inside it was immediately
cooler. Musa
breathed a sigh of relief to be out of the heat of bodies and the
constant glare
of the sun. In front of them five steps veneered in Egyptian alabaster
led up to
the statue of Mars that was flanked on either side by the legionary
standards
that were lost and then regained at the battle of Parthis(3). Statues of Venus and
Julius Caesar also stood at the end of the room. Around the Temple, the
walls
were lined with further statues, framed by purple Pilasters. Musa
pointed these
out to the young apprentice who looked at each in turn with great
interest.
"I
suppose," Musa put in, as they made their way out into the Forum again,
"that we should make our way up to the Campus Martius."
The
apprentice nodded enthusiastically, and Musa, trying to ignore the
growing pain
in his head and swirling in his stomach, led the young Greek out of the
Forum of
Augustus.
FROM THE FORVM ROMANVM HOME TO THE VIA FLAMINIA
The Forum and temple were dedicated in 2BC with incredible celibration. Circus games were put on where over 260 lions were killed. There were trojan games in the forum, gladiatorial combats in the saepta, a hunt featuring 36 crocodiles in the circus flaminius. As well as this, a huge artificial lake was dug on the right bank of the Tiber measuring 1,800 by 1,200 feet to re-enact the battle of salamis between Athenians and Persians, with a total of 3,000 combatants, 30 large ships and many smaller ones, all to commemorate his own victory at Atrium. It would have been a dedication hard to forget. (see Zanker, 1998) The temple itself was not quite finished but the space that the new forum provided was so important that it was dedicated despite this.
(2) The Function of the Forum. (3) The Battle of Parthis
'He (Augustus) built his forum because the two already in existence could not deal with the recent increase in the number of law suits caused by a corresponding increase in population; which was why he hurriedly opened it even before the temple of Mars had been completed. Public prosecutions and the casting of lots for jury service took place in this forum. Augustus had vowed to build the temple of Mars during the Phillipi campaign of vengeance against Julius Caesar's assassins. He therefore decreed that the senate should meet here whenever declarations of war or claims for triumph were considered; and that this should be both the starting point for military governors, when escorted to their provinces, and the repository of al triumphal tokens when they returned victorious.' (Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 29)