Ancient Rome - Rome - page 148

Via Sacra Towards Campidoglio
Entering the Forum from Largo della Salara Vecchia - you can also enter directly from the
Palatino - you'll see the Tempio di Antonino e Faustina MAP GOOGLE MAP ahead to your left.
Erected in AD 141, this was later transformed into a church, so the soaring columns now
frame the Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda . To your right the Basilica Fulvia Aemilia MAP
GOOGLE MAP built in 179 BC, was a 100m-long public hall, with a two-storey porticoed
facade.
At the end of the short path, you will come to Via Sacra , the Forum's main thoroughfare.
Over this stands the Tempio di Giulio Cesare MAP GOOGLE MAP (Temple of Julius Caesar),
built by Augustus in 29 BC on the site of Caesar's cremation. Head right up Via Sacra and
you reach the Curia MAP GOOGLE MAP , the original seat of the Roman Senate. This was
rebuilt on various occasions and what you see today is a 1937 reconstruction of the Curia
as it looked in the reign of Diocletian (r 284-305).
In front of the Curia, hidden by scaffolding, is the Lapis Niger MAP GOOGLE MAP , a
large piece of black marble covering what is said to be the tomb of Romulus.
At the end of Via Sacra is the 23m-high Arco di Settimio Severo MAP GOOGLE MAP (Arch
of Septimius Severus), a triumphal arch dedicated to the emperor and his sons, Caracalla
and Geta.
Southwest of the arch, eight granite columns are all that remain of the Tempio di Saturno
MAP GOOGLE MAP (Temple of Saturn), an important temple that doubled as the state
treasury. Behind it are (from north to south): the ruins of the Tempio della Concordia MAP
GOOGLE MAP (Temple of Concord), the Tempio di Vespasiano MAP GOOGLE MAP (Temple
of Vespasian and Titus) and the Portico degli Dei Consenti MAP GOOGLE MAP .
To the southeast, the Colonna di Foca MAP GOOGLE MAP (Column of Phocus) rises
above what was once the Forum's main plaza, the Piazza del Foro . Looking onto the piazza
are the remains of the Rostrum MAP GOOGLE MAP , an elaborate podium where
Shakespeare had Mark Antony make his famous 'Friends, Romans, countrymen…' mono-
logue, and from which politicians would make speeches.