 The Forum of Caesar and the Temple of Venus Genetrix | |
   Forum of Caesar Shown within Augustan Rome | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Location | Regio VIII Forum Romanum |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°53′38.44″N12°29′5.78″E / 41.8940111°N 12.4849389°E |
| Type | Imperial fora |
| History | |
| Builder | Gaius Julius Caesar |
| Founded | 46 BC |
The Forum of Caesar, also known by the Latin Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris, [1] was a forum built by Julius Caesar near the Forum Romanum in Rome in 46 BC.
Caesar decided to construct a forum bearing his name in the northeast section of the Forum Romanum, and purchased some very expensive parcels of land in that area (the final cost was said to be 100,000,000 sesterces). [2] [3] Forum construction began probably in 51 BC, although Cicero and Gaius Oppius were entrusted with purchasing the parcels of land on Caesar's behalf as early as 54 BC. [2] On the eve of the Battle of Pharsalus in 48, Caesar vowed a temple to Venus Victrix, the legendary progenitor of his own clan, the gens Iulia . [4] This original dedication was done because she was Pompey's favourite goddess, and Caesar hoped to gain the goddess's favour before the battle against Pompey.[ citation needed ]
The forum measured 160 x 75 m, stretching from the Argiletum on the southeast side of the Forum Romanum to the Atrium Libertatis. [1] [5] On completion in 46 BC it was dedicated to Caesar and his deeds. As part of the dedication, lavish games were funded by Caesar, indicating the staggering cost and thus the personal interest that Caesar had invested in the project.
Some believe that Augustus furnished the west side with the shops and offices therefore being the one to see its completion. [6]
The Forum of Caesar originally meant an expansion of the Forum Romanum. The Forum, however, evolved so that it served two additional purposes. As Caesar became more and more involved in this project, the Forum became a place for public business that was related to the Senate in addition to a shrine for Caesar himself as well as Venus Genetrix.
Before his assassination, Caesar would have the Senate meet him before his temple, an act deemed very unpopular by the Senate. The Forum of Caesar also had an effect on the Curia, which Caesar began to reconstruct in 44 BC. This reconstruction moved the Forum of Caesar much closer to the Curia. The ten tabernae located on the western side of the Forum and its now close approximation to the Senate house symbolized the unity that Caesar felt between himself and the Senate.
Caesar also placed a statue of his favourite horse in front of the temple. Following his assassination, a statue of Caesar riding this horse was added. Caesar (gens Julia) claimed descent from Venus through his ancestor Julus. The Temple of Venus Genetrix was completed after Caesar's assassination by Roman senators, which included lavish games in reference to Caesar's original dedication of the Forum. The temple was re-built after the removal of the gap between the Capitoline Hill and the Quirinal Hill, under the reigns of Domitian and Trajan; during the adaptation of the gap, a second floor of tabernae was created behind the west portico of the square and a building with pillars made of tuff blocks, named Basilica Argentaria , was erected. The new temple was inaugurated in the same day as the Trajan's Column, on May 12, 113, as attested by an inscription in the Fasti Ostienses. [7]
In the plaza of the forum, Caesar allowed a statue of himself wearing a cuirass to be set up, and also set up an equestrian statue of himself seated on a horse with feet carved like those of a human, according to Pliny the Elder. [2] [8] In the time of Hadrian, and perhaps earlier, a fountain with three basins connected by low walls was set in front of the temple, with a statue of the Empress Vibia Sabina placed on a base adjacent to it. [4]
The Temple of Venus Genetrix contained an important collection of statues, paintings and engravings. The cult statue of Venus Genetrix was sculpted by Arcesilaüs. [2] A gilded statue of Cleopatra VII was erected, setting a precedent for dedications to notable women in the precinct. Paintings in the forum included one of Medea, mythological Greek heroine of Euripides' play Medea , as well as one of Ajax, mythological Greek hero of Sophocles' Ajax, done by Timomachus. Perhaps more personal to Caesar were six collections of engraved gems. These surpassed in number the collection of Mithridates dedicated by Caesar's rival Pompey. It is not known where or how Caesar obtained these six collections.
Cassius Dio stated that Augustus also deposited a statue of Caesar with a star above his head in the temple, although some scholars believe this was confused with the Temple of Divus Julius in the Forum Romanum. [2] Dio also stated that Caligula added a statue of his sister Drusilla inside the temple after her death. [9] In the plaza, a statue of Tiberius was set up by fourteen cities of Asia Minor to honor the relief he sent them after earthquakes in 17 and 23 A.D. [2]
Following the reigns of Caesar and Augustus, a total reconstruction of the Forum took place, headed by the Roman Emperor Domitian. Why this reconstruction occurred is not exactly known. Under the reign of Titus, a massive fire ravaged the city in AD 80, including the Forum Romanum. The Forum of Caesar was not rebuilt until AD 95, however, indicating that perhaps Domitian had a personal interest in the reconstruction. This could be seen in the separation of the Curia from the Forum, symbolizing a reversal of Caesar's wish to have the Senate closely connected with him. Not much senatorial business took place in the Forum afterwards, except for the secretarium senatus in the 4th century. Diocletian restored the forum after a fire in 283 A.D. [2]
In the sixteenth century, excavations unearthed the travertine and tufa foundations of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, as well as remains of columns and frieze. Andrea Palladio and Antonio Labacco made illustrations of these remains, peripteral octastyle in design. [2]
In late May 2006, a team of archaeologists under the direction of Anna de Santis and Paola Catalano [10] unearthed an inhumation tomb dating from the 10th century BC in the Forum of Caesar, in comparison to the previous five cremation tombs unearthed there from July 1999 to April 2006. [11]
Venus is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles.
The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the centre of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.
The Rostra was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the Comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between. It is often referred to as a suggestus or tribunal, the first form of which dates back to the Roman Kingdom, the Vulcanal.
The Theatre (UK) or Theater (US) of Pompey, also known by other names, was a structure in Ancient Rome built during the latter part of the Roman Republican era by Pompey the Great. Completed in 55 BC, it was the first permanent theatre to be built in Rome. Its ruins are located at Largo di Torre Argentina.
The Regia was a two-part structure in Ancient Rome lying along the Via Sacra at the edge of the Roman Forum that originally served as the residence or one of the main headquarters of kings of Rome and later as the office of the pontifex maximus, the highest religious official of Rome. It occupied a triangular patch of terrain between the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Divus Julius and Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Only the foundations of Republican/Imperial Regia remain. Like the Curia it was destroyed and rebuilt several times, as far back as the Roman monarchy. Studies have found multiple layers of similar buildings with more regular features, prompting the theory that this "Republican Regia" was to have a different use.
The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius, also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, delubrum, heroon or Temple of the Comet Star, is an ancient structure in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, located near the Regia and the Temple of Vesta.
The Imperial Fora are a series of monumental fora, constructed in Rome over a period of one and a half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The fora were the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire.
Trajan's Forum was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction.
The Temple of Venus Genetrix is a ruined temple in the Forum of Caesar, Rome, dedicated to the Roman goddess Venus Genetrix, the founding goddess of the Julian gens. It was dedicated to the goddess on September 26, 46 BCE by Julius Caesar.
The Roman imperial cult identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State. Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents, and was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus. It was rapidly established throughout the Empire and its provinces, with marked local variations in its reception and expression.
The Temple of Concord in the ancient city of Rome refers to a series of shrines or temples dedicated to the Roman goddess Concordia, and erected at the western end of the Roman Forum. The earliest temple is believed to have been vowed by Marcus Furius Camillus in 367 BC, but it may not have been built until 218 BC by L. Manlius. The temple was rebuilt in 121 BC, and again by the future emperor Tiberius between 7 BC and AD 10.
The Arch of Augustus was the triumphal arch of Augustus, located in the Roman Forum. It spanned the Via Sacra, between the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Temple of Caesar, near the Temple of Vesta, closing off the eastern end of the Forum. It can be regarded as the first permanent three-bayed arch ever built in Rome.
The Comitium was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Forum was later lost in the city's growth and development, but was rediscovered and excavated by archaeologists at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of Rome's earliest monuments; including the speaking platform known as the Rostra, the Columna Maenia, the Graecostasis and the Tabula Valeria were part of or associated with the Comitium.
The Venus Genetrix is a sculptural type which shows the Roman goddess Venus in her aspect of Genetrix, as she was honoured by the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Rome, which claimed her as their ancestor. Contemporary references identify the sculptor as a Greek named Arcesilaus. The statue was set up in Julius Caesar's new forum, probably as the cult statue in the cella of his temple of Venus Genetrix. Through this historical chance, a Roman designation is applied to an iconological type of Aphrodite that originated among the Greeks.
The Curia Julia is the third named curia, or senate house, in the ancient city of Rome. It was built in 44 BC, when Julius Caesar replaced Faustus Cornelius Sulla's reconstructed Curia Cornelia, which itself had replaced the Curia Hostilia. Caesar did so to redesign both spaces within the Comitium and the Roman Forum. The alterations within the Comitium reduced the prominence of the Senate and cleared the original space. The work, however, was interrupted by Caesar's assassination at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey, where the Senate had been meeting temporarily while the work was completed. The project was eventually finished by Caesar's successor, Augustus Caesar, in 29 BC.
The Curia Cornelia was a place where the Roman Senate assembled beginning c. 52 BC. It was the largest of all the Curiae built in Rome. Its construction took over a great deal of the traditional comitium space and brought the senate building into a commanding location within the Roman Forum as a whole. It was the Senate House of the time of Julius Caesar and is significant because its location was moved by him to diminish the Senate's dominance within the City and Republic.
The Temple of Piety was a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Pietas, a deified personification of piety. It was erected in 181 BC at the northern end of the Forum Olitorium, the Roman vegetable market, and demolished in 44 BC to make room for the building eventually known as the Theater of Marcellus. It seems to have been rebuilt and its services continued well into the imperial period, although this is disputed by some scholars.
The Regio VIII Forum Romanum Magnum is the eighth regio of imperial Rome, under Augustus's administrative reform. Regio VIII took its name from the Roman Forum, the political centre of Ancient Rome.
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| Preceded by Forum of Augustus | Landmarks of Rome Forum of Caesar | Succeeded by Forum of Nerva |
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