20 facts about the Roman Forum

The Roman Forum was the political, legal, commercial and religious centre of ancient Rome, a crowded, noisy square of temples, law courts and speeches. Here's what's worth knowing before you walk in.

1. It started as a swamp. The valley was marshland until the Romans drained it with the Cloaca Maxima, one of the world's first great sewers, which still carries water today.
2. "Forum" simply meant a public square. Every Roman town had one. This was the Forum, the Forum Romanum.
3. There were many forums. As Rome grew, emperors built their own next door: the Forums of Caesar, Augustus, Nerva and Trajan, now known together as the Imperial Forums.
4. It was used for over a thousand years, from around the 7th century BC until the end of antiquity.
5. It's layered like a cake. Romans built on top of older buildings, so ruins from different centuries sit side by side and on top of each other.
6. It was buried for centuries. In the Middle Ages the area silted up and became a cow pasture known as the Campo Vaccino, the "cow field".
7. Serious excavation began in 1803 under the archaeologist Carlo Fea and went on for more than a hundred years, well into the 20th century.
8. The Temple of Saturn was the state treasury. Its eight surviving columns stood over the vault where the Republic kept its gold.
9. Julius Caesar was cremated here. After his murder in 44 BC his body was burned in the Forum, and the Temple of the Divine Julius was built on the spot. People still leave flowers there every 15 March.
10. Some temples honoured people, not gods. Deified emperors such as Caesar and Antoninus Pius received temples of their own.
11. The Vestal Virgins lived here. Six priestesses kept the sacred fire of Vesta burning, and their House and garden of statues are among the Forum's most evocative corners.
12. The Curia still stands. The Senate House survived because it was turned into a church, so you can walk into the room where the Senate met.
13. The Via Sacra ("Sacred Way") was the main street, the route of triumphal processions for victorious generals returning from war.
14. The Arch of Titus (AD 81) celebrates the capture of Jerusalem in AD 70, and its reliefs show the Temple menorah being carried in triumph.
15. The Arch of Septimius Severus (AD 203) marks the emperor's victories in the East and is one of the best-preserved monuments in the Forum.
16. The Rostra was the original speaker's platform. It was decorated with the bronze prows (rostra) of captured warships, which is where our word "rostrum" comes from.
17. The Temple of Venus and Roma, near the Colosseum, was the largest temple in ancient Rome. It was designed by Emperor Hadrian and dedicated in AD 135.
18. The "Umbilicus Urbis" marked the symbolic centre of Rome, and a golden milestone nearby listed the distances to cities across the empire.
19. Churches grew inside temples. The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina has a Baroque church façade set behind its ancient columns.
20. The best free view is from the terraces behind the Capitoline Hill (Piazza del Campidoglio). Go at sunset.

Visiting tips

• Go early: there's almost no shade, and summer middays are brutal.
• Wear proper shoes. The ancient paving is uneven.
• Refill your bottle at the drinking fountains inside (nasoni).
• Climb the Palatine Hill too. It's included in the ticket and has the best views over the Forum.