Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

FORUM. FRA.IMEA. 64?
ground of an oblong form, and surrounded by build- the forumi with these shields and other ornamlents
ings,houses, temples, basilicae or porticoes. (Vitruv. was subsequently always observed during the time
v. 1, 2.) It was originally used as a place where of the Ludi Romani, when the Aediles rode in
justice was administered, and where goods were their chariots (tensae) in solemn procession around
exhibited for sale. (Varro, De Ling. Lat. v. 145, the forum. (Liv. ix. 40; Cic. in Veer. i. 54, and
ed. Miller.) We have accordingly to distinguish iii. 4.) After the victory of C. Duilius over the
between two kinds of fora; of which some were Carthaginians the forum was adorned with the
exclusively devoted to commercial purposes, and celebrated columna rostrata [COLUMNA]. In the
were real market-places, while others were places upper part of the forum, or the comitium, the laws
of meeting for the popular assembly, and for the of the Twelve Tables were exhibited for public
courts of justice. Mercantile business, however, hlspection, and it was probably in the same part
was not altogether excluded from the latter, and it that, in 304 B. c., Cnu. Flavius exhibited the Fasti,
was especially the bankers and usurers who kept written on white tables (in albo), that every citizen
their shops in the buildings and porticoes by which inight be able to know the days on which the law
they were surrounded. The latter kinds of fora allowed the administration of justice. (Liv. ix. 46.)
were sometimes calledforeaju6dicialia, to distinguish Besides the ordinary business which was carried
them from the mere market-places. on in the forum, we read that gladiatorial games
Among the fora judicialia the most important were held in it (Vitruv. v. 1, 2), and that prisoners
was the Forum Rwosanuanl, which was simply called of war and faithless colonists or legionaries were
Jorum, as long as it was the only one of its kind put to death there. (Liv. vii. 19, ix. 24, xxviii.
which existed at Rome;. At a late period of the 28.)
republic, and during the empire, when other fora A second forum judiciarri;m was built by J.
judicialia were built, the Forumi Romanumr was Caesar, and was called Foarum C'aesaris or Juli.
distinguished from them by the epithets vetus or The levelling of the ground alone cost him above
mancszun. It was situated between the Palatine a million of sesterces, and he adorned it besides
and the Capitoline hills, and its extent was seven with a magnificent temple of Venus Genitrix.
jugera, whence Varro (De Re Rust. i. 2) calls it (Suet. J. Caes. 26:; Plin. AH. N.. xxxiv. 15; Dion
the'" Septem jugera forensia." It was originally Cass. xliii. 22.)
aI swamp or marsh, but was said to have been filled A third forum was built by Augtrstus and called
up by Romulus and Tatius, and to have been set Forum2? Augusti, because the two existing ones
apart as a place for the administration of justice, were not found sufficient for the great increase of
for holding the assemblies of the people, and for business which had taken place. Augustus adorned
the transaction of other kinds of public business. his forum with a temple of Mars and the statues
(Dion. Ial. Ant. Reot. iii. p. 200, compare ii. p. of the most distinguished men of the republic, and
113,.Sylburg.) In this widest sense the forum issued a decree that only the jndicia publicn and
included the comiti-rmn, or the place of assembly the sostifiones jizdicizms houtld take place in it.
for the curiae (Varro, De Lisng. Lat.v. 155, Miiller), (Suet. Octav. 29 and 31;. compare Dion Cass. lvi.
which was separated from the fornm in its narrower 27; Plin. H.N... c.; Veil. Pat. ii. 39; Ovid, Em.
sense, or the place of assembly for the cornitia tri- Pont. iv. 15, 16; Martial. iii. 38. 3; Seneca, De
buta, by the Rorsta. (Niebuhr, Hist. of Romze, i. Ira, ii. 9; Stat. Silv. iv. 9.. 1 5.) After the Forum
p. 291. note 749, and p. 426. note 990; Walter, Augusti had severely suffered by fire, it was re(eschl. des Rints Reehts, p. 83; Gbittling, Gescl. cdI stored by Hadrianus. (Ael. Spart. Hadre. c.
Rhma. Staatseoif. p. 155.) These ancient rostra 19.)
were an elevated space of ground or a stage (scg- The three fora which have been mentioned seem
geestum), from. which the orators addressed the peo- to have been the only ones that were destined for
ple, and which derived their name from the circun- the transaction of public business. All the others,
stance that, after the sulbjugation of Latium, its which were subsequently built by the emperors,
sides were cdtorned with the beaks (rostra) of the such as the Foruaim Trajcani or Ulpnmore, the Forunt
ships of the Antiates. (Liv. viii. 14.) In subse- Sallustii, For- n Diocletiani, orsaz1 m An17eliani, &c.,
quent times, when the curiae had lost their import- were probably more intended as embellishments of
anlce, the accurate distinction between comitiami the city than to supply any actual want.
and forum liIewni se ~eaned5 and the comitia tributa Different from these fora were the numerous
were sometimes held in the Circus Flaminius; but markets at Rome, which were neither as large nor
towards the end of the republic the forum seems to as beautiful as the former. They are always dishave been chiefly used for judicial proceedings, and tinguished from one another by epithets expressing
as a money market; hence Cicero (De Oraet. i. 36) the particular kinds of things which were sold in
distinguishes. between a speaker in the popular them, e.g. fomen boariznr, according to Festus, the
assembly (orator) and the mere pleader: "Ego cattle-market; according to others, it derived the
istos non modo oratoris nomine, sed ne fore quidem name boarium from the statue of an, ox which stood
dignos puthrim.'' The orators when addressing there (Plin. H. N. xxiv..;: Ovid, Fast. vi. 477)
the people from the rostra; and even the tribunes obrsum olitdorimsee the vegetable market (Varho, De
of the people in the early times of the republic, used Ling. Lat. v. 146),; fonbre piscarizum, fish-market;
to front thae comitium and the curia; but C. Grac- forIum? cupedicts, market for dainties; forums c-o
chus (Plut. C. Graccr. 5), or, according to Varro 2quinums, a market in which cooked and prepared
(De Re Rust. i. 2) and Cicero (De Amlicit. 25), C. dishes were to be had, &e.
Licinius, introduced the custon,. of facing the (Respecting the fora in the provinces, see the
forum, thereby acknowledging the sovereignty of articles COLONIA and COevrxNTus; compare
the people. In 308 B.C. the Romanrs adorned the SigOllius, De Anztiq. Jur. IrsCl. ii. 1 5, and Walter,
forum, or rather the bankers' shops (argentaskias) Gesel. des Runs. Rechts, p. 206.) [L. S.[
around, with gift shields which they had taken FOSSA. [CAST.A.]
from the Samnites; and this custom of adornifng! FRAMEA. [L{ASTA.]
N 2N