Roman Forum

The Forum Romanum was for centuries the political, religious and economic heart of the Roman Empire - Cicero spoke here before the people, Caesar's body was cremated here, Augustus issued edicts here. The low ground between the Capitoline, Palatine and Esquiline hills first served as a meeting place and market from the 8th century BC, after Etruscan engineers drained the original marshes via the Cloaca Maxima. Over the centuries temples, triumphal arches, basilicas and colonnades rose - the Temple of Saturn, the Curia Iulia, the Arch of Titus and the shrine of Vesta count among the most famous remains. After Rome's fall the site decayed into the Campo Vaccino cattle market - only excavations from the 18th century onward exposed the layers. Today visitors walk the Via Sacra through stratified history.