Roman Forum

About this place

The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum 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. For centuries, the Forum was the centre of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial and legal affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's leaders. Read the surviving remains as parts of a larger setting rather than isolated objects. Their positions, scale and materials can help you picture the activities that once took place here and distinguish ancient fabric from later reconstruction.