POMPEII

The Roman forum was, like the Greek agora, the center of public life. Not just an open space between buildings, the forum was the locus of Senate and Imperial proclamations, the place where the augurs were read and the auspices pronounced, and a central area for ostentacious display of grief and gratitude. Unlike the agora, the forum gradually became non-commercial. Instituted in the early Republican era, by the time of Augustus no carts were allowed in the Roman Forum, necessitating the establishment of specialty marketplaces (like the Forum Boarium, or cattle market) separated from the forum for health reasons. The forum at Pompeii was typical in its plan: at far end of a long open square was a temple set upon a high podium, the processional axis of which formed the formal axis and focal point of the forum. Colonnades along the other three perimeters of the space established a visually unified setting and provided covered walkways between the buildings on both sides.

POMPEII