The Roman Forum is one of the most evocative places in Rome. Its ruins stand in the centre of the modern city as a romantic testament to her past grandness. This was the heart of ancient Rome, and almost every event of importance in the city’s development, from the time of the Kings to the Republican and Imperial eras to the Middle Ages is reflected here.
We will take you on a walk through the Roman Forum & the Colosseum: in the heart of the ancient Rome.
This tour covers a pretty extensive time frame from the foundations of the ancient Roman Monarchy, through some of the most significant episodes of the Republic and Empire, bringing to life the numerous ruins of over 2700 years of history. We will explore the politics, religions and myths of this great civilisation leading into the most visited monument: The Flavian Amphitheater better known as Colosseum. We get to go right into the Colosseum without any sort of wait thanks to our fast tracking system.
The Colosseum, Emblem of Rome, is probably the most visited and admired monument by the travellers of all ages.
The Colosseum was started in the aftermath of Nero's extravagance and the rebellion by the Jews in Palestine against Roman rule. Nero, after the great fire at Rome in AD 64, had built a huge pleasure palace for himself (the Golden House) right in the centre of the city. In 68, faced with military uprisings, he committed suicide, and the empire was engulfed in civil wars.
The eventual winner Vespasian (Emperor 69-79) decided to shore up his shaky regime by building an amphitheatre, or pleasure palace for the people, out of the booty from the Jewish War - on the site of the lake in the gardens of Nero's palace. The Colosseum was a grand political gesture. Suitably for that great city, it was the largest amphitheatre in the Roman world, capable of holding some 50,000 spectators.
Indeed, it was the amphitheatre's reputation as a sacred spot where Christian martyrs had met their fate that saved the Colosseum from further depredations by Roman popes and aristocrats - anxious to use its once glistening stone for their palaces and churches. The cathedrals of St Peter and St John Lateran, the Palazzo Venezia and the Tiber's river defences, for example, all exploited the Colosseum as a convenient quarry.
As a result of this plunder, and also because of fires and earthquakes, two thirds of the original have been destroyed, so that the present Colosseum is only a shadow of its former self, a noble ruin.
Eventually there were well over 250 amphitheatres in the Roman empire - so it is no surprise that the amphitheatre and its associated shows are the quintessential symbols of Roman culture.
In 1846 Dickens declared : “The Colosseum is the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic mournful sight, conceivable…”
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN FORUM
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1.Curia
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6.Temple of Saturn
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12.Temple of Castor
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17. Temple of Venus and Rome.
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2.Arch of Septimius Severus
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7.Colonna di Foca
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13.Church of S.Maria Antiqua
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18. House of Vestals
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3.Rostra
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8 Basilica Iulia
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14.Temple of Augustus
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19. Basilica di Maxentius
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4.Temple of Vespasian
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9.Basilica Emilia
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15.Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
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20. Colosseum
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5.Via Sacra
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10.Temple of Julius Caesar
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16.Temple of Romolus
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21. Arch of Titus
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11.Temple of Vestals
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22. Palatine
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“As soon as he entered in Rome, the home of the empire and all perfections, he went to the Rostra and gazed with amazement at the Forum, that sublime monument of pristine power. Wherever he turned he was dazzled by the concentration of wonderful sights.”
The Roman Historian Ammianus Marcellinus, on the visit to Rome of the Emperor Costantius, AD 357.