Report from Rome: The Imperial Fora, a Retrospective Author(s): James E. Packer Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 101, No. 2 (Apr., 1997), pp. 307-330 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/506512 . Accessed: 16/01/2011 17:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aia. 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PACKER Abstract During the construction of the Via dell'Impero Abandoned along the sides of the Via dei Fori Im- (now the Via dei Fori Imperiali) in the late 1920s periali for more than 30 years after the end of the Sec- and early 1930s, large-scale excavations conducted ond World War, the fora have now, at the end imperial by the Fascist regime revealed significant parts of the of the 20th century, once again become a major focus imperial fora: the west half of the Forum of Caesar, of scholarly activity in Rome. In the last several years new books and articles on the Markets of Trajan and the the east section of the Forum of Augustus, some mis- Fora of Caesar, Nerva (the Forum Transitorium), and cellaneous parts of the Forum of Peace,' the center Trajan have been published; others are about to appear. and east section of the Forum Transitorium,2 and Much work has been done on the previously cleared parts of the Forum and Markets of Trajan.3 structures in the Forum of and Edoardo Tor- Augustus, Unfortunately, these same excavations also de- torici has directed major excavations at the west end stroyed the later strata that overlay the mon- of the Forum of Nerva (a report on his 1995 season ap- imperial pears in this newsletter). The following account sum- uments and consigned their important historical evi- marizes these recent studies and looks forward to a new dence to oblivion. Subordinating archaeological series of large-scale excavations in the imperial fora (an- investigation to politics and urban planning, the ex- nounced in connection with the of Jubilee Year 2000). cavators roughly handled the physical remains. Frag- also "The Places of Consent," a 1995- Reviewing Imperial ments of sculpture and architecture were only pro- 1996 exhibition in the Markets of Trajan of antiquities visionally catalogued (and the resulting records were from the Fora of Augustus and Trajan (the harbinger sometimes lost in the disorders of the Second World of a projected Museum of the Imperial Fora), this re- port concludes with a brief characterization of recent War), their findspots and stratigraphical relationships scholarly interpretations of the interrelationships and were inadequately recorded, and much was simply significance of the several imperial fora.* thrown away.4 Brief notices, general plans, photo- * I would like to thank Roberto Meneghini and Lucrezia 21-29. the current administrators of the 2 Ungaro, municipal Fora C. Morselli and E. Tortorici eds., Curia. Forum Iulium. of and for their assistance in Augustus Trajan, assembling Forum Transitorium(LSA 14, Rome 1989) 104-109, figs. 76-82, this newsletter. They kindly gave me unlimited access to the 110-11. exhibition of material from these sites 3 currently mounted For the excavations during the Fascist regime of the in the Markets of Trajan and generously provided the orig- imperial fora, cf. L. Barroero, A. Racheli, A. Conti, and inal materials reproduced here as figs. 6 and 8-10. I am M. Serio, Via dei Fori Imperiali (Venice 1983) 42-60, 117-63; also to extremely grateful Edoardo Tortorici of the Istituto I. Insolera and E Perego, Archeologia e citti. Storia moderna di Archeologico, Universitia Catania, for providing his ac- dei Fori di Roma (Bari 1983) 77-161; and J.E. Packer, "Pol- count of the 1995 excavations in the Forum Transitorium, itics, Urbanism, and Archaeology in 'Roma capitale': A Trou- for me around the site in and for guiding 1995, giving me bled Past and a Controversial Future," AJA 93 (1989) 137-41. to the work in permission photograph progress in 1995 For excavation in the Forum of Trajan, cf. M.E. Bertoldi, and 1996. "Richerche sulla decorazione architettonica del Foro Trai- To simplify cardinal directions in the following text, I ano," StMisc 3 (1962) 7-8; C. Amici, Foro di Traiano:Basilica assume that the northwest-southeast axis of the imperial Ulpia e biblioteche(Studi e materiali dei musei e monumenti fora the Column of (through Trajan and the site of the comunali di Roma 10, Spoleto 1982) 1-4; P. Pensabene et of runs Temple/Forum Peace) directly north-south. In my al., "Foro Traiano. Contributi per una ricostruzione storica text north = northwest, south = east = north- southeast, e architettonica," ArchC141 (1989) 45, 54-100; and Packer, east, and west = southwest. The Forumof Trajanin Rome:A Study of the Monuments (Berke- The following abbreviations are used: ley 1997) I, 55-83. Kaiser M. Hofter et Augustus al. eds., Kaiser Augustus und 4 For example, under the "esedra arborea," the small die verlorene Republik (Mainz 1988). park next to the Via dei Fori Imperiali. For aerial views LTUR E.M. ed., Lexicon I-II Steinby Topographicum and a plan, Packer 1997 (supra n. 3) I, 6-7, fig. 1; 9, fig. Urbis Romae I-II (Rome 1993, 1995). 2; III, fol. 21. The south wall of the West Library (com- 1 The of Peace and other of its enclosure Temple parts pletely rebuilt after the excavation of the building between were partially excavated at this time, but a few archi- only 1928 and 1934) is constructed of small, white marble frag- tectural elements found in those are still visi- investigations ments of the architecture and sculpture of the Forum it- ble at the intersection of the Via dei Fori and Imperiali self. The location of this wall appears in Packer 1997, III, the Via Cavour. The rest of these extraordinary finds were fol. 5, 15. reinterred: A.M. Colini, "Forum Pacis," BullCom 65 (1937) 307 American Journal of Archaeology 101 (1997) 307-30 308 JAMES E. PACKER [AJA 101 graphs, and restored scale models of the several sites the publication of various studies so new that they offered evidence of the volume and variety of the do not appear even in the ample bibliographies of materials uncovered,5 but these inadequate testi- the LTUR.9 monia only hinted broadly at the true character of Publications are, however, only one aspect of the the architecture and decoration of the imperial fora. recent renewed interest in the imperial fora that has Partially restored, the excavated monuments were been fueled by increased financial support for excava- temporarily abandoned during the Second World tion, maintenance, and study of the sites by both the War. Comune di Roma and the Soprintendenza archeo- The first post-war studies of the imperial fora ap- logica di Roma (which represents the Italian govern- peared from the late 1940s to mid-1950s,6 and be- ment).1'0An exhibition, which opened in 1995 in the tween 1961 and 1987 a number of generalized de- Markets of Trajan, has introduced the interested pub- scriptions of each site followed.' For ancient lic to newly cleaned architectural and sculptural ele- sources, recent research, and virtually complete bib- ments from the Fora of Augustus and Trajan. This liographies (current until the early 1990s), the new exhibition and, during the summers of 1995 and standard reference for all the imperial fora (except 1996, guided tours of the imperial fora, which have the Temple/Forum of Peace) is LTUR II,8 but in- been dramatically lighted at night, have made the creased interest in the imperial fora has resulted in imperial fora more attractive and accessible." Fi- 5 Nash I, 283, 401, 424, 433, 439, 450, cites the provi- Sovraintendente dei musei, gallerie, monumenti e scavi sional publications of the excavations. For the model of di Roma,and Anna MuraSommella of the Direzione, musei ancient Rome in the time of Constantine, cf. Museodella comunali, ripartizione X, antichitiae belle arti, the Fora civiltd romana. Catalogo (Rome 1982) 406-409; for excellent of Trajan and Augustus are administered from offices in photographs, L.B. Dal Maso, Romeof the Caesars(Florence a medieval wing of the Marketsof Trajanby Lucrezia Un- 1974) and All ofAncient Rome, Then and Now (Florence 1992). garo and Roberto Meneghini (who are also the authors Italo Gismondi's frequently reproduced plan of the im- of many of the new studies of the Forum and Markets of perial fora originally appeared in A.M.