Page 395 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

ROME : THE ANCIENT CENTRE  393

5 Forum of Argentaria – which became an
Augustus important financial exchange –
as well as shops and a heated
Piazza del Grillo 1. Map 3 B5. Tel 06 06 public lavatory.
08. @ 87, 186. Closed to public, but
viewable from above. &
8 Roman Forum
The Forum of Augustus, which See pp394–6.
once stretched from the foot Podium of the Temple of Mars the Avenger,
of sleazy Suburra to the edge Forum of Augustus
of Caesar’s Forum, was built to 9 Colosseum
celebrate Augustus’s victory in into the cell, and to have used See p397.
41 BC over Brutus and Cassius, the water to baptize two prison
the assassins of Julius Caesar. guards. The prison was in an old
Con sequentially, the temple in cistern with access to the city’s 0 Arch of
its centre was dedi cated to main sewer (the Cloaca Maxima). Constantine
Mars the Avenger. The temple, The lower cell was used for
with its cracked steps and four executions, and corpses were Between Via di San Gregorio and
Corinthian columns, is easily thrown into the sewer. However, Piazza del Colosseo. Map 6 F1.
identified. Originally it had a the inmates, who received no @ 75, 85, 87, 175, 673, 810. v 3.
q Colosseo.
statue of Mars that looked very food, often died of starvation.
like Augustus, but in case anyone
failed to notice the resemblance, 7 Forum of Caesar This triumphal arch is one of
a colossal statue of the emperor Imperial Rome’s last monu-
himself was placed against the Clivo Argentario. Map 3 A5. ments, built in AD 315, a few
wall of the Suburra quarter. Tel 06 06 08. @ 80, 85, 87, 175, 186, years before Constantine
810. Open to research scholars by moved the capital of the Empire
appointment only. to Byzantium. It was built to
celebrate Constantine’s victory
The first of Rome’s Imperial fora in AD 312 over his co-emperor
was built by Julius Caesar to Maxentius at the Battle of the
relieve congestion in the Milvian Bridge. Constantine
Roman Forum when Rome’s attributed the victory to a
population boomed. He spent a dream in which he was told to
fortune – most of it booty from mark his men’s shields with chi-
his recent conquest of Gaul – rho, the first two Greek letters
buying up and demolishing of Christ’s name. Christian
houses on the site. Pride of tradition prefers a version in
place went to a temple which the emperor has a vision
dedicated in 46 BC to Venus of the Cross, mid-battle. There
Genetrix (Venus the Ances tor), is nothing Christian about the
as Caesar claimed to be arch: most of the reliefs were
descended from the goddess. from earlier pagan monuments.
The temple contained statues
of Caesar and Cleopatra as well
as of Venus, but all that remains q Palatine
19th-century engraving of the today is a platform and three See pp398–9.
Mamertine Prison Corinthian columns. The forum
was once
6 Mamertine enclosed by
Prison a double
colonnade,
Clivo Argentario 1. Map 3 A5. under which
Tel 06 69 89 61. @ 80, 85, 87, 175, was sheltered
186. Open 9am–7pm daily (to 5pm in a row of shops.
winter). & 8 every 20 mins. However, this
burned down
Below the 16th-century church in AD 80 and
of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami was rebuilt by
is a dank dungeon in which, Domitian and
according to Christian legend, Trajan. The
St Peter and St Paul were impri- latter also
soned. They are said to have added the
caused a spring to bubble up Basilica The north side of the Arch of Constantine

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