Pompeii and Herculaneum

Forum Function“Romanization by Addition and Modification”

Aerial and ground views of the Forum remains

VIRTUAL RECONSTRUCTION

Templeof

Jupiter

Templeof

Apollo

Basilica

AdministrationComitium

Houses

Houses

Houses

Macellum

Shops

Forum in the Late Samnite Period

Paul Zanker

Function of the Forum• Ancient cities, historically developed central meeting places,

initially as a market for exchange of goods. As cities became more complex, the function of the meeting place took on greater significance in terms of politics and religion

• The early Oscan settlement focused on the Triangular forum• Under Etruscan and Greek influence, the Temple of Apollo

was built along with the Basilica and Macellum. The building of these reflected no comprehensive plan of Forum function, rather it reflected the physical needs of the population at that time.

• The Function of the Forum in Roman times is reflected in the various types of its associated buildings, economic, religious, political . The Forum space however was equally vital in meeting the social needs of its citizens. The space provided a focal point for patron and client to be seen, important and ambitious politicians to make speeches and above all, festivals and processions to be seen by all its citizens.

• As well the rebuilding and beautification of the Forum became a reflection of status and identity within the Roman town.

Paul Zanker Pompeii; Public and Private Life

• “If we try to sum up the total effect of these separate and quite heterogeneous phenomena, we cannot help concluding that the half century from 80-30BC represented a period of significant transformation. Although the Hellenistic appearance of the town was preserved on the whole, the major new buildings shifted the accents. No coherent construction program developed similar to the one that had taken place in the previous century, for in Pompeii the colonists had encountered a town with excellent facilities…They erected a number of public buildings in the first decade after their arrival, but these structures were separate projects; they served less as a response to the new inhabitants needs than as a means of cementing Pompeii’s new identity. ….From then on sponsors and donors had more in mind than simply the effect of their gifts on their fellow citizens; their gaze was fixed on places farther afield, especially Rome. The resulting spirit of competition then spread from the elite to all strata of society. On all sides we see the need for exhibition and self promotion growing, reflected in public statues and private tombs, ..”

“Romanization by Addition and Modification”

• 1. The Temple of Jupiter at the head of the forum had been enlarged and made into the Capitoleum honoring the Roman Triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva

• 2. Three insula blocks had been cleared for new Roman projects, one of them a Temple honoring Venus

• Forum Baths and Central Baths which were still under construction in 79AD

• Two distant insulae had been fitted out with an arena and a palestra

• In the central forum area the Romans collected the shops that had lined and littered the forum itself and put them in a separate structure, the Macellum, attached to the Forum with an impressive frontage.

The forum was a pedestrian precinct, much like many town centres today, and as such, no wheeled traffic was allowed to enter. To prevent carts and wagons from entering the forum, blocking stones were set up and these can be seen in the photograph.

Temple of Jupiter- Capitoleum

Temple Design and Modification

• Standing at the northern side of the Forum is the Great Temple of Jupiter.  Built in 150 B.C.E., it became Pompeii's main temple when the city fell under the Roman Republic's rule.  A capitolium in structure and in pure Italic style, the temple was constructed on a high base, measuring 10 feet in height, 121 feet in length, and 56 feet in width, with a double flight of stairs at its front.  Inside the temple lay the "cella", accessible only to the priests, and which contained three niches at its far end.  Theses niches were occupied by statues of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva.  In 62 C.E., the temple was seriously damaged in an earthquake, and was in the process of being repaired when Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 C.E.

Celebratory arches, built in opus latericium and faced with marble were part of the transformation during the Augustan period. Two were built either side of the Temple of Jupiter. The one dedicated to Nero no longer remains

Entrance to the Macellum

Kirk Martini, an assistant professor of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Virginia and an IATH Fellow, has been applying terrestrial photogrammetry to create a 3-D model of the Macellum

Macellum Design and Modification

• The Macellum was a covered market. It had an open area in the centre in which there was a circular building which contained a pool of water. This pool most probably contained fish which could be bought. Around the edge of the Macellum were shopsor 'tabernae' and some of the wall paintings which still survive indicate what goods were sold here - they include fish, bread, poultry and wine. At the back of the building there was a shrine dedicated to members of the Imperial family.

• A market had existed on the site since the 2nd century BC. It was rebuilt during the first half of the 1st century AD and further work was carried out after the 62 earthquake

• Part of the Ist century work included a portico with plinths of Imperial citizens, lining the entrance from the Forum. The entrance walls were also lined with frescoes in the 4th style, depicting scenes from mythology

Artistic recreation

Pattern of Reconstruction

There was a pressing priority to restore operation as soon as possible, reflected in the rough ancient patching of Areas B, D, and E. Once basic human services were restored, there was then a longer term priority to take advantage of the opportunity the rebuild bigger and better. This opportunity appears to have been taken in the western shops, as an independent addition to the building, plugging it into a larger renovation and rebuilding of

the Forum. Kirk Martini

Post earthquake debate?

• The Macellum façade project and the wall shared by the Sanctuary of the Lares and the Eumachia building are post 62 constructions. This rebuilding emphatically refutes the theory of urban decline

Sanctuary of the Lares and Temple of VespasianImportance of theImperial Cult

Temple Design

• The Temple of Vespasian, and its position in the forum, reflect the importance of the Imperial cult in Pompeii. The cella of the temple is on a raised platform at the back, in the centre of the building. The altar of the templestands in front of the shrine. • Built at the beginning of the Ist century AD,

and built of opus latericium, faced with marble dates from the restoration work following the 62 earthquake

• The white marble altar bears a scene depicting sacrifice of a bull, customary in the Imperial cult.

CAD MODEL OF THE Imperial Cult Building

Eumachia Building

Building Design; Wool Sales or Community building?

• the Eumachia building, is located south of the Temple of Vespasian. A rich and very influential priestess of Venus named Eumachia and her son dedicated this building to Concordia Augusta and Pietas. Concordia was the Roman goddess of harmony.

• This building was extraordinarily lavish;built in opus lateritium and faced with marble panels its interior was as well faced with the most expensive kinds of marble, and the entrance to the building features an intricately carved marble door frame believed to have been commissioned from a workshop in Rome. The Eumachia building featured a statue of Concordia with a gilded cornucopia and portrayed with the hairstyle and features of Livia, the wife of Augustus (Zanker 93-97). The front of the building had niches featuring images of famous men from Roman history, such as Aeneas and Romulus (Laurence). Eumachia was a patron of the guild of the fullones, who were fabric washers and dryers, and this building is believed to have been used at least part of the time as a wool market (Grant 199).

Dedication to Eumachia by the Fullers Guild

Different Interpretation-Eumachia and Livia; patronage reaffirms status.

Eumachia, daughter of Lucius [Eumachius], a public priestess, in her own name and [in the name] of her son, Marcus Numistrius Fronto, built at her own expense the chalcidicum, the porticus, and the crypta, and dedicated them to Concordia Augusta

and to Pietas.

Porticus Liviae-23BC

“…With his children ,friends, wife and

sister,have repaired all .”

Style

Civic Buildings

Building Design and Modification

• At the south side of the forum were the municipal offices or offices associated with the local government of Pompeii.

• This building which has a marble floor was most probably used for the meetings of the decurion which was a sort of local council.

• The Comitium housed the peoples Assembly used for voting procedures during elections

Basilica

Basilica Design and Modification

nm ,l,;/The oldest extant building of its Hellenistic type, it was built circa 190-120 BC.

Occupying over 16,000 ft, it was by far the most elaborate pre Roman structure. Home of the court of justice and centre of economic life, the volume of daily business is evidenced by the five doors from the Forum.

Its central nave and two aisles were originally covered by a sloping roof supported by the massive central Ionic columns.

At the rear was the tribunal where magistrates sat, reached by wooden steps. The side walls were decorated with stucco reliefs Some traces of the original plasterwork in the first style have survived

The date of the Building of a three sided portico is debatable but some time, late Ist century BC

This building was largely destroyed in the earthquake of 62 AD and had not yet been rebuilt

Virtual Basilica

Temple of Apollo

Temple Design and Modification

• Sacred ground since the sixth century BC• The Temple of Apollo was constructed by the Samnites

on a site where the Greeks are thought to have consecrated to Apollo's worship as early as the 5th century B.C.E.  The sacred area and temple was surrounded by a portico which can still be seen today.  Like the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Apollo was constructed in an Italic style, with a flight of steps leading up a high base.  Originally surrounded by 28 Corinthian columns, only two remain standing at it's entrance.At the far end of the temple wall, were painted scenes from the Iliad.  Statues of Apollo and Diana face opposite each other within the temple, while statues of Venus and Hermaphroditus were placed on the bases of the entrance portico. 

EXTANT REMAINS

Mensa Ponderaria

• This is the 'mensa ponderaria' or the public weights and measures table. This was used to check the accuracy of the measures of the merchants who sold their products in the forum.

• The weights and measures table was first used by the Oscans before the Romans came to Pompeii. When the Romans arrived they modified the measures and this is recorded in an inscription on the table itself

Warehouse or Forum Holitorium

Reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter in Imperial times

Honorific Monuments

• In addition to these new buildings, a number of honorific monuments were added to the Forum. Augustus had decreed that public places in the Roman Empire should display statues of himself as well as of important previous Roman rulers and generals in order to provide inspiration and models of Roman greatness to all Roman citizens In Pompeii, at least forty statues were installed around the Forum. The old statues of civic leaders from the Colonial Era were relocated away from the south end of the Forum, through which many people would have passed on their way from the Via dell'Abbondanza and the Marine Gate, and replaced by an arch and two large monuments to the imperial family. On the north end of the Forum, large arches were built on each side of the capitolum, and equestrian statues believed to honor the imperial family were placed by the steps of the te

Carroll William WestfallLearning from Pompeii; The final report of the PFR

• The form and face of the forum changed with each political incarnation of the city.

• “Roman culture was distinguished from other ancient cultures by the enlarged role the public life played in private affairs. Roman society was more extensively stratified and more wealth and public honors were available to each of the various grades….Architecture was the most effective means of making this point. The Roman city had more public buildings and a more obvious public character in its public places…Roman Pompeii used civic activity and urban architecture to show that the religious and civic life gave order and vitality to private and commercial affairs….”

62-79AD Urban Renewal or Decay?

• “The conventional view is that the state of the Forum in 79AD was still in disrepair from the impact of the earthquake of 62AD . The Pompeians had neglected the city’s buildings and the Forum was nothing more than a builders yard. The alleged absence of recovery has been seen as symptomatic of the general state of economic depression at the site

• The buildings themselves tell a different story. Newly interpreted evidence points to a post earthquake plan for the Forum, a design whose hallmarks are the unification and monumentalizatiion of the urban centre. These goals were achieved by blocking off the streets, linking facades, upgrading building materials and emphasizing the entrance that now provided major access to the Forum. It is possible that such a program was beyond the means of the Pompeian treasury. It is possible that assistance was given by Rome as there is ample evidence that this was the policy. The current perspective due to the work of the Forum Project is that rather than being a symbol of economic depression its vigorous post earthquake building program revealed a desire to build on a grand scale.”

Penelope Allison

Forum of Herculaneum-Decuman Gate leading to the forum, still buried under volcanic rock

Underground Forum

Collegium Augustales

Design

College of the AugustalesThe headquarters for the cult of the Imperial family, featuring stories from the life of Hercules and typical Style III architectural decorations. In this Augustan Age style a large central picture would be flanked by imaginary, and rather insubstantial, architectural

pictures

Basilica Design

• The building consisted of a large rectangular hall divided into three sections by rows of columns in the traditional layout

• At either end of the Basilica were recesses (exedra) with frescoes of mythological characters, among them Theseus and the Minotaur and The Finding of Telephus showing a naked Hercules, legendary founder of the town, recognising his baby son.

• In additional to the frescoes, both bronze and marble statuary was found.  At the entrance to the Basilica stood two equestrian statues, one depicting the town's major benefactor, the afore- mentioned  Marcus  Nonius  Balbuswhilst the other was of his son.  Inside the Basilica were further statues of the proconsul and his family (wife, father, mother and two daughters) as well as statues of the emperors.

Reconstruction of the Basilica