Was the Forum a marketplace in the modern sense?

[Trethiwr]

I'm a bit confused,

I was under the impression that the Forum of any large city was a huge open square surrounded by colonnades and certain public buildings.

In the central area it would have (eek there's those two words "would have" which mean "I'm making this up now") been bustling with people and stalls selling everything that a modern Roman might need, from fruit and veg to household items, clothes jewellery and mobile phon... no sorry, not mobile phones, but everything else, oil lamps, folding cutlery sets, candles, fabrics, etc etc etc. (Edit, oh yes and beards of course, but you've gotta haggle!)

 

I read that the Forum Magnum in Rome started out as a market but outgrew that use and there were other markets some specialising in certain things, just as happened in London centuries later, with places like Leather Lane, Cornhill, Poultry, and Threadneedle Street, getting their names.

 

Yet when I search for "Roman forum artist's reconstruction" I get pictures of completely empty space surrounded by columns.

 

Am I missing something or are they?

Edited November 9, 2010 by Trethiwr

[Melvadius]

I'm a bit confused,

<SNIP>

when I search for "Roman forum artist's reconstruction" I get pictures of completely empty space surrounded by columns.

 

Am I missing something or are they?

 

It is a bit small but in the article at the enclosed link there

is a photograph of the model of the Second Great Forum and Basilica in Roman London laid out with stalls across it.

 

Part of the problem is probably the dual function of Roman fori and the need to show the projected structure from physical remains so artists may tend to 'shy away' from trying to put in stalls when there is no real evidence how they would have been laid out. There is also the issue that there were administrative buildings and sometimes small shops or businesses as well as temples usually located at the edge of the forum in any town and a specialist macellum for animal produce could eventually develop elsewhere in a Roman town - although at some I have seen this was close to or even adjoining the original forum.

[Northern Neil]

One thing to consider is that in many Roman towns there were purpose built market complexes built separately from the Forum itself. Trajan's Market in Rome is a fine example, as are the 'kiosks' at Leptis Magna. The 'Serapaeum' at Pozzuoli is thought to be another example. Trajan's Market consists of a complex of streets which have what plainly appear to be shop fronts facing the road. The kiosks of Leptis and the example at Pozzuoli consist of circular collonaded or arched structures resembling round temples.

 

These really did work in much the same way as a modern market, in that there were a lot of purpose-built shops and stalls concentrated in one place. So, I think it would be fair to say that the Forum was mainly administrative but sometimes hosted a market and permanently sited businesses, but also there were permanent purpose built markets built elsewhere in the town.

 

A Wikipedia search for Trajan's Market and Pozzuoli turns up some good photos. Here is a good pic of the Leptis Magna kiosk.

[GhostOfClayton]

You may have to a bit of digging on this (or go there) to confirm, but I'm sure from my visit to Wroxeter, it had a seperate market. If Wroxeter did, Londinium surely would have.

Edited November 10, 2010 by GhostOfClayton

[Kosmo]

I liked how the forum, actually agora, of Alexandria was depicted in the movie Agora. The agora from Agora. I think it was realistic because it showed the space cluttered with statues and monuments and we know that cities often rewarded outstanding services from citizens with statues and also erected statues for kings/rulers/emperors. Also they displayed monumental decrees, edicts, charters etc Even taking in account destructions and recycling of monuments the result of centuries of accumulation would have been clutter in the forum/agora.

[Trethiwr]

 

It is a bit small but in the article at the enclosed link there

is a photograph of the model of the Second Great Forum and Basilica in Roman London laid out with stalls across it.

...

 

That's an interesting article, it describes the forum as being larger than Trafalgar Square.

That is huge I don't think there is nay market in Europe that is so big.

 

I remember in Pompeii the little shops along one wall, they were just cubicles all in a row, where goods could be stored and then brought out and displayed to sell when the shop was open.

I've got a little picture book from there but I can't remember where it is. It had pictures of the town now, overlaid with reconstructions painted onto clear plastic.

 

The article also raises a new problem for me. It says the wall was built around 200 ad which means that my story is factually incorrect as it is set about the middle of the century and the wall is there.

Damn!

[Crispina]

 

It is a bit small but in the article at the enclosed link there

is a photograph of the model of the Second Great Forum and Basilica in Roman London laid out with stalls across it.

...

 

That's an interesting article, it describes the forum as being larger than Trafalgar Square.

That is huge I don't think there is nay market in Europe that is so big.

 

I remember in Pompeii the little shops along one wall, they were just cubicles all in a row, where goods could be stored and then brought out and displayed to sell when the shop was open.

I've got a little picture book from there but I can't remember where it is. It had pictures of the town now, overlaid with reconstructions painted onto clear plastic.

 

The article also raises a new problem for me. It says the wall was built around 200 ad which means that my story is factually incorrect as it is set about the middle of the century and the wall is there.

Damn!

 

I wish I had a copy of that little picture book! I've been spending hours at the site Klingan suggested, "Pompeii in Pictures". My imagination is working overtime trying to decide how the houses/buildings might have appeared before the eruption. It's the closest I'll ever get to seeing the site. Actually, I found one of those picture books of the Forum at the church rummage sale one year.

[Melvadius]

Sorry Trethiwr but the London wall does date to the early Third century although I have been told that there is even some debate about precisely when the dock areas were blocked off. I was told by one of the excavators that there is some indications that where there are short inlet docking areas these may actually have been kept open after the wall was built until a lot later in the Roman period.

 

At most initially possibly only being blocked off by 'chains' or a similar temporary barrier mainly intend to prevent ships sailing in and out without paying a toll.

 

BTW We have several of these small guide books for various sites including Pompeii, Herculaneum and I believe Paestum.

 

If you search Amazon for 'guide with Reconstructions' quite a few different locations come up.

[Trethiwr]

That's the very book.

I know its in the house somewhere but I might not find it until we move.

[Crispina]

Sorry Trethiwr but the London wall does date to the early Third century although I have been told that there is even some debate about precisely when the dock areas were blocked off. I was told by one of the excavators that there is some indications that where there are short inlet docking areas these may actually have been kept open after the wall was built until a lot later in the Roman period.

 

At most initially possibly only being blocked off by 'chains' or a similar temporary barrier mainly intend to prevent ships sailing in and out without paying a toll.

 

BTW We have several of these small guide books for various sites including Pompeii, Herculaneum and I believe Paestum.

 

If you search Amazon for 'guide with Reconstructions' quite a few different locations come up.

 

Ok, where's my credit card. (thanks!)