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We travel to the land of pizza, pasta, and ancient Roman ruins.

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1000places > ANCIENT ROME - We continued our walk down the Via Sacra to this rather austere brick building. Architectually challenged, perhaps, but this was the most important political building in the Forum - the Curia, or Senate House.

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - While the present Curia dates from AD 283, this was the site of Rome's official center of government from the birth of the republic (in 509 BC).

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - Here, inside the Curia, 300 senators elected by the citizens of Rome, would meet to debate and create the laws of the land. Once there would have been three tiers of wooden seats encircling the mosaic marble floor. Today, a lonely statue at one end and scattered pieces of carved reliefs have been placed inside to provide a partial image of the interior.

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - Another of the grand arches that remain in the Forum (there are three). This one - the Arch of Septimius Severus - commemorates the African-born emperor's battles in Mesopotamia. At the time it was erected in AD 206, the Roman empire was beginning to show its first signs of decay.

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - Nonetheless, a carved relief on the Arch of Septimius Severus depicts soldiers marching captured barbarians back to Rome for a triumphal parade. But it wouldn't be long before escalating attacks by the barbarians would take their toll, and Rome would begin to crumble.

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - Once a great column, perhaps part of a temple or political building, stood atop this intricately carved base dedicated by the Emperor Diocletian in 303 AD

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - Often overlooked by many who walk through the Forum, this squat, unassuming brick structure was the symbol of Roman freedom. This was the Rostrum (Rostra in Latin), the "Speaker's Corner." Once decorated with the prows of captured ships ("rostra"), this is where Rome's orators addressed the populace. Here is where Mark Antony rose at Julius Caesar's funeral to utter "Friends, Romans, countryman...." (actually, those were the words of Shakespeare, not Antony).

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - The Temple of Saturn: these columns once framed the entrance to the Forum's oldest temple (497 BC). Inside, the story is told, was a wooden statue of the god Saturn, old and decaying. But within the statue's pedestal, the ancient Romans stockpiled the gold bars, coins, and jewels of their state Treasury.

1000places > ANCIENT ROME - Another view of the Temple of Saturn. Because of the link of Saturn with agriculture, the original source of Rome's wealth, the temple was the repository for the State treasury. It also contained the bronze tablets on which Roman law was inscribed.

ANCIENT ROME - We continued our walk down the Via Sacra to this rather austere brick building. Architectually challenged, perhaps, but this was the most important political building in the Forum - the Curia, or Senate House.

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Keywords: forum italy rome curia roman forum senate house

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