View Page: The Forum Romanum

	The Forum Romanum
	written by eatonj / 09.01.2004

Section Five

5 of 7

Conclusion

http://www.silvanabrunotti.it/

Artistic Roman Forum

An painting of the Forum by modern Italian artist Silvana Brunotti.

http://cibs.tamu.edu/leden/Photo%20Journeys /Roman%20Holiday/images/roman-forum-11_gif.jpg

Sunrise in the Forum

The sun rises giving a gorgeous picture of the Temple of Saturn.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~classics/rome2003/ updates/week9_10/1124for6Web.JPG

Another Day Brings Another Night

Somehow the Forum looks even a bit more majestic at night.

For me personally, visiting the Roman Forum for the first time was one of the most chilling experiences of my life. It is amazing to see the complexity that people were able to accomplish two thousand years ago in light of all the troubles we have organizing society today. While the site does not look like much now, with a bit of imagination and knowledge regarding for what the collective monuments stood—knowledge which was hopefully conveyed in the paper—the Forum comes alive and impresses on a modern traveler the same sense of force and power that it would have impressed on a vistor from a faraway part of the Empire during the Augustan Era.

Also through careful study of the Forum we realize that development and life of ancient Roman society is not all that different from ours today. In the United States we still build sacred sights, and feel the pain as a nation when they are struck, we have a monumental Capitol, and presidential residence. We put great efforts into our malls and courthouses to make them impressive and construct monuments for our great leaders such as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. Just recently was opened in Washington DC a brand new memorial commemorating the sacrifices made for victory in WWII.

Finally, in the Forum we are able see first handedly the 1000 year evolution of one of the worlds greatest societies. To look down into the tomb of Romulus, to walk a few steps and stand where Julius Caesar was assassinated, and to view from the same vantage point where a Roman citizen may have heard Constantine decree Rome to be a Christian empire gives a unique view into the developments of human society. It is easy to see how the Romans incorporated the wisdom of the great Greek society before them into their own idealistic dreams, much as renaissance scholars looked to the Romans for guidance and we studied Renaissance designs to conceive our own interpretations of freedom. As noted above it is a very fine line that separates us from the great Roman culture of antiquity.

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