The story of this place
For over a thousand years the Forum was the beating heart of Rome—its marketplace, law courts, and stage for triumphs and funerals. Here Cicero delivered orations, senators debated in the Curia, and in 44 BC Mark Antony gave the eulogy that turned the mob against Caesar's assassins after his body was cremated on the spot. Temples to Saturn, Vesta, and the deified Caesar rose among basilicas and the Rostra speaking platform. As Rome's centre shifted and the empire fell, the Forum silted over into the 'Campo Vaccino'—a cow pasture—until 18th- and 19th-century excavations revealed the marble skeleton of the ancient world's capital.