If the Forum is set in 957 AUC (ab urbe condita), then the Arch of Septimius Severus, which was erected by the Senate to celebrate his victories against the Parthians in the East, had been completed only two years earlier in 203 AD, and is evidence for the earliest date of the world in which we now live.
There were no other significant alterations to the Forum until the time of Diocletian (284-305 AD), when a destructive fire the year before he became emperor provided an opportunity to rebuild. It was then that the seven columns in front of the Basilica Julia were added, the long shadows of which are so familiar to us. Five columns also were placed in front of the Temple of Divine Julius to provide symmetry to the five that already adorned the Rostra (but which have not been represented by the gods). A single larger column honoring Diocletian, himself, was placed in front of the Rostra, and eventually was reworked to become the Column of Phocae (it is indicated in a sketch of the Forum from Gordian's notebook but has not been recreated). Nor has the Arch of Augustus, which was located next to the Temple of Divine Julius (it, too, appears in a sketch). They, and other structures and adornments such as the bronze ships' prows (rostra) that gave the Rostra its name, presumably have been omitted to spare citizens the trouble of circumambulating them.
At the eastern end of the Basilica Aemilia is the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the columns of which are barely discernible from the Rostra (but which is represented in Gordian's sketch). It was dedicated by Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) to his wife and completed in 141 AD. Next to it, hidden from view, is the Temple of Divine Romulus, erected by Maxentius (306-312 AD) in honor of his son. Looming behind both is the edifice of the Basilica of Maxentius (originally called the Basilica Nova). Completed by Constantine sometime after 313 AD, it is one of the great architectural achievements of classical antiquity and the last building visible to us to have been constructed in the world of SPQR.
(Beyond the Forum, in the distance directly behind Divine Julius, is the Temple of Venus and Rome; dedicated in 135 AD and completed by Antoninus Pius, it was the largest of Rome's temples and one of the most splendid. Glistening high on the Capitoline Hill is the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, restored by Domitian in 89 AD.)
In little more than a millennium and a half, all this will be in ruins. The Arch of Severus still will stand, the best preserved monument in the Forum. So will the Curia with its triangular pediment, the foundation of the Basilica Aemilia, the portico of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and the great coffered vaults of the Basilica of Maxentius. The circular Temple of Vesta will be visible, and the three beautiful Corinthian columns and entablature of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The foundation of the Basilica Julia and the eight-columned portico of the Temple of Saturn will remain, as will the three corner columns and decorated frieze of the Temple of Vespasian, and the thick lower walls of the Tabularium.
They will testify that, once, we were here. How fortunate we are, citizens of Rome, to see our City now, in all its grandeur!
A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1992) by Lawrence Richardson and Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1968) by Ernest Nash are out of print, as is The Roman Forum (1970) by Michael Grant. Views of Rome Then and Now (1976) reproduces 41 large etchings by Piranesi, an 18th-century architect and artist, and compares them with contemporary photographs of the same sites. It is these etchings that most evoke the romance and poignancy of a Rome in ruins.
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