FORUM, a Latin word, which originally signified an " open place," and is probably connected with fo•as, The Roman fora were places where the markets and courts of justice were held. The former were termed fora venalia, and the latter fora judicialia. Of the fora judiczalia, the most ancient and celebrated was the forum Roinanorum, or, par excellence, the forum magnum, occupying the quarter now known as the campo vaceino (or cattle-market). It stretched from the foot of the Capitoline hill, where the arch of Septhnius Severus stands, to the temple of the Dioscuri,. was seven jugcra in extent, and was surrounded by streets and houses. The boundary on the e. and n. was the Sacra via, of which the side nearest the F. was left open; while on the other were corridors and halls, such as those of the argentarii (bankers or money changers). At a later period, the site of these was, for the most part, occupied by basilicas and temples. In the eastern portion of this space, were held the earliest com itia (q.v.) of the Romans—the c,omitia curiata; hence this part took the name of the comitium, and was distinguished from the F. strictly so called. Here were hung up for the benefit of the public the laws of the twelve tables; and, after 304 13.C., the fasti
written on white tables to inform the citizens when the law-courts were open. The forum, in the narrower usage of the word, probably ceased to be employed as a market place about 472 a.c., when it became the place of assembly of the comitia tributa. Of the later fora venalia, the principal were the forum boarium (the cattle-market), the forum SUaritIla (pig-market), piscatorial?' (fish-market), olitorium (vegetable-market), etc. Pub lic banquets for the populace, and the combats of the gladiators, were, in the time of the republic, usually held in the great F., which also contained monuments of various kinds, of which may he mentioned the famous columna rostrata of C. Hollins, erected in memory of his victory over the Carthaginians. The rostra, or platforms from which public orations were delivered, formed the boundary between the F. in its narrow usage and the comitium. After the time of .Tulius Caesar and Augustus, the F. Romanorum lost the importance it had previously derived from being the central point of Roman political life. The other two fora judicialia were the forum Julii and the forum Augusti. Compare Becker, Handbuch, der Rom. Alterthfinzer (1 vol., Leipsic, 1843).