Forum of Augustus - History

History

The triumvir Octavian vowed to build a temple honoring Mars, the Roman God of War, during the battle of Philippi in 42 BC. After winning the battle, with the help of Mark Antony and Lepidus, Octavian had avenged the assassination of his adoptive father Julius Caesar. He became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BC under the name Augustus, and planned for the temple to be built in a new forum named after himself.

It appears as if construction did not begin on the Forum until around 20 BC, when Augustus avenged Rome once again, this time by negotiating the release of the standards lost by Marcus Licinius Crassus to the Parthians. The land the Forum was to be built on was already owned by Augustus himself. However, the initial plans called for a bit more space than he had. In order to keep those on the land he would need to purchase to build upon, the plans were altered slightly, so some asymmetry is apparent, especially in the Eastern corner of the precinct; for which Suetonius states that Augustus did not dare to take the houses of the nearby owners by force. This self-proclaimed good deed was more than likely just a ploy to save Augustus money and trouble. These land issues, as well as numerous architectural mishaps, prolonged construction. The incomplete forum and its temple were inaugurated, 40 years after they were first vowed, in 2 BC.

With the dedication of the Forum of Trajan in 112, the number of inscriptions found in the Forum of Augustus decline, which suggests that many of its functions were transferred to the new venue, although Hadrian made some repairs. The educational and cultural use of the exedrae were recorded in the late antiquity. The last notice of the forum was given in 395. Archeological data testifies to the systematic dismantling of the structures in the first half of the 6th century, probably because it was seriously damaged in an earthquake or during the wars. The Forum of Augustus was among the first of the great public buildings of Rome which disappeared that also explains the rapid loss of the memory of its original name. In the 9th century a Basilian monastery was erected on the podium of the ruined temple.