Structure
The forum was enclosed by a wall made of brick surfaced with stucco and measured 100 meters by 80 meters. A total of 61 rooms, each which was 4 meters by 4 meters, opened up to the forum. The rooms were separated by a wooden partition and were arranged based on geographical origin of the merchant or business, the majority which were based in Africa.
There is also temple in the middle of the forum to Annona Augusta, the Divinity of Imperial Supplies, or Ceres Augusta. This temple served as a guild temple and reflects the role of religion in all aspect of Roman life, including business.
The most notable detail of the Forum of Corporations are the intricate black and white mosaics that lie in front of each shop. These mosaics indicated the professional associations of each vendor as well as inspired a sense of nostalgia for the distant homes of each of the merchants. The forum was adjacent to the theater of Ostia and people would also pass through the forum before and after performances.
Read more about this topic: The Forum Of Corporations
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“The philosopher believes that the value of his philosophy lies in its totality, in its structure: posterity discovers it in the stones with which he built and with which other structures are subsequently built that are frequently better—and so, in the fact that that structure can be demolished and yet still possess value as material.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“If rightly made, a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal, a creature of two elements, related by one half its structure to some swift and shapely fish, and by the other to some strong-winged and graceful bird.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)