Forum (Roman)

A Forum (Latin, plural: Fora or Germanized forums) was in the cities of the Roman Empire, a place that was the political, legal, economic and religious center of the town. It corresponded largely to the Greek agora. The translation as "marketplace" is not always true because there were sometimes separate yards for economic activities.

Model and was named after the Roman Forum in Rome, where there still were other forums, such as especially the trade serving Forum Boarium. Well-preserved examples of forums can be visited, for example, in Pompeii, Ostia or some ruined cities of North Africa. In France there were forums in Gallo-Roman oppida, such as in Alesia.

While the forums were redesigned again in Rome over the centuries and rebuilt, the corresponding spaces designed systems, which were generally at the intersection of two main streets of the city and were monumentally expanded were in the cities of the empire often. For common facilities included one or more temples, meeting rooms for urban institutions and associations as well as indoor plants ( Basilica, portico ).

Because often trials were carried out on or in the forum, it " ( sort ) court " has the legal jargon at the same time the importance obtain (see Forensic Science ).

Forum with a distinctive addition has also been a multiple-occurring city name in the Roman Empire, which suggests that the court system was the starting point for the city's founding. An example is Forum Julii in the South of France, today Fréjus.