Period by Period

The Roman Forum

The Time of Kings: 7th To 6th Centuries B.C.

Once an uninviting marshland, much of the site of Rome first became habitable only in the late seventh century B.C., when the Etruscan kings Tarquin I and Servius Tullias (c. 616–535 B.C.) drained the swamp. The valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills then became the central marketplace of the city. The main square—located in the southwestern section of the current Forum—was home to numerous shops, temples and public entertainments (like the wrestling matches depicted in this Etruscan fresco from the Tomb of the Augurs). Several of the oldest extant structures in the modern Forum, including the Curia, the Regia, the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Janus, the Lapis Niger and the Vulcanal, date from Etruscan times.

The Republican Era: 5th To 3rd Centuries B.C.