The Roman Forum: A Reconstruction and Architectural Guide

by Gilbert J. Gorski, James E. Packer

The Roman Forum was in many ways the heart of the Roman Empire. Today, the Forum exists in a fragmentary state, having been destroyed and plundered by barbarians, aristocrats, citizens, and priests over the past two millennia. Enough remains, however, for archaeologists to reconstruct its spectacular buildings and monuments. This richly illustrated volume provides an architectural history of the central section of the Roman Forum during the Empire (31 BCE–476 CE), from the Temple of Julius Caesar to the monuments on the slope of the Capitoline hill. Bringing together state of the art technology in architectural illustration and the expertise of a prominent Roman archaeologist, this book offers a unique reconstruction of the Forum, providing architectural history, a summary of each building's excavation and research, scaled digital plans, elevations, and reconstructed aerial images that not only shed light on the Forum's history but vividly bring it to life. With this book, scholars, students, architects, and artists will be able to visualize for the first time since antiquity the character, design, and appearance of the famous heart of ancient Rome.

Genres: History, Architecture

457 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2014

Reviews

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this book five stars because the art is spectacular, with explanatory photographs of the present state of the ruins and computer drawings re-creating the Forum Romanum at its architectural height, a few centuries into the imperial period. There are a number of great diagrams showing how the buildings relate to each other and detailed plans for every structure, as well as some brief but well written text on each. The computer art includes both details of each building and various plans and site lines showing sections of the forum as they appeared in antiquity.

If there is fault to find with this book it is in its price - it's expensive at $250 - and the non-technical nature of the text. Given this perhaps this is more intended for libraries than for home bookshelves. The classical orders and decorative aspects of the buildings are covered, and a few details are shared that aren't easily found elsewhere, but there isn't as much depth in the writing as you might expect.

If you have an interest in Roman history and have the budget (or a library card) this one is highly recommended.