1 Earliest Rome

1. The Roman Forum (see 4.7) and the Forum of Caesar.
4.3 Altars and the Ara Paris
2. These standing courts had been established in the early first century B.C. to deal with a
range of major offences, including extortion in the provinces, poisoning and treason.
Other trials continued to take place in the Roman Forum, particularly in the Basilica
Julia (see 4.7).
3. It is unclear whether Suetonius means part of their booty or the 'ornaments' (sucli as lau­
rel wreaths) that might be granted to a successful general on his return.
4.2d The emperor Claudius in the Forum of Augustus
Suetonius, ilife of 'Claudius 33
The following anecdote ftold as a jibe against Claudius' gluttony) gives a sense
of how the different functions of the Forum and temple, sometimes conveniently,
juxtaposed.
He bad an enormous appetite for food and drink, no matter where he was or
whatever the time of day. Once, when be was hearing law cases in the Forum of
Augustus, the smell reached him of a meal being prepared for the Salii 1
in the temple of
Mars nearby. Leaving the tribunal 2
he went up to the priests and reclined at the table with
them.
1. See 5.4.
2. The raised platform from which Romans acting as judges beard legal cases.
4.3 Altars and the Augustan Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) at Rome
Most religious sites were on a much smaller scale than the grandiose 'show
temples' of the city of Rome. A place of sacrifice might simply be an altar, perhaps
within its own precinct wall, but entirely in the open air, with no aedes at
all. Though unusually lavish in its sculptural decoration and strongly
influenced by classical Greek forms, the Ara Pacis (vowed 13 B.C., dedicated 9
B.C.) well illustrates one such type of structure.
See further: Vol. 1, 204 fig. 4.6, 331-6; Toynbee (1953)*; Torelli (1982)
27-61 (Ara Pacis) and 63-88 (Ara Pietatis (of Piety)*; D.E. Strong (1988)
80-3*; Zanker (1988) 120-3,179-83, 203-4; Eisner (1991); D. E. E. Kleiner
(1992) 90—9; Billows (1993); for possible Greek predecessors, Thompson
(1952); D. E. E. Kleiner (1978). Another part of the sculpture from the Ara
Pacis is illustrated at 6.1a.
4.3a Reconstruction of the Ara Pads
Panels from the altar were found in a series of discoveries between the sixteenth
century and the major excavation of its site in the 1930s. It has been reassembled
along the lines of reconstruction shown here. (Width 11.68 m.; depth 10.56 in.)
83