Page - 105 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

DylanK. Rogers 7 Aquatic Pasts& theWateryPresent: Water andMemory in the ForaofRome Abstract: The ForumRomanum in Rome is a space that was constructed on an aquatic land- scape– and subsequent built structures there reminded ancient Romans of that landscape, in addition tomythical, historical, andmytho-historical figuresandevents of thepast. Thispaper demonstrates how the city centre of Rome, replete with numerous monuments that did not actually have runningwater like subsequent grand fountains of the Imperial period,were the products of the commemorativepractices of theRomans, tieddirectly to sensorial experiences, memory, and identity. Themonuments explored here represent the power of the Romans, in additionto theirnavalvictoriesandmythicalpastpredicatedonwater.Themetaphysical topog- raphy of the ForumRomanumprovided a space intimately tied to water, which also had the potential to be replicated inother parts of theEmpire, tying its inhabitants to the capital. The city of Rome, the capital of a vast Empire, possessed spaces intimately associated with water in its Forum Romanum and adjacent Imperial Fora. Due in part to its ancient origins, the ForumRomanumbecame the city centre of Rome, and also provided amodel uponwhich subsequent fora in thecityand throughout theEmpirewerebased.TheForumRomanum,how- ever,wasbuilt uponanaquatic foundation, both literally and figuratively (Fig. 1). TheRomans usedtheaquatic landscapeof thespaceover time in thewaytheyconstructed thebuilt environ- ment there, particularlywithmonuments tied towater thatwere connected tomythical or his- torical figures, althoughwithout displayingmovingwater. The ensemble of the ForumRoma- numand the later Imperial Forademonstrates theways inwhichmonuments tied towater and water-displays evokemythical andhistorical events and figures, allowing for the commemora- tionof thepast andpresent throughwater andcreatinga shared senseof identity. Fig. 1:Rome,plan of the ForumRoma- num, ca. AD320: TullianumSpring Area (A), Previous LocationofRostra Augustiand RostrateColumns ofAugustus (B), PreviousLocationof LacusServilius(C), Templeof Janus (D), SacellumofVenus Cloacina (E), Lacus Curtius (F), Temple of Castor and Pollux (G), Lacus Iuturnae (H). OpenAccess.©2020DylanK. Rogers, publishedbyDeGruyter. Thiswork is licensedunder theCreative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110677065-007