Page - 118 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

118 DylanK. Rogers movingbeyondmereallusions toanaquaticpast, andshowwater to spectators.74The incorpo- ration ofwater can be subtle (e.g. the ForumTransitoriumbuilt over the course of the Cloaca Maxima), demonstrative (e.g. the fountains associatedwith the podium temples of the Fora of CaesarandAugustus), or trulyostentatious (e.g. the largewaterbasins in theopencourtof the Templum Pacis).75 In the end, the Imperial Fora continue the tradition begun in the Forum Romanumof evoking an aquatic past,while actually usingwater itself to continue crafting an identity tied towater. The Imperial Fora, in contrast to theForumRomanum, employ theuseofmovingwater, in addition tometaphorical associationswith its display. For theRomans,movingwaterwas con- sidered to be free from impurities, and thusmovingwater could also be used for a variety of purposes, including drinking and religious rituals.76 While the water-displays of the fora of Caesar and Augustus were small, compact fountains, they still provided water that could be used fordrinking, in addition toadding to theaesthetic experienceof the space. TheTemplum Pacis, on the other hand, used truly newways of displaying water that not only included a large show ofmoving water, but also effectively integrated the show into a space that acted as a cohesive ensemble for a unique sensorial experience. The patrons of each of thewater- displays also providedmytho-historical associations for those passing by. One only needs to thinkof themarinenatureofVenus,bornonthesea, inCaesar’s forumconnectedto theTemple ofVenusGenetrix, thenaval victories ofAugustus related to theTempleofMarsUltor, and the abundanceassociatedwithbothpeaceandwater (although the twodonotneed tobemutually exclusive). The use of water-displays in the Imperial Fora then help to set the trend of water use in theEmpire,whennewaqueductswereconstructed throughout theMediterranean,allow- ing for new types ofwater-displays. Yet the ForumRomanumdoesnot have any extantwater- displays per se. Its watery past, stressed through thewater-related structures, acts in tandem with thewater featuresof the Imperial Fora, creatingacity centre that is entirelypredicatedon water. Conclusions The built environment of the Forum Romanum, the civic space par excellence for the whole Romanworld,was literally and figuratively foundedonwater.Aswehave seen, thenumerous structures built over the centuries capitalized on the water in a variety of ways. Monuments commemorated theaquatic landscapeof thispartof thecity, evoking thepaludialhistoryof the forumbasin.Othermonumentscelebratedthenavalvictoriesof theRomansthroughouthistory, extolling thevirtuesofdominationof the seas. Inother cases,monuments recalled forpassers- by eithermythical beings thatwere associatedwith the area, or historical events tied towater. Andoneof theunderlying themes that ties thesemonuments together is thepowerdemonstrat- ed by theRomans, either against nature or foe – and certainly in the ability to harnesswater, as is the case especially in the Imperial period.77 Themonuments that we explored in the ForumRomanumdo not havemovingwater, as was the case in the Imperial period. Instead, we have a situation here in which the Romans 74 On the increaseofwater inRomeafter theRepublic, seeRogers 2018b, 26. 75 On the Forum Iulium fountains located in front of the Temple of VenusGenetrix, see: Ov. ars 1, 81; Plin. nat. 36, 4, 33;Ulrich 1986; Longfellow2011, 18–20;Delfino 2010;Delfino 2014.On the fountains in front of theTemple ofMarsUltorof theForumAugustum,seeLongfellow2011, 20f.On thebasins in theTemplumPacis, seeLaRocca 2001, 195f.;Meneghini–SantangeliValenzani 2007, 61–63;Meneghini 2014, 285; contraMacaulay-Lewis 2011, 281, n.84; Tucci 2017, 58–62. 76 Rogers 2018b, 8. 77 On thepower associatedwithwater in theRomanworld, seeRogers 2018b, 64–67.