Pompeii Forum -
The Main Square of the Ancient Pompeii

"Pompeii Forum was the main civic, commercial and religious center and is a must see when visiting Pompeii ruins..."


Just as any other Roman forum, the forum in Pompeii, part of Pompeii ruins, was a large open space of an oblong shape, surrounded by buildings, houses, temples, basilicae, porticos...

In other words, Pompeii forum was an urban center, a main square of the city, home to town's main civic, commercial and religious institutions. The center of life and interest for its citizens, a bustling crowd that came here every day to meet, gossip, run business or worship. A must see when visiting Pompeii!

Situated at the crossing of the two old routes between Pompeii and Naples, Nola and Stabiae, Pompeii forum used to be right in the center of the town but from the 2nd Ct. BC, as the town grew, it was left on its outskirts. However, it kept a major role in Pompeii religious, economic and political life.

To locate Pompeii Forum, check our Map of Ancient Pompeii

At the time of Sulla, Pompeii forum was enclosed on three sides by a portico, raised above ground level by three steps and made up of fluted Doric columns on the ground level and Ionic ones around the first floor covered passageway.

pompeii forum image, pompeii forum picture

In front of the portico, there were the pedestals for statues of distinguished residents.

Those of the members of the Imperial house were placed on the south side of the forum, in front of the administrative buildings.

520 feet long and 109 feet wide (157x38 meters), the Pompeii forum was paved with marble blocks and closed for cart traffic.

Here's the list of buildings you'll be able to see in the Pompeii forum:

  • Temple of Jupiter - it stood at the raised platform of masonry, nine and a half feet high, approached by 15 steps.
  • Arch to Drusus and arch of Germanicus
  • Municipal buildings - the function of these buildings is still debated about; one is thought to have served as a meeting room for the administrators, another might have been a legal archive and the third one the hall of the decurions, members of the city Senate.
  • Comitium - an open-air hall that served as a polling station for public office elections.
  • The Basilica - a building dedicated to administering justice and for business negotiations and transactions.
  • Eumachia - this building could possible have served as a wool market and was built and financed by the priestess Eumachia.
  • Macellum - the city's main food market.
  • The Sanctuary of the Lares Publici - either dedicated to the gods that protected Pompeii or to the Imperial family.
  • Forum Granary - once used to store grain for sale, today it is a storage space for different archaeological findings from Pompeii: amphorae, architectural elements, plaster casts of victims etc.
  • The Temple of Apollo
  • Temple of Vespasian - also referred to as the Sanctuary of the Genius of Augustus, as more archaeologists believe it was dedicated to Augustus, rather than Vespasian.

Today, the forum is one of the must see Pompeii ruins when visiting the ancient city Pompeii, bustling with tourists just as it used to with old Romans 2000 years ago, don't miss it!

RELATED ARTICLES:

CRUISE POMPEII ARTICLES TABLE OF CONTENTS

From POMPEII FORUM to Mediterranean Cruise Ports Easy 
HOME PAGE


Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

MartinaMykonos

Hello! My name is Martina and I have been living, working and cruising in the Med for the past 20 years. Now I want to make you Med confident! Read more about me...


TAKE A SHORTCUT TO TOP 30 MOST VIEWED PAGES OF 2023:


1. Livorno to Pisa

2. Port of Venice

3. Naples to Pompeii

4. Capri ferry

5. Livorno to Florence

6. Kusadasi shopping

7. Livorno to Pisa by Bus

8. Map of Venice

9. Port of Dubrovnik

10. Livorno Italy

11. Venice people  mover

12. Dubrovnik Croatia

13. Naples to Capri

14. What to pack for Europe

15. Getting to Dubrovnik

16. Messina Sicily

17. Pisa Train

18. Visiting Pompeii

19. Pompeii forum

20. Port of Piraeus

21. Getting to Florence

22. Venice vaporetto

23. Venice water bus

24. Livorno map

25. Getting to Zadar

26. Venice cruise terminal

27. Walk Venice

28. Mykonos beach

29. Tourist information Lucca Italy

30. Pomepii homes