Editing Roman Forum (section)

===Roman Kingdom===
[[File:Rome in 753 BC.png|thumb|A speculative map of Rome {{circa|753 BC}} showing the swampy situation of the early Forum between the [[Arx (Roman)|Arx]] and [[Velian Hill|Velia]]]]

====Roman historical tradition====

According to Roman historical tradition, the Forum's beginnings are connected with the alliance between [[Romulus]], the first king of Rome controlling the [[Palatine Hill]], and his rival, [[Titus Tatius]], who occupied the [[Capitoline Hill]]. An alliance formed after combat had been halted by the prayers and cries of the [[Sabine]] women. Because the valley lay between the two settlements, it was the designated place for the two peoples to meet. Since the early Forum area included pools of stagnant water, the most easily accessible area was the northern part of the valley which was designated as the [[Comitium]]. It was here at the [[Vulcanal]] that, according to the story, the two parties laid down their weapons and formed an alliance.<ref>{{cite book |title = The Roman Forum and the Palatine According to the Latest Discoveries |url = https://archive.org/details/romanforumpalati00maru |last= Marucchi |first=Horace |publisher=Lefebvre |place=Paris |year = 1906 |pages =[https://archive.org/details/romanforumpalati00maru/page/1 1]–2|isbn = 978-81-237-4314-1 }}</ref>

The Forum was outside the walls of the original Sabine fortress, which was entered through the Porta Saturni. These walls were mostly destroyed when the two hills were joined.<ref>{{cite book |title = The Architectural History of the City of Rome | last=Parker| first=John Henry | publisher = Parker and Company| place = Oxford | year = 1881| page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=D_UAvPBgcDUC&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122 122]}}</ref> The original Forum functioned as an open-air market abutting on the Comitium, but eventually outgrew its day-to-day shopping and marketplace role. As political speeches, civil trials, and other public affairs began to take up more and more space in the Forum, additional fora throughout the city began to emerge to expand on specific needs of the growing population. Fora for cattle, pork, vegetables and wine specialised in their niche products and the associated deities.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

Rome's second king, [[Numa Pompilius]] (r. 715–673 BC), is said to have begun the cult of [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], building its [[House of the Vestals|house]] and [[Temple of Vesta|temple]] as well as the [[Regia]] as the city's first royal palace. Later [[Tullus Hostilius]] (r. 673–642 BC) enclosed the Comitium around the old Etruscan temple where the [[Senate of the Roman Kingdom|Senate]] would meet at the site of the Sabine conflict. He is said to have converted that temple into the [[Curia Hostilia]] close to where the Senate originally met in an old Etruscan hut. In 600 BC [[Tarquinius Priscus]] had the area paved for the first time.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

====Archaeological evidence====
[[File:Parte di fregio con minotauro e felini, 600-550 ac ca., da regia, foro romano (antiquarium del foro) 02.JPG|left|thumb|Fragment of a terracotta frieze plaque from the Regia at the east end of the Forum showing a minotaur and felines, c. 600–550 BC, Antiquarium Museo del Foro Romano]]
Originally a low-lying, grassy [[wetland]], the Forum was drained in the 7th century BC with the building of the first structures of [[Cloaca Maxima]], a large covered sewer system that emptied into the [[Tiber]], as more people began to settle between the two hills. Archaeological evidence shows that by the end of the 7th century BC, the ground level of the Forum was raised significantly in some places to overcome the problems of poor drainage and provide a foundation for a pebble-paved area.<ref>Ammerman, Albert J., 1990, “On the Origins of the Forum Romanum”,  ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 94, No. 4 (Oct., 1990), p. 627–645. </ref><ref name=":1">Lomas, 2018, pp. 90–95.</ref> In the middle of the 7th century BC thatch-and-timber huts were demolished on the route of the [[Via Sacra]] and rectangular stone buildings began to replace them.<ref>[[Timothy Peter Wiseman|Wiseman, Timothy Peter]], 2008, ''Unwritten Rome'', Exeter: University of Exeter Press, p. 2.</ref><ref name=":1" />

The earliest structures in the Forum were discovered in two separate locations: the site of the [[Comitium]] and the group of sanctuaries of [[Regia]] (House of the kings), [[House of the Vestals]] and [[Domus Publica]].<ref name=":1" /> Around 650–630 BC the area of the Comitium was excavated into a deep triangular depression. The area was paved with a beaten earth pavement and later replaced with a more substantial gravel one. Nearby was located an archaic sanctuary dedicated to [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]] known as [[Vulcanal]] (also ''Volcanal''): a small rectangular pit and elliptical basin carved out of an outcrop of [[tuff]].<ref>Filippi, Dunia, 2017 (edition in Italian in 2012), 'Region VIII. Forum Romanum Magnum', in [[Andrea Carandini]], Paola Carafa, ''The Atlas of Ancient Rome. Biography and Portraits of the City. Vol. 1. Text and Images'', Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, pp. 151–152.</ref><ref>Lomas, 2018, p. 91.</ref> It has been suggested that the earliest ancient materials collected in the area of the Vulcanal are from the second half of the 8th century BC.<ref>Carafa, Paolo, 2005, ‘Il Volcanal e il Comizio’, ''Workshop di Archeologia Classica'' 2, p. 135.</ref> It appears that the Romans were aware of the sites’ archaic origins: the foundation of the Comitium and Vulcanal were attributed to Romulus himself while the first [[Curia]] (senate house), which was located nearby, to [[Tullus Hostilius]].<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'', 2.50.2 (attributes the foundation of the Vulcanal to Romulus and Titus Tatius); Varro, ''On the Latin Language'', 5.74 (attributes the institution of the Vulcanal to Titus Tatius alone); Plutarch, ''Life of Romulus'', 19.27.6 (mentions that Romulus was supposedly killed by the senators next to the Vulcanal).</ref>

At the western end of the Forum, excavations near the House of the Vestals and the sanctuary of [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]] have revealed an important group of 7th-century-BC buildings. The archaeologists have identified them as the early phases of the Regia (House of the kings), House of the Vestals, and Domus Publica (official residence of the ''pontifex maximus'').<ref>Lomas, 2018, pp. 91–93.</ref> There seems to have been something of a surge in development of the Forum in the last quarter of the 7th century BC, as many of the changes date from 625 to 600 BC. Archaeologically, there is substantial evidence for development of the Forum in the 6th century BC: parts of the paving have been found and a large number of fragments of terracotta decorations from this area suggests that structures around the Forum were becoming more elaborate and highly decorated.<ref>Lomas, 2018, p. 145.</ref>