Forum of Nerva Italy

Legendary

An imperial forum completed under Emperor Nerva around AD 97.

Photo by Adam Lusch

The emperor who built this forum never got his name on it. Domitian started construction around 85 AD and died before it was finished.

He was assassinated in 96 AD, and the Roman Senate hated him so much they voted to erase his name from public monuments. His successor, Nerva, finished the job in 97 AD and put his own name on it instead.

Romans also called it the Forum Transitorium, meaning "the forum you pass through." That name describes exactly what it was for.

This wasn't a grand open plaza like the other imperial forums. It was long and narrow, only about 45 meters wide, and its main job was to connect the forums on either side.

An old street called the Argiletum already ran through here, linking the Roman Forum to a crowded neighborhood called the Subura. It was Rome's bookshop street, lined with booksellers and shoemakers.

Domitian's plan was to take that busy, messy road and dress it in marble. He wrapped it in white columns and turned an ordinary street into a monument.

Space was tight. Builders had to knock down part of the neighboring Forum of Augustus just to fit it in.

At one end stood a temple to Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and Domitian's favorite deity. Every March, Romans held a five-day festival here in her honor.

The temple survived almost intact for 1,500 years. Then in 1606, Pope Paul V had it torn down and used the marble to build a fountain and a chapel elsewhere in Rome.

Two tall columns still stand today. For centuries they were half-buried in rubble, and Romans nicknamed them "Le Colonnacce," meaning "the ugly columns."

Look up at the carved panel above those two columns to spot a figure in a helmet holding a shield. Peer down at the ruins from the sidewalk on Via dei Fori Imperiali, where you can see the whole layout from above. Visit the museum in Trajan's Markets nearby, where carvings recovered from the forum are on display.