Little is known about the forum in the early first century. It would eventually comprise the area of blocks 22, 28, 34 and 40. The north-west part was surrounded by porticoes, partly on top of an underground corridor (cryptoporticus). On the south-eastern part was a temple that has not yet been investigated in detail. Fragments were discovered of a group of five Imperial statues that were 3.30-4.00 m. high. One statue was of Agrippina the Elder, granddaugher of Augustus, depicted as Fortuna holding a horn of plenty. An armoured statue may have been of Germanicus, adoptive son of Tiberius. A third statue may have been of the deified Augustus. A date during the reign of Tiberius has been suggested, after a senatus consultum of 19 AD, which ordered the erection of monuments in honour of the deceased Germanicus. To the forum belong 91 fragments of honorary inscriptions. On the south part an inscription with a dedication to Septimius Severus was found.
Plan of the forum. A: temple; B: cryptoporticus and shops; C: basilica?; D: curia?; E: Decumanus Maximus; F: Cardo Maximus;
G: group of Imperial statues; H: public building in block 23; I: schola; J: schola. De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 13.To the north-east of the forum, in the western part of block 23, were originally baths. Here a mosaic with marine creatures was found on the curved wall of a water basin. The baths were abandoned after the construction in the late first century of the Forum Baths in the adjacent block 29. They were then replaced by a public building, the function of which is not clear. During the construction a statue of Minerva had been buried. Apparently it was partly made of wood, partly of marble. It may have been 2.55 m. high.
The marble head of Minerva. H. 0.56. Photo: Wikimedia, Ludovic Péron.The Forum Baths were modified during the reign of Hadrian. A mosaic with an inscription was found, stating that some mosaics had been financed by Marcus Flavius Marcianus. Next to the bathing rooms was an area for sports (palaestra). A ball-court, sphaeristerium, built by the aedile Tiberius Claudius Maternus, is documented in an inscription from baths in block 19.
View of a heated room with a hypocaust in the Forum Baths. Photo: Wikimedia, Adrian Michael.To the west of the forum a meeting hall (schola) was erected in the middle of the second century in block 33 (interior meas. 8.70 x 12.00 m.). On the floor was a geometric mosaic flanked by benches supported by sculptures of lions. An inscription found here suggests that it was used by the nautae, the skippers, of the rivers Arura (Aare) and Aramus (not identified). More halls (scholae) are mentioned in inscriptions, including one erected in honour of a mayor, Quintus Cluvius Macer, by the city council. The medici et professores, "physicians and teachers", may also have used a schola. Another building in the area, documented by an inscription, is the curia, the meeting hall of the city councillors (decuriones).
Reconstruction of the meeting hall that may have been used by the skippers. De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 28.
Limestone support of a bench. H. 0.55. Photo: De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 29.
IN HONOREM DOMVS DIVINAE
[n]AVTAE ARVRANCI ARAMICI
SCHOLAM DE SVO INSTRVXERUNT
L(ocus) D(atus) D(ecreto) D(ecurionum)In honour of the divine house
the skippers of the Arura and Aramus
built the meeting hall at their own expense.
Place provided by decree of the city-councillors.Marble slab in the shape of a tabula ansata. W. 1.285, h. 0.74, d. 0.29.
EDCS-10800498; Kolb et al. 2022, nr. 220. Photo: Wikimedia, Fanny Schertzer.
[1-May-2024]
