Imperial Forums

A series of five monumental squares

The Imperial Forums are a series of five monumental squares built over a century and a half (between 46 BC and 113 AD) in the heart of the city of Rome by Julius Caesar and the emperors Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva and Trajan. On the other hand, the Roman Forum, that is the old republican square, is not part of them, the first arrangement of which dates back to the royal age (6th century BC) and which had been for centuries the political, religious and economic center of the city, but which did not have never a unitary character. Under Caesar and Augustus, the construction of the Basilica Giulia and the reconstruction of the Basilica Emilia, which delimited the long sides of the square, nevertheless gave the Forum a certain regularity.