FORUM, in Roman antiquity, a public standing place within the city of Rome, where causes were judicially tried, and orations delivered to the people.
FORUM was also used for a place of traffic, answering to our market-place. These were generally called fora venalia; in contradistinction to the former, which were called fora civilia.
The fora civilia were public courts of justice, very magnificent in themselves, and surrounded with porticoes and stately edifices; of these there were six very remarkable: 1. Forum Romanum. 2. Julianum. 3. Augustum. 4. Palladium. 5. Forum Trajani. 6. Forum Sallustii. The Forum Romanum was the most noted, and is often called simply Forum, by way of eminence. Here was the pleading place called Rostra, the Comitium, the sanctuary of Saturn, temple of Castor, &c. See ROSTRA, COMITIUM, &c.
The fora venalia, or market-places, were very numerous. The chief of them were the forum boarum for oxen or beef; suarium for swine; pistorium for bread; cupidinarium for dainties; olitorium for garden stuff.
The Grecian Ἀγοραί exactly correspond with the Roman fora, being places where courts and markets were held. At Athens they had many fora, but the chief of them were the old and the new.