FORUM was also used for a place of traffic, and answered to our market-place. These places were generally called fora venalia, in contradistinction to the former, which were called fora civilia.
The fora civilia were public courts of justice, commonly magnificent in themselves, and surrounded with porticoes and stately edifices. Of these, six were very remarkable: 1. Forum Romanum; 2. Julianum; 3. Augustum; 4. Palladium; 5. Forum Trajani; and, 6. Forum Sallustii. The Forum Romanum was the most noted, and is often styled simply Forum, by way of eminence. Here were the bar called Rostra, the Comitium, the sanctuary of Saturn, the temple of Castor, and other remarkable edifices. Of the fora venalia, or market-places, which were numerous, the chief were, the forum boarium, for oxen or beef; suarium, for swine; pistorium, for bread; cupidinarium, for dainties; and olitorium, for garden stuffs.
The Grecian agoræ corresponded exactly with the Roman fora, being places where courts and markets were indiscriminately held. At Athens they had many fora, but the chief of these were the old and the new.