Forum of Nerva

The Forum of Nerva, also known as the Transitory Forum, is one of the five Imperial Forums of Rome, built by the emperor Domitian and completed and inaugurated by his successor, Nerva, in 97 AD. This forum served as a link between the forums of Caesar and Augustus, the Forum of Peace, and the Roman Forum. The layout of the complex, narrow and elongated, was determined by the limited available space. The forum was dominated by the Temple of Minerva, a deity particularly revered by Domitian. Domitian, known for his building projects, decided to construct this forum as part of a larger project to reorganize and monumentalize the center of Rome. The forum was named Transitory for its function as a passage between the Suburra and the Roman Forum, a function previously carried out by the Argiletum road. The complex occupied the site of the previous macellum (food market) from the Republican era, destroyed in the fire of 64 AD.The architecture of the forum is unique for its narrow and elongated layout, with projecting columns decorating the perimeter walls instead of the usual porticoes. These columns supported a protruding frieze decorated with reliefs depicting the myth of Arachne and other scenes related to the figure of Minerva. The attic above the columns was decorated with reliefs probably representing the personifications of the Roman provinces and was intended to be crowned with bronze statues.The Temple of Minerva, which dominated the western end of the square, was an imposing building, with the pronaos projecting onto the square. The sides of the temple’s cella were hidden by two stretches of wall: one to the north, masking the exedra of the Forum of Augustus, and one to the south, housing a passage to a trapezoidal covered hall leading to the absidal porticus, a monumental semicircular entrance.After antiquity, the forum fell into disuse and was gradually abandoned. In the 9th century, the area was occupied by private aristocratic residential structures, of which two two-story buildings remain with tufa blocks taken from the forum’s perimeter wall. These houses were abandoned in the 12th century, when the area underwent significant ground elevation.The Temple of Minerva remained partially standing until the early 17th century, when Pope Paul V ordered its demolition to obtain building materials. Much of the forum was excavated between 1926 and 1940 during the opening of Via dei Fori Imperiali. Further excavations were carried out in the 1950s and 1960s, and more recently in the 1990s.