ABSTRACT
Why did cities in central and southern Roman Italy acquire more than one forum, or at least more than one ‘community central space’? This chapter investigates this question, seeking to assess the respective weight of metropolitan influence and local priorities in the communities of Roman Italy. The first section shows how the Forum Romanum at Rome, as enhanced by Augustus, frequently served as a model for fora in Italian towns, with their basilicas, shrines associated with emperor worship, arches, and monumental pavements. The second section examines cases of multiple fora, beginning with a discussion of the methodological issues involved in identifying this phenomenon and focuses in particular on the cities of Praeneste, Ferentinum, Tarracina, Puteoli and Volsinii. In some cases, specific explanations can be suggested, relating to a change in the civic status of the community, the growing importance of an urban centre or a shortage of space for public activities. Allusions to the imperial fora of Rome – by contrast to the often-imitated baths, amphitheatres and macella of the capital – tend, however, to be comparatively rare.
