I stood in the Roman Forum in 2023. The columns didn’t feel buried; they felt noble and upright.
White marble against the stark blue Roman sky. Clear lines and balance. Sunlight catches the edges of ancient stone.
One might think of the Forum as preserved. Frozen in time.
But no.
For centuries, roads cut through the center of old Rome.
The Western Empire collapsed in 476 CE. The city fell to the Germanic chieftain Odoacer, who deposed the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus.
As Rome disintegrated and the population shrank, the Forum became pasture.
It was known as the Campo Vaccino — the cow field.
Carts rattled across the uneven ground, hauling spolia — broken columns and reused marble — perhaps hay and grain as well. Over what had once been sacred space, where Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Marcus Cicero addressed the city.
