Part 10: Summary

See mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/17916679.jpg. If that link goes dead, try this backup photo instead, even though it's not as good: www.vroma.org/~forum/images/forum.01.jpg

See the group of trees left of center. From there to the far right edge of the photo is the front of the Domus Publica which faces the Via Sacra which you can see people walking on, and the intact 'Temple of Romulus' on the opposite side of the Via Sacra.

Now in your mind imagine the Domus Publica extends to the bottom of the photo. That was the section Emperor Augustus gave to the Vestal Virgins to extend their House which very likely wasn't actually built as we see today until after the 64 AD Fire, although I won't be surprised if the Vestals didn't have a section in the lower left corner or left side before Augustus.

And just right of dead-center of the photo you will see a small protective roofed structure [__]||[__]. That excavation is of the Domus Publica's atrium that dates to Julius Caesar's time.

My advice is to read through my walk and when in Rome visit the five major sites of Julius Caesar's assassination. It's easy as four of them are in the Roman Forum with the assassination site nearby the Pantheon and other sites that most tourists will likely visit so not really out of the way.

Back to the photo:

So first site is the Domus Publica although mostly buried just imagine the night before and the day of the assassination on the 'Ides of March'.

The second site is the Regia. In the photo, on the left side of the group of trees is the Regia. Some of the branches in the photo cover part of this site. So it's the night before the Ides and Julius Caesar is in the 'Shrine of Mars' within the Regia. A thunderstorm rages as the Sacred Spears rattle in the Shrine foretelling a bad omen for Rome.

The third site is the Temple of Julius Caesar. In the photo just left of the Regia see a short up and down street with a couple of people on it. Just to the left of that at the photo's edge are some ugly brick structures. That is the back/middle of the Temple of Julius Caesar where the Roman Mob cremated his body on the day of his funeral. The actual site of the cremation is in front of the temple under a protective roof in a semi-circular niche. The concrete core of the altar survives within that niche and will very likely have flowers on top left by tourists.

The fourth site is the Rostra of Caesar about 100 m away from the front of the Temple of Julius Caesar. It's at the opposite end of the football-field-sized Roman Forum Square. Just remember the Rostra you see from there is the partly reconstructed ugly tufa and brick Rostra built by Augustus (The remains are ugly; the Rostra was originally quite beautiful). The Rostra we want is the prettier stone curved Rostra of Caesar behind it (best viewed from the side of the Arch of Septimius Severus) and the remaining marble curved steps best seen from behind this structure. This is where Julius Caesar's body was laid when Marc Antony made his famous speech from *this* Rostra.