October 1, 2025

Foro Romano - Continued
The Roman Forum (Foro Romano) lies considerably lower than the present road surface.

This is natural, for as mentioned in the previous issue, the forum was originally a marshland between the hills of ancient Rome, which was reclaimed to create the square.

It was established as a public square (forum) for citizens’ gatherings, trials, commercial activities, and political debates; it also served as a marketplace.

In other words, it was the very core of Rome’s development.

By the way, the modern English word forum is used almost exclusively to mean a “public debate” or “discussion meeting.”

In the early Republican period of the 5th century B.C. the Roman Forum became the center of citizens’ public life and prospered in step with Rome’s expansion.

However, when the Empire was established and the emperors built their own forums, the Roman Forum lost its original role as the hub of democratic politics, and instead came to symbolize Rome’s greatness and glory.

Later, repeated invasions by barbarian tribes brought destruction to the Forum.

During the Middle Ages, it turned into pastureland; the remaining ruins were dismantled, and their materials carried off for new construction.

By the time archaeological excavations began in the 19th century, the very memory that this place had once been the heart of great Rome had been forgotten.

At the western end of the Forum stands the Arch of Septimius Severus.

To its left is a circular brick structure, four meters in diameter, called the “Navel of Rome” (Umbilicus Urbis), which literally marked the very center of the city.

Just below and to the left of the Arch of Septimius Severus lies a long narrow platform known as the Rostra, the speakers’ platform.

In the 1st century B.C., Julius Caesar relocated it to its present site during his renovations of the Forum.

Made of tuff, it stands about three meters high and twelve meters long.

Here, great orators such as Cicero addressed the citizens gathered in the square.

In Roman times, candidates for public office demonstrated their integrity by whitening their togas (a loose garment draped around the body) with chalk, and then sought people’s support by delivering speeches from this platform or by walking through the city.

Wearing a white toga symbolized spotless purity, a claim of worthiness for public office.

These candidates in white were called candidatus, from the Latin candere (“to shine white”).

In modern English, we still call applicants or nominees candidates.

Related words—candle, chandelier, and the Dutch kandelaar (a portable oil lamp)—all share the same etymological root.

Indeed, they all “shine white.”

Interestingly, in medical terminology there is also the name Candida, a genus of fungi.

This name was given because the fungus produces glossy, whitish colonies.

There is even a species called Candida albicans (“white Candida”), which, taken literally, means “a white thing that shines white.”

Truly, an oddly redundant name!

To be continued 

September 1, 2025

The Roman Forum (Foro Romano) – Continued
As mentioned in the previous issue, Rome began on seven hills.

Streams from these seven hills flowed down into the valleys between them, forming swamplands.

These wetlands became breeding grounds for mosquitoes and were unsuitable for human habitation.

It was King Tarquinius in the 6th century BCE who envisioned reclaiming the marshes to make the area livable.

He mobilized citizens to undertake the construction of a sewer system.

Although he was eventually exiled from Rome for overworking the populace, his vision ultimately bore fruit in the form of the Cloaca Maxima—a great sewer. 

This massive drainage system, stretching 1.5 kilometers, carried water from the marshes to the Tiber River, transforming the wetlands into the Eternal City, Rome.

At the center of the city was the public square that still stands today: the Roman Forum.

By the 4th century BCE, the drainage system had been covered and turned into an underground culvert.

Remarkably, it is said that since the fall of the Roman Empire, the main Roman sewer has never been cleaned.

Nevertheless, it still functions impressively to this day.

The greatest achievement in the medical history of ancient Rome was the development of public sanitation—including water supply systems, sewers, and public baths.

Cloaca Maxima is spelled "Cloaca Massima" in Italian.

Massima is a variation of massimo, meaning "greatest."
Like the English word maximum, it is derived from the Latin maximus, meaning "greatest."
　The word cloaca means sewer or drain, but in anatomy, it refers to the cloaca—a common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts open.

It is found in animals such as birds and frogs.

In these animals, feces, urine, eggs, and sperm are all expelled from the same opening.

I learned this in anatomy during my student days, but I didn’t know the word also meant “sewer.”

So, except for those born by Caesarean section, you and I all came out of the sewer, so to speak!

To be continued