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The Roman Forum

by David Watkin

This gloriously provocative book is not by any manner of means a traditional guide to the Forum, but more an act of iconoclasm. Watkin states at the outset that "The end of archaeology's domination of the Forum is long overdue". He wants to draw the attention of the visitor not to the familiar Roman remains, but to the other buildings which co-exist on the same site, early and medieval churches, and Baroque and modern additions. He also stresses that much of what we think of as Roman is in fact modern reconstruction, meaning that we are seldom looking at what we think we are. Most passionately, however he laments the destruction of later architecture wrought by nineteenth and twentieth century archaeologists attempting to get at the Roman remains, and argues that the accumulation of buildings and re-use of the site is itself of interest and should be more widely known and enjoyed. 277p b/w illus (Profile 2009)

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