The Roman forum of Philippopolis ( bg, Римски форум на Пловдив, ''Rimski forum na Plovdiv'') is a rectangular forum (

plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

) surrounded by the ruins of several ancient administrative buildings at the center of the ancient city of Philippopolis (modern

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...

). It was the center of public, administrative, commercial and religious life in the ancient city. Meetings, discussions, celebrations and state events were held there. The forum covers an area of , with excavated, which makes it the largest Roman forum in Bulgaria. The ancient city center was built in the 1st century AD during the reign of the emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...

, when ancient Philippopolis was laid out with a new urban plan and a forum according to the Roman model. The main streets of the city (the ''

cardo A cardo (plural ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the ''cardo'', was the main or central north–south-oriented street. ...

'' and the ''decumanus maximus'') intersect outside the eastern entrance of the forum. A complex of public buildings was built to the north, including the odeon, the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

, and the treasury building. The forum of the ancient city and its main street (''cardo'') are located at the very heart of modern Plovdiv's city center and main pedestrian area.

Location

The Roman forum of Philippopolis is located near Plovdiv's General Gurko Street and the main pedestrian street of the city, Knyaz Alexander of Battenberg Street. The building of the central post office lies above the western part of the forum. The construction of Maria Luiza Boulevard in the 1980s split the northern part of the forum from the rest.

History

The forum has rectangular shape, close to the shape of a square, with dimensions: 143 m in north-southern direction and 136 m in east-western direction. A complex of public buildings was built to the North, dominating over the rest of the buildings at the square. Three entrances, situated along the axes of the eastern, southern and western edge, provide access to the streets, located at the sides of the Forum. The main streets ''cardo'' and ''decumanus maximus'' intersect outside the eastern entrance of the complex. It was used as a market thoroughfare where merchants and people from the city and the region gathered to exchange Thracian grain, wood and honey for fine pottery and bronze vessels brought as far as Italy.
Forum and Odeon Stores and shops occupied the eastern, the southern and the western side of the forum and patrons entered them through narrow porticoes. Four main construction phases can be distinguished in the historical layers of the forum. They are different in terms of their level, architectural design and use of building materials.
Four construction phases of the Forum The first construction phase marks the beginning of the complex development and bears the plan shape of the urban square. During the second construction phase the levels of the shops, the

ambulation Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ov ...

and the area were raised. A heavy

crepidoma Crepidoma is an architectural term for part of the structure of ancient Greek buildings. The crepidoma is the multilevel platform on which the superstructure of the building is erected. The crepidoma usually has three levels. Each level typi ...

supports the

stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...

of columns in the

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

, made of sandstone. The stone drainage leading rainwater away from the roof of the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cul ...

kept its original place. The

was 11 m wide. The eastern, southern and western sides were formed by four-column

propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaea, propylea or propylaia (; Greek: προπύλαια) is a monumental gateway. They are seen as a partition, specifically for separating the secular and religious pieces of a city. The prototypical Gr ...

in the

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

. During the third construction phase the plastic decoration of the complex was replaced. The portico around the area is made of marble. The largest number of well-preserved original remains date back to the fourth and final construction phase. Over the existing crepidoma a new stylobate of syenite blocks was placed. It bore a marble arcade of free-standing columns in the Roman

Corinthian order The Corinthian order ( Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

. The public buildings for the needs of urban governance and other manifestations of urban life were situated in the northern part of the forum complex. Epigraphic documents attest the existence of an official treasury. In the northeast corner an odeon (

Bouleuterion A bouleuterion ( grc-gre, βουλευτήριον, ''bouleutērion''), also translated as and was a building in ancient Greece which housed the council of citizens (, ''boulē'') of a democratic city state. These representatives assembled a ...

) is unearthed, and to the west of it are the remains of city library. At the northern side of the complex some inscriptions, related to the religious and administrative life of the town were found, along with a piece of an invitation card for a performance of gladiator fights. In the area were found pedestals for statues, an exedra – a platform for speeches, and remains of an altar with inscriptions, dedicated to the goddesses

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, ...

and Kore (

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld aft ...

). It went silent in the middle of the 5th century when waves of Barbarians forced the people of Philippopolis to abandon the quarters in the plain and move to the acropolis.

Conservation and Restoration

The Forum of Philippopolis was discovered in 1971 during the construction of the central post office building in

. The Eastern, the Northern and part of the Southern part of the ancient central square were revealed. In 2012, excavation works began in the North-western part, revealing an area of 400 sq.m between the post office building and Tsar Simeon gardens.

Gallery

File:Forum roman plovdiv 2.jpg, The Roman forum of Plovdiv, postcard from 1988 File:Forum plovdiv 4.jpg, Panoramic view of cardo maximus and decumanus maximus File:Plovdiv forum panorama.jpg, Panoramic view of the Northern part File:Plovdiv library 2.jpg, The remains of the city library File:Forum plovdiv 7.jpg, The remains of the Northern part of the Forum File:Forum plovdiv.jpg, Cardo Maximvs (the main street with North-South direction) File:Forum plovdiv 2.jpg File:Forum plovdiv 3.jpg, Ancient street with East-West direction) File:Forum plovdiv 6.jpg, The North parg of the forum File:Forum plovdiv 8.jpg, The

File:Plovdiv library.jpg, The city library of Philippopolis File:Forum plovdiv old.jpg, South-Eastern part of the forum, 1997 File:Razkopki6.jpg, Discovering the western

, 2014 File:Razkopki5.jpg, Archeological works, 2014 File:Razkopki plovdiv.jpg, Ancient shops near the western

, 2014

Notes

References

Roman Plovdiv

The Forum of Philippopolis
{{Ancient Monuments in Plovdiv Ancient Roman forums Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century

Roman Forum The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum ( plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancie ...

Roman sites in Bulgaria Tourism in Bulgaria Tourist attractions in Plovdiv Culture in Plovdiv Philippopolis (Thrace)