The forum stamp and the Comitium

The Roman forum at Paestum is home to the comitium and temple complex, two buildings that have been accorded the highest importance in research into the architecture and urbanism of Republican colonies. This is partly due to the very well-preserved features and finds from the area, but also to the numerous unusual elements of these two complexes. To this day, neither the exact reconstruction of the temple, nor its cult or its exact dating have been clarified beyond doubt and with complete conviction. Furthermore, parts of the old finds have so far only been presented incompletely. Due to its architectural ornamentation, the combination of Doric and Corinthian order and the Corinthian capitals, the temple plays a central role in the development of Middle to Late Republican architecture in Italy.

No less significant is the comitium, which in its preservation is one of the most important representatives of this architectural type in the Roman colonies. What is highly unusual is the strange-looking incision of the forum temple into the stepped circle in the comitium, which on the one hand intervenes with its podium in the assembly circle and on the other hand lies on the western entrance area (so far only hypothetically reconstructed). While the construction of the comitium was still associated with the beginning of the Roman colony, the dating of the temple varies between the 4th and early 1st century BC - it has therefore been repeatedly debated whether the temple is older, younger or contemporaneous with the comitium.

The initial preparatory work served to verify the results of older building surveys and to carry out a current inventory check. To this end, the forum stamp, individual structural elements and sections of the Comitium were re-measured and a measurement cloud was created for a working model in AutoCAD. In addition to a photographic documentation of the current condition, the architectural elements and the previously unpublished ceramics from the museum's depot were also recorded. It turned out that, on the one hand, the pottery from the area around the temple cannot be dated to any later than the 3rd century BC and, on the other hand, significantly more structural elements have been preserved for the reconstruction than previously published. In addition, numerous important details of the ornamental and metope blocks, in particular the course of their butt joints or the backs, were not taken into account in the reconstructions presented to date.

After a break due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, work continued in 2021. The excavations were concentrated on the north-eastern transition from the temple to the comitium and the western altar zone. First of all, it was possible to prove that a massive drainage layer inside the comitium circle was probably related to the construction of the comitium in the 3rd century BC and should not be dated to the archaic period as previously postulated. At the same time, despite the numerous interventions in the 1930s, 1950s and 1980s, undisturbed remains of the stratigraphy could be recognized at the podium foundation. The observations here suggest a two-phase nature of the foundations: one phase before and one after the construction of the podium. It also emerged that the younger part of the podium was underpinned with the spolia of an older, lowered architecture. Components of careful profiling were found here as the lowest foundation layer.

In the altar zone, there is increasing evidence that the large water basin in front of the altar may be of older origin than previously assumed, and at the same time may have been closely connected to the altar and thus also to the cult of the temple due to its dimensions. However, this zone has been particularly disturbed, both by recent excavations and by medieval interventions. An early medieval burial was found here, which matches other graves from the area around the forum.

Two sections were created in the 2023 campaign.

Section 7 focused on the interior of the comitium directly in front of the cavea in the north-east. Here, the entire bottom row of steps was first cleaned and uncovered. The remains of several running horizons are still in situ directly below the round of steps of the cavea. These consist of rammed earth heavily interspersed with lime and broken pottery. Almost all of these superimposed soils were cut through during the construction of the cavea in order to fit the lowest layer of steps. The construction of the wall in the north, which is interpreted as part of a raised portico in front of the curia, is also striking. In the eastern part, it was placed directly on the younger walking horizon, while a further block layer (euthynteria) exists further west. Remains of the ancient drainage system were also found inside the comitium, which fits in well with the findings of recent years on the west side of the comitium (cf. 2021/2022 campaign).

Section 8 was set up along the outside of the temple and comitium, bordered to the west by the temple's flight of steps and to the east by Greco-Theodorescu's section 66. Here, too, a clear sequence of different running horizons was excavated in the area of the forum square, which were similar in composition and followed each other relatively closely. The lowest horizon was perforated in many places: in particular, postholes of different dimensions were found, as well as a rectangular hole directly in front of the temple podium. The largest postholes, which run in a line through the southern end of the cut, are striking. A more precise dating is not yet possible, as the feature has not yet been excavated. However, the soil is certainly older than the temple and also than the wall of the comitium, as it was pierced with a foundation trench when the comitium wall was built. A water pipe also came to light in the northern part of the cut. It consists of elongated blocks into which the canal was sunk and appears to go under the comitium wall in the east.

Prof. Dr. Jon Albers
Professor für Klassische Archäologie mit dem Schwerpunkt Siedlungen und Landschaften im antiken Mittelmeerraum
Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Am Bergbaumuseum 31, 44791 Bochum
Raum: 0.3.2
Tel.: (0234) 32-28528
Mail: jon.albers@rub.de