Roman Forum

The next day was one of our biggest yet...the Forum, St. Peter in Chains, then the Coliseum (included on the Forum ticket). We'd not seen the Forum since 2011, and much was closed then. 

Our (Rickie Stevie audio-) tour began near the Coliseum 

And the Arch of Constantine

At the Arch of Titus, mostly commemorating his victory over
the Jews

Where much of our tour went

Remaining bit of the Basilica of Maxentius, a huge structure

The Forum is mostly a dry barren place, especially unpleasant in
the hot summer...but the blooming wisteria help

Doors to the Temple of Romulus (a late Emperor's
son); they and their hinges are original and still
work

Remains of the Temple of Tony and Tina (Antoninus Pius and
wife Faustina); 2nd century CE

Antoninus?

Temple of the Vestal Virgins

Garden and ponds of the Vestal Virgins' domicile; with statues
of some of them (the tradition of the Vestal Virgins, like most
other things in ancient Rome, went on for many centuries)

Traditional site where Julius Caesar's body was cremated; used

to be covered in flowers; now coins

There is excellent signage (and in English too)
throughout the Forum; I especially appreciated the 
credit given the archaeologists...

As close as we could get to the Curia, the reconstruction
of a late Empire version of the Roman Senate building

Arch of Septimius Severus

Temple of Saturn

No lack of spare parts

Column of Phocas; emperor in Constantinople
(Rome was no longer the capital) in early 7th
century CE; the last monument to be erected in
the Forum in classical times; in the foreground,
a fig tree, an olive tree, and a grape vine; according
to Pliny the Elder, three trees grew in the Roman
Forum, ficus, olea, and vitis...symbolizing the
primacy of agriculture in Roman culture 

Remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, 
said to be the most-photographed scene in the
Forum

Portico of the Harmonious Gods...dating from the 1st century
BCE, reconstructed in the 19th; it's been a while since I read
Homer or Hesiod or Virgil, but I never got the impression the
Olympian gods were all that harmonious...

Looking back where we've been...end of tour