In the marshy region between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, the earliest legends of Rome were built in what would become the civic center of the great city. Here were the first representative functions of the Republic - the Senate house and the Assembly. Over centuries, famous Romans built temples (such as the Temple of Vesta, heart of Rome), held trials in great basilicas, built Temples to Concord, Saturn, and later Caesars; here Cicero spoke from the Rostra platform and here Caesar's body was burned; here Augustus and Marc Antony placed the heads of their enemies on pikes for all to see. But the Forum was the place in Rome to be seen and to see, whether violence or comedy, sacred processions, Triumphs of great generals, or the mob as it rioted. Mostly shops and civic buildings, people could live adjacent to its beauty.

Many books have been written about the Roman Forum. Over the centuries it developed, becoming ever more magnificent, until its final decline in the fifth and sixth centuries, A.D. For a history of the Forum, see Lucius' Aelius' Encyclopaedia Romana: The Forum.

The best online tour of the Roman Forum, of course, is AncientWorlds' own virtual walking tour and game, S.P.Q.R.

Links:
Reconstruction of the Forum Romanum A.D. 179.