The Roman Forum

When Rome was founded, the area where now the Roman Forum is was considered not inhabitable, filled with marshes, and hard to defend. So, it was outside the initial walls of Rome, build around the Palatinus Hill. In Latin forum used to mean "outside". It then took also the proper "forum" meaning, thanks to the first Roman Forum.
One of the first Roman kings, Tarquinius Priscus, made the whole valley inhabitable, bui building the first and the biggest Roman sewer, called Cloaca Maxima, used to collect water from the Roman Forum valley and to drive it into the Tiber River. Since then, the Roman Forum started to live, becoming first the most important marketplace, then the place where justice was administrated and people used to meet. This was the real core of most activities in the ancient city, which explains why there are so many interesting things to see: