argument for a portico, and even claim that here was the place that the
statue was set up, ante curiam vel in por ticibus fori.[147] Again,
these steps run far past the temple to the east, otherwise we might
conclude that they were to mark the extent of temple property. The fact,
however, that a road, the Sacra Via, goes round back of the basilica
only to the left, forces us to conclude that these steps belong to the
city, not to the temple in any way, and that they mark the north side of
the ancient forum.

The new forum below the city is well enough attested by inscriptions
found there mentioning statues and buildings in the forum. The tradition
has continued that here on the level space below the town was the great
forum. Inscriptions which have been found in different places on this
tract of ground mention five buildings,[148] ten statues of public
men,[149] the statue set up to the emperor Trajan on his birthday,
September 18, 101 A.D.,[150] and one to the emperor Julian.[151] The
discovery of two pieces of the Praenestine fasti in 1897 and 1903[152]
also helps to locate the lower forum.[153]

[Illustration: PLATE V. The tufa steps at the upper end of the ancient
Forum of Praeneste.]

The forum inside the city walls was the forum of Praeneste, the ally of
Rome, the more pretentious one below the city was the forum of
Praeneste, the Roman colony of Sulla.


IUNONARIUM, C.I.L., XIV, 2867.

Delbrueck follows Preller[154] in making the Iunonarium a part of the