Problems of Chronology, Decoration, and Urban Design in the Forum at Pompeii

Abstract

This article offers an archaeological and structural analysis of the four main buildings on the east side of the forum at Pompeii and challenges widely published and generally accepted views about the forum. Major problems of chronology, decoration, and urban design are emphasized through a methodology that rejects the prevalent building-by-building approach to the fo-rum in favor of an approach that allows the sig-nificance of the urban ensemble to reveal itself.