Peter M. Eick
Member
I was in Libya over the last few weeks and visited one of the original Roman forums of Leptis Magna. The Forum was built around 0 AD give or take and the city has been occupied since 6000 BC. The population was around 100,000 so this was one of the metropolis's of the time.
Pretty amazing stuff to stand there and think about our Forums. I was suprised at how big it was. Maybe 2/3rds of a regulation football field. I was also suprised at the raised "stage" where you went to give your thoughts. It was about 3 m above the lower level. It was quite imposing to stand at the lectern and survey the area. It would have been quite exciting to stand up there and give your thoughts to the thousands that had gathered. Very elegant surroundings with columns and mosaics in the floor. It must have been quite a site to stand in the open forum and hear all of the discussions and move between the threads. You could easily put a few thousand folks on the main Forum and still have good discussions. I saw a lot of similarities to how our Forums are run and must have acted.
I was also impressed at the huge seat and raised area where the moderator's sat off to the side. They were held in very high standing (say about 2 m up) and they had their own covering and special engraving.
Pretty interesting stuff to consider how we have followed in their steps.
Next time I hope to run over to Sabratha and spend more time in the desert...
http://www.libyaonline.com/libya/cities/leptis.php
Pretty amazing stuff to stand there and think about our Forums. I was suprised at how big it was. Maybe 2/3rds of a regulation football field. I was also suprised at the raised "stage" where you went to give your thoughts. It was about 3 m above the lower level. It was quite imposing to stand at the lectern and survey the area. It would have been quite exciting to stand up there and give your thoughts to the thousands that had gathered. Very elegant surroundings with columns and mosaics in the floor. It must have been quite a site to stand in the open forum and hear all of the discussions and move between the threads. You could easily put a few thousand folks on the main Forum and still have good discussions. I saw a lot of similarities to how our Forums are run and must have acted.
I was also impressed at the huge seat and raised area where the moderator's sat off to the side. They were held in very high standing (say about 2 m up) and they had their own covering and special engraving.
Pretty interesting stuff to consider how we have followed in their steps.
Next time I hope to run over to Sabratha and spend more time in the desert...
http://www.libyaonline.com/libya/cities/leptis.php
