Ancient Swamp Roman Forum

An ancient swamp. Situated in the depression surrounded by the the Palatine, the Esquiline and the Capitoline Hills, in Rome's earliest days, the Forum was a swamp used as a cemetery by the people of surrounding villages.

The swampy condition of the area persisted until the 7th century BC, when King Tarquinius Priscus built the Cloaca Maxima, an sewer system capable of draining off the surface water to the Tiber.