The Agorà and Roman Forum | archaeological site

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It is virtually certain that the forum, as the political, social, and economic center of the urban town, was planned for and reserved in the earliest design of the colony. During the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, the upper Lechaion Road valley, which underlay the Roman forum, was punctuated with hero shrines and was criss-crossed by roadways. From the 6th century B.C. to 146 B.C. a racecourse filled some of the space of the valley .

The central public area of the Caesarian "drawing board" plan was originally designed as the topographical center of the urban colony, having an area of 24 square actus or 12 iugera, with 6 city insulae east-west and 4 city insulae north-south. The area of the forum was 3% of the area of the city. The rostra is located near the center of the reserved central public area and, as such, is the central feature of both the Forum and the city.

Many of the principal Greek and Roman buildings and structures found in the area of the forum are laid out in an orientation different from that of the Roman colony of 44 B.C. (which is approximately 3° west of north). There appear to be several different systems of orientation among the buildings and structures included within the 24 square actus reserved for the Roman Forum. In the Greek period (Fig. 2), the orientation of the Archaic Temple of Apollo (ca. 540 B.C.) probably determined the orientation of the South Stoa, which was constructed ca. 330. The north-south orientation of the North Building is approximately at a right angle to the east-west axis of the Hellenistic (ca. 270 B.C.) racecourse of the upper Lechaion Road valley.

A significant similarity in orientation can be seen among a number of major Roman buildings constructed in and around the Forum between the Augustan and Claudian periods (i.e., between 27 B.C. and A.D. 54). Of particular significance are Temple E in its early phase, the West Shops, the Julian Basilica at the east end of the Forum, and the north-south peribolos wall of Temple C. Other buildings that reflect an orientation similar to these are the series of small Roman temples and monuments along the west end of the Roman Forum: Temples D, K, G and F, the Babbius Monument, and the Fountain of Poseidon. The earliest Roman construction discovered on the site is a retaining wall for the west terrace; this underlies the front of Temples F and G, and runs along the east face of the Babbius Monument. The retaining wall establishes the western limit of the open area of the Forum and is of the same north-south orientation as the temples and monuments that it supports.

from:
corinth.sas.upenn.edu/44bc.html