A
forum (
Latin forum "public place outdoors", plural
fora; English plural either
fora or
forums) was a public square in a
Roman municipium, or any
civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the
stoas used for open stalls. Many forums were constructed at remote locations along a road by the magistrate responsible for the road, in which case the forum was the only settlement at the site and had its own name, such as
Forum Popili or
Forum Livi.