FORUM

(Lat.) In Ancient Architecture, a public market; also a place where the common courts were kept, and matters of judgment pleaded. The fora of the Romans were large open squares surrounded by porticoes; parts of which answered for the market-places, other parts for public meetings of the inhabitants, and other parts for courts of justice. The forum was also occasionally used for shows of gladiators. There were in Rome seventeen; of these fourteen were for the sale of goods, provisions, and merchandize, and called Fora Venalia; the other three were for civil and judicial proceedings, and called Fora Civil i a et Judicial i a: of the latter sort was the forum of Trajan, of which the Trajan column formed the principal ornament. The forum of the Romans was identical with ayopa of the Greeks. FOSSA (Lat. fo a, a trench), in Zoology, is applied to certain depre ions on the external surface; generally the seat of cutaneous glands, as the lachrymal fo a in deer and antelopes, the jugular fo a, inguinal fo a, . [s. 488]