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 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 the ay«g<» 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. 483]