Urban life was very important in Roman culture, and most citizens conducted their lives within the borders of a city. Large public structures existed to provide the citizens of Pompeii with spaces for government proceedings, commerce, religious worship, personal hygiene, entertainment and lodging. At the height of Pompeii's prosperity, 20,000 people called it home.
The forum was the center of Roman public life. Proclamations and edicts were read here, and it was considered the appropriate place for public displays of grief or gratitude. While initially commerce was conducted in the forum, over time its presence in the forum diminished, due primarily to health concerns raised by the presence of cattle. The Forum at Pompeii was typical of forums for the time period.
Pompeii had an extensive system of roads and causeways guiding traffic through a gridlike city layout. One can almost visualize bustling street corners, filled with merchants and traders and slaves and citizens and priests, the air thick with the sound of city life and the smells of food drifting from the homes and thermopolia. Public fountains and toilets were fed by huge cisterns connected by lead pipes that run beneath the sidewalks.
Click here to see photos of Pompeii's public spaces.