<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum (Italian: Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome . Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum . </P> <P> For centuries the Forum was the center of day - to - day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs . Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men . The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history . Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million sightseers yearly . </P>

What was the name of the large open space in the center of rome