Forum Romanum | Overview 
We're about to enter the Via Sacra (holy road). On the left, you see the pilar/column of Phocas (608 AD). It's the youngest monument on the Forum. Nobody new what it represented exactly, until lady Elizabeth Foster decided to dit for the pedestal in 1816. She discovered it was erected in honour of the Byzantian emperor Phocas, who had just paid a visit to Rome. Perhaps it was raised as a token of gratitude, because Phocas had given the Pantheon to the Pope.