The Roman Forum's Herald School Reopens, Voicing the Call of Ancient Communication

As a communication professional, I am consistently amazed at the potency of voice—the ability of words well-spoken to alter perceptions, establish bonds, and alter the course of history. No place is this legacy more starkly represented than in the just-restored School of Heralds at the Roman Forum. This venerable institution, buried for centuries under dust and time, has now been carefully excavated and reopened, not only as an archaeological phenomenon, but as a living testament to the advanced communication machinery of the Roman Empire.

Well before microphones and social media, ancient Rome understood that the spoken word was the key to public trust and imperial unity. The heralds—Rome's professional public announcers—were more than messengers. They were the Empire's initial "media professionals," employing vocal skill and rhetorical art to educate, persuade, and incite the masses. Their function was at the heart of civic life, ranging from the communication of imperial decrees to the announcements of the spectacle of impending games. Their voices resonated off marble colonnades and crowded plazas, unifying a enormous and varied populace in shared information and experience.

What makes this rediscovery so compelling is the way that it lays bare the origins of professional communication training. These heralds didn't merely bellow from rooftops—they learned. In the Forum's school for heralds, specially chosen trainees with good voices went through demanding training in voice mastery, articulation, projection, and argumentative delivery. Picture cobblestone courtyards where voices were honed to the breeze, and dark echoing rooms where speechmasters honed methods that would influence public response. This was not theatre; it was statecraft. The very design of the training facility—curated for acoustics and performance—reflected the empire's profound investment in clarity, control, and connection.

In today's world of messaging, with communications crafted for clicks and trends that shift hourly, this ancient proving ground recalls for us the timeless values of our profession. Authority, clarity, engagement—these are not innovations, but always-familiar foundations of human communication. Roman heralds learned their craft not in likes and shares, but in breath and cadence and conviction. Their authority was not in technology, but in training.

The reopening of the Heralds’ School is not merely a celebration of Rome’s architectural genius—it is a recognition of communication as a foundational pillar of civilization. It reaffirms the role of the communicator as a bridge between leadership and public, policy and perception. The fact that the Roman Empire, with its expansive governance and complex society, prioritized a formal space for training public speakers speaks volumes. Here, within these ancient halls, we discover the birthplace of everything from journalism to political speechwriting, from crisis communication to community outreach.

Standing here today, surrounded by those stone walls, you don't merely sense history—you hear it. In the resonance of those formerly rehearsed assertions, there is a whisper of our own contemporary struggles, and a reminder: good communication doesn't merely inform. It inspires, unites, and lasts.

And maybe, in that abiding Echoes of Empire, we catch the strongest message of all.