The road provided the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's history, the solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat, throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice.

From the reign of Augustus, the Via Sacra played a role in the Apotheosis ceremony by which deceased Roman Emperors were formally deified.

The body of the Emperor, concealed under a wax death mask, was carried on a pall from the Palatine hill down the Via Sacra into the Forum, where funeral orations were held before the procession of Knights and Senators resumed its course to the Campus Martius.

[2] In the Republic and Early Empire, the route forked to the north near the House of the Vestals and passed through a saddle in the Velian Hill, now occupied largely by the Basilica of Maxentius and the modern Via dei Fori Imperiali.

As part of his rebuilding program following the fire, Nero essentially straightened the road by redirecting it between the Velian and Palatine Hills, creating grand colonnades on either side for shop stalls and commerce.