ROME RECONSTRUCTED

These pictures are reconstructions in drawings and models of what ancient Rome looked like at various periods.

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Panoramic view of Rome

General view of centre (model)

View of Centre (model)

View of outer areas (model)

The Aurelian city walls

View of the Forum 1

View of the Forum 2

View of the Forum and Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill

The Palatine Hill

View from the Palatine Hill

The Campus Martius

The Circus Maximus

The Forum Boarium

The Baths of Diocletian

Mansion on the Janiculum Hill

A Street Scene

The Appian Way

Aqueducts

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A panoramic view of the city of Rome in about 330 A.D. The new city walls built by Aurelian were 12 miles in length and enclosed the whole city; the dangers from invaders from the north were beginning to grow.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A general view of Rome; this is part of a model called Il Plastico which has been made at a scale of 1:243

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A more detailed view of a section of the Il Plastico model. In the centre is the Colosseum and below it the Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A more detailed view of one section of the Il Plastico model.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Aurelian Walls, built in the third century AD. Rome had always had walls but these enclosed a huge area. There were 16 gates and 383 towers in the wall. On the right is the Flaminian Gate.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

View of part of the Forum Romanum. It had special market halls and many temples built by the Emperors as well as the house of the Senate.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A view of the Forum Romanum as it was at the time of the Emperor Augustus.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

View of the Roman Forum with the Capitoline Hill in the background.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Capitoline Hill. On its summit is the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (Best and Greatest). The rock in front is called the Tarpeian Rock; this was the place from which parricides (people who kill their fathers) and similar criminals are cast down to their death after trial.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

View of the Palatine Hill and surrounding buildings; use the index on the right to identify particular buildings.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

This view looks from the Palatine Hill down across part of the Forum to the Colosseum. Use the index to the right to get the details.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Campus Martius.

In earlier times, this was an open space where soldiers drilled and people exercised horses. It was also where Romans went at election time to cast their votes. Gradually the area got built up with temples, theatres, gymnasia, as well as residential buildings.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Circus Maximus; there was space for 250,000 spectators, it was 2000 feet long by 650 feet wide. The imperial box is opposite the turn round the Spina, the central reservation. Towering over the Circus are the emperors’ palaces on the Palatine Hill.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Forum Boarium, seen from the Tiber, looking towards the Palatine Hill. Central to the food supply in Rome. Nearby was the Forum Holitorium, the vegetable market, and also the Statio Annonae, the organisation responsible for the dole of bread which every Roman citizen could have every day.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Baths of Diocletian. They could accommodate 3,000 people in the various areas. The baths spread over 27 acres.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A mansion on the Janiculum Hill. There were nearly 1,400 of these mansions in 4th Century Rome. They have extensive grounds, with formal gardens adorned with fountains, statues, steps and covered walks. They are the homes of the great and the good of ancient Rome. They live a life totally divorced from that of most Romans.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

A street scene.

Notice the arch of the aqueduct carrying the city’s water supply. Traffic is banned during the hours of daylight. Here and there some important person is being carried in a litter. The ground floors of the blocks of flats (insulae) are usually shops; above are apartments – the higher up, the cheaper and less spacious.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTED

The Appian Way.

For the first few miles out of Rome the road is lined with tombs, some of them grandiose marble monuments to distinguished individuals, some more modest affairs, and some communal vaults for whole families or funeral clubs. Inside such tombs there are niches for the urns containing the ashes of each member of the family or club.

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ROME RECONSTRUCTEDTwo of the many aqueducts that brought water to Rome from the hills.

The Claudia, the taller one, carries two aqueducts, one 43 miles long, the other 54 miles. The Via Latina runs alongside the aqueduct and there is a cross road going over the major highway of the Via Appia.

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