1. General view of centre (model) View of Centre (model)
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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

2. ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

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

6. ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

7. 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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8. ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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A view of the Forum Romanum as it was at the time of the Emperor Augustus.

9. View of the Roman Forum with the Capitoline Hill in the background.
ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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View of the Roman Forum with the Capitoline Hill in the background.

10. ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

13. Return to Contents The Campus Martius.
ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

15. ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

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

17. ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

18. Return to Contents A street scene.
ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

19. Return to Contents The Appian Way.
ROME RECONSTRUCTED
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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.

20. Two of the many aqueducts that brought water to Rome from the hills.
ROME RECONSTRUCTED
Two 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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