Ancient Rome 2.0 is a Google Click Away
Visitors of the University of Virginia, Rome Reborn 2.0; Contemporary view of the Basilica, maggi.m via flickr
Artwork: designslinger]
Google has announced that you can take a trip back to ancient Rome from the comfort of
your laptop. Google Earth now has a 3D version of the ancient city that allows you to explore Rome from the street or the air. When I saw the images online I thought I'd seen them somewhere before, and then I remembered a website I'd stumbled upon a few years ago, UCLA's Digital Roman Forum. I'm enthralled with the joint UCLA/UVA Rome 2.0 which appears on Google Earth, and thought it would be interesting to try and match-up some of the digital recreations with modern day pics of the Roman Forum. The images in the panel above highlight the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, which dates from the 4th century A.D. The illustration shows the entire building intact while the photograph shows the northern half of the building, which is all that remains.
of the University of Virginia, Rome Reborn 2.0; Contemporary view to the western end of the Forum, Tjflex2 via
flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
This panel shows the western part of the Forum near the Capitoline Hill. We've labeled the
two images to try and give you a sense of where you are, and what you're seeing. The digital illustration is from a higher angle and more to the left than the photo, but if you look at each letter, you will start to see some similarities in the architecture. "a" is the Arch of Septimus Severus constructed in 203 A.D., which was erected in celebration of the Roman's victory over their old nemesis, the Parthians. "b" marks the location of the Tabularium which was built in 78 B.C. and housed all the archives of the Roman Empire. Notice the arches in the lower portion of the building in the photo, and the corresponding arches in the digital illustration. The photograph shows the lower level of the original building with Michelangelo's Campidoglio sitting on top. The columns just above the letter "c" in the photograph belong to two different temples. The two columns to the right are all that remain of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus. The group of columns to the left belong to the Temple of Saturn, which is the 4th temple to occupy the site, and was constructed around 283 A.D.
of the University of California and The Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, Rome Reborn 2.0; Contemporary
view across the Forum, andsp13 via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
In this panel we've moved in tighter, into the corner where the Temples of Saturn and
Vespasian are located. On the left, "d" marks the high porch of the Saturn temple shown in the digital recreation, and on the right a view of what survives today. The columns with the statues on them were honorific columns that commemorated great Roman statesmen. The red brick pedestals and columns in the photo have been restored in their original positions. The large Temple of Jupiter, in the upper left corner of the illustration, has entirely disappeared from it's perch at the top of the Capitoline Hill and been replaced by the Palazzo dei Conservatori one of the Capitoline Museums.
No virtual visit can ever replace an actual walk through the ruins of the Forum itself. The
virtual tour will never serve you up a plate of the best Spaghetti Carbonara you've ever eaten in your life, served in a tiny Roman restaurant. Our friends Bill and Ira are heading to Rome in January, and since we won't be able to join them, I'll just make do with a virtual journey for now and savor the memory of that spectacular spaghetti.
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