Tombs
Like many communities, Rome restricted burials to the area outside the city (in Rome’s case, to beyond a sacred boundary called the Pomerium). A very few exceptions were granted to …
Course: Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City
Part IX: Cities of the Dead
Being remembered by the living was fundamentally important to the dead, and tombs were an important commemorative gesture for both the rich and the everyday people of ancient Rome. Rome …
Matthew’s virtual tour: Residential areas
Whilst the ruins of many grand Roman monuments still remain, very few artefacts survive to give us a sense of the appearance and interconnections between the sprawling, everyday residential and …
What Are the Different Types of Housing in Ancient Rome?
As in almost any city, there were marked differences between the housing of the rich and the poor in ancient Rome. There was a huge gulf between the emperors …
Part VIII – ‘To ensure that the grain kept flowing in‘
Welcome back. In previous weeks we’ve explored some of the ‘superstars’ of Rome – including the Forum and the Pantheon – but what about the lesser-known buildings? How did the …
Music in Ancient Rome (with audio)
Rome’s hills were alive with the sound of music, and it played an important part in worshipping the gods. In temples and ceremonies and also in the city’s theatres, streets, …
Exploring Local Religion in Rome
Rome’s monumental temples inevitably attract much attention, not only due to their architectural grandeur, but also their central role in elite performative religion. Nevertheless, for the majority of the population …
Performative Religion in Ancient Rome
Jupiter is called the Best (Optimus) and Greatest (Maximus) for this reason, not because he makes us just, moderate, or wise, but because he makes us safe, unharmed, rich and …
Matthew’s virtual tour: the Pantheon and Campus Martius
The Pantheon is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Rome today, and for good reason. It’s a deeply impressive structure, which took huge resources of manpower, money and …
Part VII – ‘The heavens come down to the earth’
At first glance the Pantheon shares may of the same features as the Republican temples we looked at earlier this week, such as the columns or the large porch. But …
Matthew’s virtual tour: The Capitoline
Join me on a tour of what would have been one of the most dominant and overwhelming structures in ancient Rome: the Capitoline Hill. As you explore the model in …
Roman Religion and the Worshipped Gods
The religion of Rome was profoundly polytheistic, with all manner of gods, lesser deities and guardian spirits influencing almost every aspect of life. So many deities were known that, writing …
Part VI – ‘Blending the sacred and the political’
Welcome back. Last week, we looked at political architecture in Rome and explored how the designs for these magnificent structures went hand-in-hand with religion. If we were to step back …
Encountering the evidence: Rome in poetry
In the second of our ‘Encountering the Evidence videos’, I meet with Dr Luke Houghton in the Ure Museum at the University of Reading to discuss poetry in ancient Rome. …
Matthew’s virtual tour: Forum of Trajan
Now that you’ve looked at Rome’s forum spaces, and at monumental structures such as arches and obelisks, let’s look at a complex that combines elements of both – Trajan’s Forum. …