He's a Roman — probably called Haterius, who features in our stories. More info in Stage 30.

A sneak preview of this fantastic model, as featured on the cover of CLC Bk.IV and the title-page of Stage 29.

Get a bird's eye view of the ancient city with this fly-over.

The forum is in the centre of the map.

The area of the Forum is outlined in red. Note also the Colosseum.

A view from the Capitol Hill looking south-east down the Forum.
Basilica Julia is on the right, Basilica Aemilia on the left, and the Temple of Julius Caesar directly ahead. The Colosseum is in the distance.

A similar view today.

3-D interactive, colour map of today's ruined Forum area, including the surrounding areas such as the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, the Capitol (Campidoglio in Italian), and the Palatine. Good for orientation. Roll your mouse over or click the numbered ruins/buildings to see brief pop-up descriptions of the monuments. Arch of Titus is No.1. Useful to compare this map with the models and maps presented in other links.

Select aerial views, plans or reconstructed models; choose a date from the timeline; view side by side 360-degree panoramas of then and now. And if you want more, there's excellent descriptions of all the buildings.

Clear, clickable plan of the Forum linking to the buildings' descriptions and good photos and/or reconstructions.

You may need to have the window maximized for this to load properly...

Fantastic, highly accurate fly-by of the ancient Roman Forum, starting from the south-west and going along all four sides of the forum, and also going into the Curia.
It's fun to follow the fly-by on the plan of the Forum illustrated on p.16 of CLC Bk.IV (although note the Arch of Septimius Severus isn't shown since it wasn't built till after our story of Haterius).
If you have a slower connection, try this low-bandwidth version.

Computer-graphic views of the forum's buildings.

Here are some other v-r images:

- Forum 1;

- Rostrum 1 which was the platform from where some of the most important and famous Romans spoke to the masses;

- Rostrum 2;

- Rostrum 3;

- Rostrum 4.

Clickable picture of the reconstructed Forum (dominated by the Arch of Septimius Severus, 203 AD) leads to descriptions & small photos of the ruins, as well as a plan highlighting the location of each particular monument.

Wikipedia hyperlinked entry.

The Senate House - also known as the Curia - was Rome's main seat of the Senate, originaly a council of city elders (from senex = "old man") which grew to be the main political body responsible for the making and enacting of laws in the Roman Republic and, later, the Empire.

Here's a brief introductory description of the building.

How it looks today - it's the recatangular red-brick building on the right. It's remarkably well-preserved since it was converted into a church in AD 630, although the marble-cladding on the exterior has disappeared.

Panorama of the Roman Forum... you can spot the Senate House on the far left.

Interior showing the original marble floor of the 300's AD, the wide steps either side on which chairs were placed, and the podium at the end where the consuls - or the Emperor if present - would have sat.

The original doors of Emperor Diocletian's rebuilding of c.300 AD are still extant but today part of the Church of St John Lateran in Rome, having been moved there in the 1600's.

The exterior of the Senate House c.300 AD.

Exterior from the back...

Interior looking towards the podium.

Alternative interior looking towards the podium.

2nd alternative interior view filled with senators - by Peter Connolly and used on Stage 40 title-page.

Interior looking towards the main doors.

Cutaway drawing of the Senate in action...

An exterior view of the Curia (probably) on a silver denarius of Augustus.

Detailed article on the history and archaeology of the Senate House.

"Cicero denouncing Catiline", a scene from a famous Roman trial that took place in the Curia in 63 BC in which a Roman politician, Catiline, was accused by the consul Cicero of trying to overthrow the Roman Republic. This fresco, in the modern Italian Senate House in Rome, was painted in the 1880's by Cesare Maccari. Can you spot the mistake? The seats were, in fact, in straight rows either side of the aisle, not placed in a curve curved as painted here!

Good, detailed description of the arch, with numerous photos. This photo, in particular, where the arch is visible in the background, places it in relation to the rest of the forum in the foreground.

More information with colourful, quality photos of the arch. Here's the arch illuminated at night.

Sculptural relief from the Arch as shown on p.10 of CLC Bk.IV.

in the British Museum.

in the Vatican Museum.

Brief, succinct analysis of the conflict between the Romans and Jews in the 1st century AD.

Use the links in this site to explore other facets of Jewish and Roman history.

More detailed account with images.

It takes a minute or two to load, but this virtual-reality movie shows various views of the Second Temple of Jerusalem as reconstructed under Herod and destroyed by Titus. The tour takes us up the Mount into the temple complex, first through the Royal stoa and then into the courtyard with a view of the temple.

Here are some still 360° panoramas taken from the video.

It's now dominated by the Islamic shrine the Dome of the Rock.

This painting - The Destruction and Sack of the Temple of Jerusalem - made in 1626 by the famous French artist Nicolas Poussin was lost for over two centuries and only rediscovered in 1995.

Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian and himself a future emperor, is shown on his white horse overseeing conquest of Jerusalem in AD70.

Poussin includes references to two famous pieces of Roman sculpture: the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius and the nine-branched candlestick (menorah) on the Arch of Titus in Rome. However, he takes the Roman references too far when he gives the Jewish temple Corinthinan columns and triangular pediment in the style of classical architecture.

Now in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Fairly detailed information from Wikipedia about the Second Temple that was built by Herod and destroyed by Titus.

Information from UNESCO. Includes stunning photo.

Brief descriptions, photos and many further links.

A great podcast from the bbc on the historian Josephus.

Great article describing and illustrating the different types of coins Vespasian issued in celebration of the Roman defeat of the Jews, as exemplified by coin on p.22 of CLC Bk.IV. Colour photo

Translation of the ancient text "The War of the Jews" written by Flavius Josephus (37-100 AD). A difficult, complex read.

Detailed account.