The first harbour of ancient Rome eventually found
Archaeologists have unearthed the great ancient monuments of Ostia, but the location of the harbour which supplied Rome with wheat remained to be discovered. Thanks to sedimentary cores, this 'lost' harbour has eventually been located northwest of the city of Ostia, on the left bank of the mouth of the Tiber. Stratigraphy has revealed that at its foundation, between the 4th and 2nd century BC, the basin was deeper than 6.5 m, the depth of a seaport. This research was carried out by a French-Italian team of the Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée (CNRS / Université Lumière Lyon), the Ecole Française de Rome and Speciale per i Beni Soprintendenza Archeologici di Roma - Sede di Ostia and will be published in the Chroniques des Mélanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome in December 2012. Read more
Italian archaeologists on Saturday inaugurated new flower gardens in the ruins of ancient Roman palaces on the Palatine Hill in a colourful reconstruction of what the area may have looked like 2,000 years ago. Read more
During the Roman Republic, several dates were given for the founding of the city of Rome between 758 BC and 728 BC. Finally, under the Roman Empire, the date suggested by Marcus Terentius Varro, 753 BC, was agreed upon, but in the Fasti Capitolini the year given was 752. Although the proposed years varied, all versions agreed that the city was founded on April 21, the day of the festival sacred to Pales, goddess of shepherds; in her honour, Rome celebrated the Par ilia (or Palilia). (The Roman a.u.c. calendar, however, begins with Varro's dating of 753 BC.) Read more
The Founding of Rome and the Beginnings of Urbanism in Italy
Spoiler
Ed ~ The last lecture is very easy listening - recommended if you ever plan visiting Rome
The Great Fire of Rome (Latin: Magnum Incendium Romae) was an urban fire that occurred in AD 64. According to Tacitus, it spread quickly and burned for five and a half days. Only four of the fourteen districts of Rome escaped the fire; three districts were completely destroyed and the other seven suffered serious damage. Read more
3D models of famous landmarks such as Rome's Colosseum have been recreated using millions of pictures from photo-sharing websites such as Flickr. The images were analysed by a modified home PC and detailed models created in less than a day. Read more
24 August 410: the date it all went wrong for Rome?
Tuesday marks the 1,600th anniversary of one of the turning points of European history - the first sack of Rome by an army of Visigoths, northern European barbarian tribesmen, led by a general called Alaric. Read more
Rome took a step back in time on Sunday as the city marked the anniversary of its legendary foundation. Legend has it that Rome was founded on 21 April, 753 BC by the twin sons of the war god Mars, Romulus and Remus. Read more
The first of its kind in Europe; a new fully virtual tour through the age of Augustus is now a reality at the Museo virtuale della via Flaminia Antica. As the name may suggest, this is a tour along one of the most important highways of the ancient Roman world, which, after its construction in 220 BC, connected Rome with Rimini and the north.
An Italian museum unveiled a virtual reconstruction of one of the bustling arteries that led into ancient Rome, allowing visitors to wander through rebuilt monuments and interact with the citys political elite. Using a concept similar to that of online virtual worlds, the project creates characters, or avatars, that roam the ancient Via Flaminia, exploring monuments that lined the road, bridges and arches. They can also roam through the villa belonging to Livia, wife of Romes first emperor, Augustus.