FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Numismatic and History Discussion Forums => History and Archeology => Topic started by: Optimo Principi on January 25, 2011, 04:43:21 pm
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Hi all,
I have been a keen follower of the Rome Reborn project since it began a few years back and have enjoyed viewing the updated versions of the ancient city every year or so. The map of the ancient city is incredibly detailed and has drawn together massive amounts of archaeological research to construct the building models, which now look better than ever.
For those of you who have not yet enjoyed Version 2.1, take a look at the pictures and videos showing off the splendid new model.
http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/about-current.php (http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/about-current.php)
Pictures from Rome Reborn.
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Pretty cool!
I'm wondering how hard it was to make it, and how accurate it really is.
Heres a vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pHinQD3GAIo
-Aarmale
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KBA,
Very cool!
But this is sort of a compilation, isn't it?
For example, the Arch of Constantine and the Statue of Helios were not contemporaries, right?
mz
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KBA,
Very cool!
But this is sort of a compilation, isn't it?
For example, the Arch of Constantine and the Statue of Helios were not contemporaries, right?
mz
On the Rome Reborn website it describes the map as a digital model of the city as it might have appeared at the height of its urban development in the time of Constantine the Great in A.D. 320.
The Colossus was last mentioned in the mid 4th Century and I think most experts assume it was destroyed during the Sack of Rome in 410, so yes they were contemporaries.
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Ah!
If the pictures are any indication, Rome must've been quite beautiful and somewhat awe-inspiring in ancient times.
mz
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I suspect that despite the impressive monumentality portrayed by this model Rome was just as grubby then as it is now, and possibly far more so.
I wonder why they didn't focus on the Capitoline and the Temple of Jupiter or the enormous temple built by Aurelian to Sol Invictus?
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I suspect that despite the impressive monumentality portrayed by this model Rome was just as grubby then as it is now, and possibly far more so.
I think this is exactly what the model should strive to recreate in coming versions - Smoke, Smog, filth, drying laundry etc. I also think a larger range of trees and foliage are needed to fill in some bare spaces and perhaps in a few years, they could even add the Roman population; going about their business, although I know this not the purpose of the project.
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Is there any way for non-scholars to gain access to Rome Reborn 2.1?
The version now available via Google Earth has very few details and many historical inaccuracies. It doesn't look anything like the great pictures you can see on the Rome Reborn website... Or am I doing something wrong in GE?
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Is there any way for non-scholars to gain access to Rome Reborn 2.1?
The version now available via Google Earth has very few details and many historical inaccuracies. It doesn't look anything like the great pictures you can see on the Rome Reborn website... Or am I doing something wrong in GE?
From here:
http://www.vimeo.com/15808133
"An interactive earlier version of this model, called Rome Reborn 1.0 (9 million polygons) has been available at no cost since 2008 in the Gallery of Google Earth, where it is called "Ancient Rome 3D." This present version (October 2010) is called Rome Reborn 2.1. It has over 650 million polygons and still a work in progress. Before being released to the public as an interactive product capable of being explored in real time over the Internet, we need to review and correct the model archaeologically; and find a suitable technology platform for making such a massive model available to Internet users. Work is underway to address both issues."
Ben
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I suspect that despite the impressive monumentality portrayed by this model Rome was just as grubby then as it is now, and possibly far more so.
I wonder why they didn't focus on the Capitoline and the Temple of Jupiter or the enormous temple built by Aurelian to Sol Invictus?
Maffeo,
True. When I was there in 2008 I was really disappointed by all the graffiti.
However, the people are among the most beautiful I've ever seen, both men and women!
mz
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When this eventually goes live to the general public to explore, it will be an incredible tool. Can't wait.
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I imagine it was dirtier. They may have built the Cloaca Maxima, but there were no flush toilets - where did you put the night soil? - I don't know what they did about rubbish collection, if anything, and there wouldn't have been any running water in peoples' houses.
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I imagine it was dirtier. They may have built the Cloaca Maxima, but there were no flush toilets - where did you put the night soil? - I don't know what they did about rubbish collection, if anything, and there wouldn't have been any running water in peoples' houses.
Wasn't the night soil taken out of the city at night with carts?
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It would have been odd seeing the piled refuse and filth like a Mumbai slum next to the gigantic monumentality of Rome's spectacular architecture. Even odder that no emperor thought it proper to clean the capital up and perhaps organise some kind of regular rubbish collection.
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I imagine it was dirtier. They may have built the Cloaca Maxima, but there were no flush toilets - where did you put the night soil? - I don't know what they did about rubbish collection, if anything, and there wouldn't have been any running water in peoples' houses.
The public toilets all had running water that would have flushed waste into the drains, but I'm not sure where one was meant to dispose of the content of chamber pots. Evidentially what often occurred was that the content was thrown into the street (quite a liability if coming from multiple floors up!) since the Theodosian code lists numerous laws pertaining to the illegality of this.
Ben
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That's rather what I thought. It seems strange now, but piped water supplies only started to appear around 1830; Birmingham's dates from 1832. Mains sewerage dates from the same period. Only a couple of centuries ago, filth in the streets was the norm everywhere. As you can imagine, clean water made an enormous difference to infant mortality rates.