Curated playlist
Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome
- Ulpian LibraryThe Ulpian Library was the only Roman library known to last until Rome fell.
- Solarium AugustiOnce a year, an obelisk's shadow crossed the center of a Roman altar. It fell on Augustus's birthday, September 23.
- Ludus MagnusConstruction crews near the Colosseum stumbled onto a buried gladiator school in 1937. It was Rome's Ludus Magnus.
- Trajan's MarketTrajan's Market was long called the world's oldest shopping mall. Scholars now think it held offices for Emperor Trajan.
- Ostia AnticaIn 68 BC, pirates burned the harbor of Ostia and seized two senators. Pompey then got an army to stop them.
- Altar of Domitius AhenobarbusThe Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus was never an altar. It was a base that held statues in a Roman temple.
- Atrium LibertatisRome's House of Freedom was really a government archive. The Atrium Libertatis stored the census records of citizens.
- Circus MaximusRomans once released foxes with burning tails into the Circus Maximus.
- RegiaRome's Regia held sacred lances that reportedly shook the night Caesar died. He was its high priest.
- Pantheon, RomeOn Pentecost, firefighters drop red rose petals through the open oculus of Rome's Pantheon.