Ancient Roman sites
Circus Maximus
The Circus Maximus was a chariot racetrack in Rome first constructed in the 6th century BCE. The Circus was also used for other public events such as the Roman Games and gladiator fights and was last used for chariot races in the 6th century CE. It was partially excavated in the 20th century and then remodelled but it continues today as one of the modern city's most important public spaces, hosting huge crowds at music co ...
Founded: 6th century BC |
Location:
Rome, Italy
Villa Romana del Casale
The Villa Romana del Casale is a large and elaborate Roman villa or palace located about 3 km from Piazza Armerina. Excavations have revealed one of the richest, largest, and varied collections of Roman mosaics in the world, for which the site has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mosaic and opus sectile floors cover some 3,500 sq metres and are almost unique in their excellent state of preservation ...
Founded: 4th century AD |
Location:
Piazza Armerina, Italy
Porta Nigra
The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened colour of its stone; the original Roman name has not been preserved. Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta. The P ...
Founded: 186-200 AD |
Location:
Trier, Germany
Acropolis of Lindos
Above the modern town of rises the acropolis of Lindos, a natural citadel which was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans. This is the most impressive archaeological site on the island of Rhodes, where the dramatic natural landscape is enhanced by the picturesque quality of the more modern town. Lindos was founded by the Dorians led by the king Tlepolem ...
Founded: 10th century BCE |
Location:
Lindos, Greece
Colonne di San Lorenzo
The Colonne di San Lorenzo or Columns of San Lorenzo is a group of ancient Roman ruins, located in front of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in central Milan. The colonnade, consisting mainly of 16 tall Corinthian columns in a row, now fronts an open square. In the 4th century, the columns were moved here, after removal from a likely 2nd century pagan temple or public bath house structure. South of the columns, on ...
Founded: 300-400 AD |
Location:
Milan, Italy
Baths of Caracalla
The Baths of Caracalla were the second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, in Rome. It was built between AD 212 and 217, during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They would have had to install over 2,000t of material every day for six years in order to complete it in this time. The baths remained in use until the 6th century when the complex was taken by the Ostrogoths during the Gothic War, at which t ...
Founded: 212-127 AD |
Location:
Rome, Italy
Roman Theatre
The Roman theatre of Cádiz is an ancient structure discovered in 1980. The theatre, which was likely built during the 1st century BC and was one of the largest ever built in the Roman empire, was abandoned in the 4th century and, in the 13th century, a fortress was built on its ruins by order of King Alfonso X of Castile. The theatre featured a cavea with a diameter of more than 120 meters, and could house some 10,000 s ...
Founded: 1st century BCE |
Location:
Cádiz, Spain
Roman Theatre
The Roman Theatre in Cartagena was built between 5 and 1 BCE, as has been proven by the dedication of the edifice to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, grandsons of Augustus, who had designated them as his successors. In the 3rd century a market was built over the theatre, reusing its materials, with a semicircular open space which followed the plan of the orchestra. The market was perhaps abandoned after a fire caused by the ...
Founded: 5 BCE |
Location:
Cartagena, Spain
Pula Arena
The Pula Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved. It is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World. A rare example among the 200 surviving Roman amphitheatres, it is also the best preserved ancient monument in Croatia. The Arena was built between 27 BC and 68 AD, as the city of Pula became a regional centre of ...
Founded: 27 BC - 68 AD |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Porta San Paolo
The Porta San Paolo is one of the southern gates in the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome. The Via Ostiense Museum is housed within the gatehouse. The original name of the gate was Porta Ostiensis, because it was located of the beginning of via Ostiense, the road that connected Rome and Ostia where functioned as its main gate. Via Ostiense was an important arterial road, as evidenced by the fact that upon entering t ...
Founded: 3rd century AD |
Location:
Rome, Italy
Ostia Antica
Ostia Antica was the seaport for the city of Rome from its founding in 335 BC until it was sacked in the 4th century AD. Today it is a major archaeological site; you can walk the streets of the old town, passing the amphitheatre, forum, shops, houses and apartments. The site is particularly noted for its mosaics and frescoes.
Founded: 335 BC |
Location:
Città Metropolitana di Roma, Italy
Porta Asinaria
The Porta Asinaria is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome. Dominated by two protruding tower blocks and associated guard rooms, it was built between 270 and 273, at the same time as the Wall itself. It is through this gate that East Roman troops under General Belisarius entered the city in 536, reclaiming the city for the Byzantine Empire from the Ostrogoths. By the 16th century it had become overwhelmed by traffic. A n ...
Founded: 270-273 |
Location:
Rome, Italy
Arch of Galerius and Rotunda
The Arch of Galerius and the Rotunda are neighbouring early 4th-century AD monuments in Thessaloniki. The 4th-century Roman emperor Galerius commissioned these two structures as elements of an imperial precinct linked to his Thessaloniki palace. Archeologists have found substantial remains of the palace to the southwest. These three monumental structures were connected by a road that ran through the arch, which rose abov ...
Founded: 298-306 AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Roman Temple of Córdoba
The construction of Roman temple in Córdoba began during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) and ended some forty years later, during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96 CE). Presumably it was dedicated to the imperial cult. The temple underwent some changes in the 2nd century, reforms that coincide with the relocation of the colonial forum. In the area had already been found architectural elements, such as drums ...
Founded: c. 50 AD |
Location:
Córdoba, Spain
Hadrian's Villa
The Villa Adriana (Hadrian"s Villa) is an exceptional complex of classical buildings created in the 2nd century A.D. by the Roman emperor Hadrian. It combines the best elements of the architectural heritage of Egypt, Greece and Rome in the form of an "ideal city". The villa was constructed at Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) as a retreat from Rome for Roman Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of th ...
Founded: c. 128 AD |
Location:
Tivoli, Italy
Walls of Seville
The Walls of Seville are a series of defensive walls surrounding the Old Town. They were built in times of Julius Caesar, approximately between the years 68 and 65 BC, when he was quaestor of the city. This new fortification was aimed at replacing the old Carthaginian stockade of logs and mud. The walls were expanded and refined during the rule of his son Augustus due to the growth of the city. The city has been surround ...
Founded: 68-65 BCE |
Location:
Seville, Spain
Cemenelum
The Roman city of Cemenelum was founded in the 1st century AD as a staging post for Roman troops in the Alpes Maritime region and it later became the regional capital. Favorably located, Cemenelum was chosen as the principal seat of the province of Alpes Maritimae by Augustus in 14 BC. Later, the Romans settled further inland, on the opposite side of the river Paillon. Remains of the town on the Hill of Cimiez date to the ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Nice, France
Astorga Roman Walls
The Roman walls of Astorga were built at the end of the 3rd century AD or beginning of the next century. The reasons that caused its construction are related to a period of instability experienced in the last years of the Roman Empire, especially originated by the incursions of the barbarian towns from the center of Europe. The walls has a length of 2,2 km. At the end of the thirteenth century, repairs were documented by ...
Founded: 3rd century AD |
Location:
Astorga, Spain
Porta Palatina
The Palatine Gate (Porta Palatina) is a Roman Age city gate located in Turin, Italy. The gate provided access through the city walls of Julia Augusta Taurinorum (modern Turin) from the North side and, as a result, it constituted the Porta Principalis Dextra (Right-Side Main Gate) of the old town. Built in the 1st century during the Augustan Age or the Flavian Age, the Porta Principalis Dextra may predate ...
Founded: 1st century AD |
Location:
Turin, Italy
Roman Amphitheatre of Catania
The amphitheatre of Catania is the most complicated and largest of all the amphitheatres in Sicily. It was built in the Roman Imperial period, probably in the 2nd century AD, on the northern edge of the ancient city at the base of the Montevergine hill. Only a small section of the structure is now visible, below ground level, to the north of Piazza Stesicoro. The external diameter was 125 x 105 metres, while the external ...
Founded: 2nd century AD |
Location:
Catania, Italy