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The monuments of ancient Rome are material testimony to the power and legacy of the Roman Empire. In this category, you’ll find articles devoted to preserved buildings, ruins, and archaeological sites, such as amphitheaters, forums, temples, aqueducts, roads, and thermal baths. The texts present the history of these monuments, their function in the ancient world, and their significance for contemporary knowledge about Rome. This guide explores the most important and valuable traces of Roman civilization.
The year 79 CE turned out to be the last in the life of many ancient inhabitants living at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Thanks to the well-preserved monuments and remains, we are able to get to know the life of the ancients better after thousands of years. Importantly, however, the fate of Pompeii and Herculaneum – the two most famous destroyed Roman cities – was not the same.
The city walls of Pompeii were not built by the Romans, but by a local Italic people, an Osco-Samnite population, long before the formal incorporation of the city into the Roman state after the Social War (1st century BC). During this war, the Samnite fortifications allowed Pompeii to resist – perhaps with success – the legions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. What did the fortifications look like and what do we know about their centuries-old history?
The small village of Torre Annunziata is located near Pompeii. Most tourists who visit the ruins of ancient cities pass this place completely unaware of the treasure hidden there. Meanwhile, it is worth going off the beaten track to enjoy a real jewel of antiquity in peace and quiet, and without the crowds omnipresent in the season, which has survived to this day in a time capsule, which turned out to be volcanic ashes.
