t The Colosseum amphitheatre seen from above
t The Colosseum amphitheatre seen from above
Experience Forum and Palatine
Although the relics of ancient Rome are strewn throughout the city, the most concentrated and fully excavated cluster lie on the flat, once marshy area between the Capitoline, Esquiline and Palatine hills, home to the original Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Imperial Fora. The Roman Forum was the official heart of the ancient city, the centre of political, commercial and judicial life, and according to the playwright Plautus, teemed with “lawyers and litigants, bankers and brokers, shopkeepers and strumpets, good-for-nothings waiting for a tip from the rich”. Nearby, the Colosseum was the centre of entertainment. As Rome’s population boomed, the original Forum became too small, and in 46 BC Julius Caesar built an extension, setting a precedent followed by emperors from Augustus to Trajan. Looking down on all this, the Palatine Hill was the most desirable residential area in Rome, home to some of the city’s most famous inhabitants. The great orator Cicero had a house here, as did the lyric poet Catullus. Augustus was born on the hill and continued to live here even when he became emperor.