Forma Urbis Romae

BBC 4/28/04:

"Computer helps map ancient Rome"

" Progress has been made in piecing together the Forma Urbis Romae, a map of
Rome carved into stone slabs about AD 210 but later broken into fragments.
Measuring 18m by 14m, it was originally hung in the Templum Pacis, one of
the ancient city's major public landmarks. The map was remarkably accurate
but researchers looking for new sites to excavate in Rome had only managed
to fit back together a few of the pieces.

A Stanford University computer program is now being used to aid
restoration."

[snip]

"The Forma Urbis showed almost every feature of the city from the Coliseum
and the Circus Maximus, where the chariot races  took place, down to
individual shops and even staircases. But shortly after the fall of  Rome,
it is thought that the lower part of the map was torn from the wall,
probably to be  burned in kilns to make lime for  cement. It may have lain
for centuries as just a heap of jumbled fragments, occasionally plundered
for other building works. During the Renaissance, some recognised its
importance, but still the pieces continued to be dispersed."

Text

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3659501.stm

JMM / LMC