DK Travel : Rome : History & Culture

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Alberto Moravia

One of Italy’s top modern authors (1907–90) wrote about Rome in Raconti Romani , La Romana , La Ciociara , Gli Indifferenti and La Noia , most of which have been translated.
Alexander VI

Ruthless Borgia pope (1492–1503) used the pontificate to destroy rival families.
Ara Pacis

Augustus Caesar built this “Altar of Peace” between 13 BC and 9 BC to celebrate the famed pax romana (Roman peace) he instituted – largely by subjugating most of Western Europe, the Levant and North Africa. Fragments of the altar were excavated over several centuries, and in the 1920s Mussolini placed the reconstituted Ara Pacis by Augustus’s Mausoleum. The altar is now housed in a Richard Meier-designed museum, the first modern structure to rise in the centre of Rome in 70 years.
Assassination of Caesar

A series of military victories, adding Gaul (France) to Rome, increased General Julius Caesar’s popularity. He marched his army to Rome and declared himself Dictator for Life, but on 15 March 44 BC he was assassinated. Caesar’s adopted son Octavian changed his name to Augustus and declared himself emperor in 27 BC.
Augustus

The first and most brilliant emperor (31 BC–AD 14) brought a reign of peace after 17 years of civil war.
Augustus’s Mausoleum

Augustus built this grand imperial tomb in 27 BC, his ashes later joined by those of emperors Tiberius and Nerva, and worthies such as Agrippa and Marcellus. Barbarian invaders later made off with the urns and locals mined its travertine facing for their palaces. The ancient rotunda has served time as a hanging garden, fortress, circus for bear-baiting, and concert hall. In the 1920s its crown was restored to the ancient style, covered with grass and cypress, and Mussolini laid out the ugly Fascist piazza around it.
Baths of Caracalla

Inaugurated in 217 and used until 546, when invading Goths destroyed the aqueducts. Up to 2,000 people at a time could use these luxurious thermae . In general, Roman baths included social centres, art galleries, libraries, brothels and palestrae (exercise areas). Bathing involved taking a sweat bath, a steam bath, a cool-down, then a cold plunge. The Farnese family’s ancient sculpture collection was found here, including Hercules , a signed Greek original. Today, ruins of individual rooms can be seen.

Gymnasia, Baths of Caracalla
Baths of Diocletian

A large section of this huge 3rd-century AD complex now houses an excellent archaeological museum, including a marble sculpture of Mithras that still retains its gold leaf and paint. A vast Michelangelo cloister is decorated with ancient statuary (see Baths of Diocletian and Aula Ottagona).
Baths of Diocletian and Aula Ottagona

The main collection of this museum is dedicated to rather academic holdings, principally inscriptions and stele (funeral stones). The Aula Ottagona features two 2nd-century BC bronze sculptures of great beauty, which were discovered lovingly hidden in a trench 6 m (20 ft) below the concrete floor of the Temple of the Sun, on the steep hillside of the Quirinal (see Baths of Diocletian).
Battle at Milvian Bridge

In 312 Emperor Constantine, whose mother was a Christian, had a vision of victory under the sign of the Cross and defeated co-emperor Maxentius at Milvian Bridge. He declared Christianity the state religion.