 Today we'll investigate the former Urbis marble plan of the city of Imperial Rome in its new context in a museum on the Kylian hill. The former Urbis is a poorly preserved marble map of the city in the time of Septemius Severus, in size with labels of major monuments. It also depicts shops, houses, streets, warehouses. It's an incredible artifact that shows us what Imperial Rome looked like in the 3rd century AD. Today we'll investigate its original location, its construction, its purpose and antiquity, its rediscovery in the Renaissance, and finally we'll discuss the map in its new location on the Kylian former Urbis Museum and the importance of the new configuration of the former Urbis for the public. The Romans were fixated with their city and their empire. Already in the time of Augustus, there was in the Porticus Vipsania a map of the entire world. It was constructed by Agrippa and he also wrote a commentary to go along with it. And that's for the entire world dominated by the Romans in the time of Augustus. Here we have another tantalizing fragment from Imperial Rome. It's a fragment of a map dating to the time of Augustus. Some scholars say it dates as late as the 2nd century. It was found in Tristevere and this fragment is on a scale of 1 to 240, the same scale of the former Urbis that we'll discuss today. But look at the detail and the precision. It's greater than what we'll see in the former Urbis. It depicts the Circus Flominius area, including the Temple of the Castors, as well as a portion along the riverbank of the Tiber. When we look at this detail, even greater than that of the former Urbis, we can ask questions that we don't have the answers for. Who created this? Where was it originally located? Was it in fact a precursor to this severant former Urbis? Again, we don't have the answers, but this underlines the fact that there were other maps of the city in Imperial times. Pliny the Elder states as well distances from the Golden milestone in the Roman Forum to each of the individual gates leading into Rome. The Romans were fixated with their city, they were fixated in the scale of the city, and they measured those distances. The former Urbis was located on a wall in the Forum of Peace, which was rebuilt after the fire of Commodus in 192. So the dating of the former Urbis map is in the third century, between 203 and 211, the reign of Septimius Severus. The dimensions are extraordinary. The scale is 1 to 240. The map was carved on 150 panels of Prokinesian marble for a total of 13 by 18 meters, that's 235 square meters, which is about 3,800 acres. Another thing to keep in mind about this plan, it's oriented south to north. Now how do the attachment system work? The panels were attached to the wall with metal clamps and dowel rods of marble. Now what's the purpose of this incredible map? It certainly wasn't so legible, although there were labels. And those labels were painted red for legibility. And we have here a modern legend that describes to us that the various types of houses and warehouses and shops were perfectly and accurately delineated. But this wasn't something you could easily see on a wall that was almost four stories high. So what's its purpose? Its purpose was to glorify the city. Its purpose was to stand in a marble version of a cadastral map, which is a map that shows the boundaries and the ownership of parcels of land. So there were paper versions of this that could be used by officials quite possibly in the same hall where the marble map was on display. In a certain sense, we should think of the marble plan as something akin to the artwork on Trajan's column. So the details are rich and endless and too high to see with a naked eye, but the details were there. Almost an art for art's sake a way of celebrating the city, as the Romans also celebrated the empire in the Porticus Ebsania. What happened to the former Urbis? Ultimately, after antiquity, this wall became part of a complex attached to the Church of Saints Cosima and Damiano. So it was damaged in the period of repurposing. Lots of the marble was stripped off the wall to be burned down for lime. But in May 1562 at the base of the wall, hundreds of fragments were rediscovered. And from then on, people have been fascinated with recomposing this map. The fragments have been recomposed and studied for centuries. There are a thousand pieces with 200 joints made. So many more, we can't identify them. So it's still a tantalizing puzzle and only 10 to 15 percent of the overall plan survives. And today online, there's even a digital version all the pieces have been scanned by Stanford University. We can now take a tour in the new location in the newly opened Kylian former Urbis Museum. You have an opportunity to make discoveries on your own. And what they've decided to do for this museum is rather ingenious. They've placed the original fragments not on a new wall, but rather in the ground within the framework of the impressive Nolli plan dating to 1748. So what you get there is an opportunity to explore the urban plan of Imperial Rome of the third century. And you also have the framework that's beautifully preserved in the Nolli plan that shows us that same city, much of which was abandoned at the time of the 18th century, but allows us then to compare the city of antiquity with the 18th century before the modernization that we encounter today. We start off in the valley of the Colosseum. Here we have the amphitheaterum, part of the inscription is preserved, the amphitheaterum flavium. Here is that inscription with some of the red paint still visible for the mighty Colosseum. And next to it we can walk along, along the remains of the Nolli plan and see the ludus magnus, beautifully preserved. On the Esquiline nearby we have the porticus of Livia, which is Augustan in date. And on the Kylian hill we have the remains of the temple of divine Claudius. Incidentally, we're in the vicinity of the temple of Claudius in the Kylian Forum or this museum. Over to the Palatine hill we have the remains of a portion of the palace of Domitian with various halls and subterranean spaces. Here we have beautifully restored on the ancient Rome live model of the Palatine hill. Next to it on the corner of the Palatine hill is the Septizodium. We have labeled and partially preserved this grand nymphaeum of Septemius Severus and next to it the remains of the Circus maximus also labeled and also contextualized for us within the Nolli plan. And here we have that reconstruction of ancient Rome live of the Circus maximus and there on the corner of the Palatine hill is the massive Septizodium nymphaeum. With that impressive inscription and again there's that portion of the Septizodium visible on the former herbus quite extraordinary and contemporary with Septemius Severus. And just beyond that area along the beginning of the Via Appia is the Aria Radicaria and the Mutatorium places where people would leave behind their carts as they entered into the city of Rome. On to the Roman form itself with the temple of Castor and the remains of the Basilica Giulia. And we contextualize then with our reconstruction the temple of the Castors and the Basilica Giulia. Over to the Imperial Fora the Forum Pachis with the temple of Peace next to here the temple of Minerva in the Forum Transitorium of Domitian and Nerva and next to it the Forum of Augustus and here we have the Basilica Upia labeled as part of the Forum of Trajan which we see here the Forum of Peace the Forum Transitorium the Forum of Augustus over to the massive Basilica Upia of the Forum of Trajan. Over to the Campus Marshes we have the remains of the Portico system and the Hecustallium of the Theater of Pompey and here we have temples A and B of Largo Argentina area. Here we have also in the Southern Campus Marshes the Theater of Marcellus in the Circles of Minius area and we have the remains of the Porticus of Octavia which still stands today dating to the time of Septemius Severus. Here again is the Theater of Marcellus built by Augustus the label of the Circles of Minius right next to the Tiber Island Pontes referring to the Pons Castius and the Pons Fabricius. Over to the Aventine Hill we have two temples preserved here Coneficia Diana and Minerva. Also in the Aventine Hill we have the remains of the Thermae Surai and then we travel beyond the Aventine Hill to the area of Testaceum on Testaceus and we have the remains of the sprawling Hordea Loliana. Again we can always look at the various fragments here that have been reassembled within the Noly Plan and in contrast we have a whole series of fragments that haven't yet found a home or on their proper location originally on the former Urbis but you see that a number of the fragments have been joined together it's just we haven't found the original place on the former Urbis. Countless streetways, alleyways, homes, shops, apartment buildings. Thanks for watching join us in Rome and throughout the Empire. Check out our courses.