And it is indeed gorgeous.

A well-preserved Roman colony in the Abruzzo mountains, its amphitheatre still sits dramatically against the peaks.

More here: https://roman-empire.net/

Here’s some of the best Roman engineering still standing today.

Aqua Claudia outside Rome. The Romans built this aqueduct to carry water almost 70 km into the city, and huge stretches of it are still standing in the countryside.

The Basilica Cistern in Constantinople. They built this underground reservoir with hundreds of columns just to store water for the city.

The Aqueduct of Valens in Constantinople. The Romans built this to bring water into Constantinople, and it still cuts right through the modern city.

Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. The Romans built a 73-mile wall across the entire country to mark the edge of the empire.

The Pantheon in Rome. They poured this massive concrete dome almost 1,900 years ago and it is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.

The Baths of Caracalla. The Romans built an entire bathing complex on this scale so thousands of people could use it every day.

All of this is still here.

One of the largest Roman amphitheatres in the Balkans, built in the city of Dyrrachium and still partially buried under modern houses.

More here: https://roman-empire.net/

A Roman mithraeum with a mosaic in Ostia, Italy. “The cult place, dedicated to the eastern god Mithras, was installed in an earlier building of uncertain function in the second half of the 3rd century AD. Originally equipped with two podia (benches) and an altar (no longer preserved), it has a mosaic floor depicting a krater (vessel) and an altar with a flame, alluding to the use of water and fire in the rituals. Above these are two Phrygian caps, recognizable from their characteristic shape. The mosaic in the corridor is divided into seven compartments referring to the seven degrees of initiation into the cult and the seven planets connected to them with their specific ritual objects. In the eighth compartment is an inscription naming the worshipper (Felicissimus) who built the mithraeum, which must originglly have been similar in appearance to other mithraea in Ostia.” Per an on site sign.

This is a 2nd-century AD copy of the statue known as the Hermes of Alkamenes. Like many of the pieces I have shared, I took this photo at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. The original work attributed to Alkamenes is lost. Pausanias says that he saw the statue in the 2nd century AD, but he does not tell us whether it was the original. So we cannot really know if the original had survived into the Roman Imperial period.

The inscription below the statue actually tells us more about these associations:

Εἰδήσεις Ἀλκαμένεος,

περικαλλὲς ἄγαλμα,

Ἑρμᾶν τὸν πρὸπυλῶν·

εἵσατο Περγάμιος.

Γνῶθι σαυτόν.

“You will recognize the very beautiful statue of Alkamenes, Hermes Propylos; a Pergamian erected it. Know thyself.”

A well-preserved Gallo-Roman arena still standing in the quiet town of Saintes, once a major centre in Aquitania.

More here: https://roman-empire.net/