The city of Rome is the largest archaeological site in the world, capital & showcase of the Roman Empire & the centre of Christian Europe. This guide provides: * Coverage of all the important sites in the city from 800 BC to AD 600 & the start of the early middle ages, drawing on the latest discoveries & the best of recent scholarship * Over 220 high-quality maps, site plans, diagrams & photographs * Sites divided into fourteen main areas, with star ratings to help you plan & prioritize your visit: Roman Forum; Upper Via Sacra; Palatine; Imperial Forums; Campus Martius; Capitoline Hill; Circus Flaminius to Circus Maximus; Colosseum & Esquiline hill; Caelian hill & the inner via Appia; Lateran to Porta Maggiore; Viminal hill; Pyramid to Testaccio; the outer via Appia; other outlying sites; Museums & Catacombs. * Introduction offering essential background to the history & culture of ancient Rome, placing the city in the context of the development of the empire, highlighting the nature of Roman achievement, & explaining how Rome came to be the largest city in the ancient world.* Comprehensive glossaries of Rome`s building materials, techniques & building types, a chronological table of kings, emperors, & the early popes, information about opening times, references & suggestions for further reading & a detailed user-friendly index. For this new edition the original text has been extensively revised, adding over 20 more sites & illustrations, the itineraries have been re-organized & expanded to suit the many changes that have taken place in the past decade, & the practical information & references have been fully updated.