The Circus Maximus (Latin for greatest circus, in Italian Circo Massimo) is an ancient arena and mass entertainment venue located in Rome.
Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, the location was first utilised for public games and entertainment by the Etruscan kings of Rome. Certainly, the first games of the Ludi Romani (Roman Games) were staged at the location by Tarquinius Priscus, the first Etruscan ruler of Rome. Somewhat later, the Circus was the site of public games and festivals influenced by the Greeks in the 2nd century BC. Meeting the demands of the Roman citizenry for mass public entertainment on a lavish scale, Julius Caesar expanded the Circus around 50 BC, after which the track measured approximately 600 m (1,968 ft) in length, 80 m (387 ft) in breadth and could accommodate an estimated 250,000 spectators (many more, perhaps an equal number again, could view the games by standing, crowding and lining the adjoining hills).
In 81, the Senate built a triple arch honoring Titus by the closed East end (not to be confused with the Arch of Titus over the Via Sacra on the opposite side of the Palatinum).
The emperor Domitian connected his new palace on the Palatine to the Circus in order that he could more easily view the races. The emperor Trajan later added another 5000 seats and expanded the emperor's seating in order to increase his public visibility during the games.
The most important event at the Circus was chariot racing. The track could hold twelve chariots, and the two sides of the track were separated by a raised median termed the spina. The spina was set slightly diagonally. Statues of various gods were set up on the spina, and Augustus erected an Egyptian obelisk on it as well. At either end of the spina was a turning post, the meta, around which chariots made dangerous turns at speed. On top of the spina, there were rotatable metal dolphins that were turned down to mark laps around the course. In one race, only one out of 12 chariots made it through the race; the other chariots broke, ran into walls, or crashed one way or another. Because of this, there was a special crew whose only job was to remove broken chariots, detached horses, and injured or dead charioteers. One end of the track extended further back than the other, to allow the chariots to line up to begin the race. Here there were starting gates, or carceres, which staggered the chariots so that each travelled the same distance to the first turn. During these chariot races, bribery of the judge in order to fix the start of the race was very common. The race went for a total distance of about 6.5 km (4 mi).
Very little now remains of the Circus, except for the now grass-covered racing track and the spina. Some of the starting gates remain, but most of the seating has disappeared, the materials no doubt employed for building other structures in medieval Rome.
The obelisk was removed in the 16th century by Pope Sixtus V and placed in the Piazza del Popolo. Excavation of the site began in the 19th century, followed by a partial restoration, but there are yet to be any truly comprehensive excavations conducted within its grounds.
The Circus Maximus retained the honour of being the first and largest circus in Rome, but it was not the only example: other Roman circuses included the Circus Flaminius (in which the Ludi Plebeii were held), the Circus of Maxentius and the Circus of Nero.
The Circus still occasionally entertains the Romans; being a large, green area in the center of the city, it is often used for concerts and meetings.

The church was built in the 6th century over the remains of the Templum Herculis Pompeiani in the Forum Boarium and of the Statio annonae, one of the food distribution centres of ancient Rome (another is to be found at theatre of Balbus). A deaconry was a place where charity distributions were given to the poor, and it looks likely that such an institution would have been built near the Roman annona.
Since it was located near many Byzantine structures, in 7th century this church was called de Schola Graeca, and a close street is still called della Greca. Greek monks escaping iconoclastic persecutions decorated the church around 782, when pope Adrian I promoted its reconstruction; the church was built with three naves and a portico. Because of its beauty, the church received the adjective cosmedin (from Greek kosmidion), beautiful. A sacristy and an oratory dedicated to St. Nicholas were added in the 9th century, by order of Pope Nicholas I, who also built a papal residence, but they were removed in 1085 by Robert Guiscard's Norman troops. It was in Santa Maria in cosmedin that were elected the popes Gelasius II (who had been Cardinal Deacon of Titulus S. Mariae in Cosmedin), Celestine III, and the antipope Benedict XIII (Cardinal Deacon of this church).
A substantial restoration was accomplished in 1118-1124 under Alfanus, camerarius of Pope Callixtus II. After being acquired by Benedictines and a period of decay, in 1718 the church was brought up to a Baroque style, mainly expressed by a new façade, by Giuseppe Sardi in 1718. The Baroque additions, however, were removed in the restoration of 1894-1899.
Among the former titular deacons of the church is Reginald Cardinal Pole, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.
The church draws many visitors because of la Bocca della Verità, an ancient sculpture thought to be a drain covering, located in its portico; yet is in fact primarily worth visiting for its exceptionally well preserved early medieval choir enclosure and its very fine Cosmatesque pavement. Its bell tower is the tallest medieval belfry in Rome.
The current interior has a nave with two aisles: these are divided by four pilasters and eighteen ancient columns. In the side walls some of the old columns of the Statio Annonae are included. Other fragments of the ancient building can be seen in crypt. Paintings from 8th-12th centuries, in three layers, are preserved in the upper part of the nave and in triumphal arch. The Schola cantorum is from the 13th century, while the main altar is a red granite piece from 1123. The Easter candelabrum is also from the 13th century.
The sacristy houses a precious mosaic fragment brought here from the Pope John VII's of the old St. Peter's Basilica. Of the 18th century restoration, the Crucifix Chapel and the Baptistry can be seen today.
The Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità) is a famous sculpted image of a human face in Rome, Italy. The sculpture is thought to be part of an ancient Roman fountain or perhaps a "manhole" cover, portraying a river god.
The most famous characteristic of the Mouth, however, is its capability of act as lie detector. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with his hand in the mouth of the sculpture then it would be bitten off. Bocca was placed in the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church in the 17th century.
The Mouth of Truth is most popularly known for its appearance in the 1953 Audrey Hepburn-Gregory Peck film Roman Holiday. In the film, Hepburn (playing a princess) and Peck (playing a reporter) visit The Mouth of Truth and Peck relates the legend. He challenges Hepburn to place her hand inside the mouth, which she does with no ill effects. She then asks Peck to do the same and when he does he yells and pulls his arm out to reveal his hand is missing! Hepburn's shriek on seeing this is not acting as Peck had pulled a practical joke on her on camera by pulling his arm inside his sleeve. Peck ends the joke by popping his hand out into a handshake position and going "Hello!" Hepburn, relieved, breaks into laughter. The joke was incorporated into the film. The film also uses The Mouth of Truth as a storytelling device since both Hepburn's and Peck's characters are not initially truthful with each other. There is a sculpture of a lion in Mahabalipuram,Tamil Nadu,India which according to local lore bites off one's hand if an untruth is told.Thus,it has the same functionality as The mouth of truth.

The pyramid is a funerary monument built about 12 BC as a tomb for Caius Cestius, a member of one of the four great religious corporations at Rome, the Septemviri epulonum. It is of brick-faced concrete covered with slabs of white marble, 27 meters high and about 22 meters square, standing on a travertine foundation. In the interior is the burial chamber, 5.95 metres long, 4.10 wide and 4.80 high. On the east and west sides, about halfway up, is the inscription recording the names and titles of Cestius, and below, on the east side only, another which relates the circumstances of the erection of the monument.
The peculiar conceit of a pyramid in Rome must be laid to the fact that Rome had conquered Egypt a few years before, in 30 BC, and the ancient culture of the new province became fashionable for a while; at any rate the tomb is unique among ancient Roman monuments, and not until modern funerary architecture did Rome see another pyramid within its walls.
A comparison of their shape reveals that the structural strength of concrete made it possible to build the Roman pyramid at a much sharper angle than those of Egypt.
In the 3rd century the pyramid was included inside the Aurelian Walls, and the Middle Ages, including the author Petrarch, seems to have thought of it, erroneously, as the tomb of either Romulus or Remus, in spite of the inscription. At that time, it was considered one of the most important monuments of antiquity. It had been conserved 'nearly intact', but was nevertheless overgrown with plants. The inscription 'Caius Cestius' was barely visible. Pier Paolo Vergerio mentioned around 1400 that it was difficult to read because of the vegetation.
In 1660, excavations were undertaken: two statue bases were found outside it dedicated to Cestius, and an opening was dug into the pyramid itself, when it was discovered that the burial chamber was once decorated with frescoes, only the scantest traces of which now remain.
The Falicon pyramid near Nice in France is suspected by some to have been constructed by Roman legionaries from an Egyptian cult.

Tempio Della Fortuna Virile
This temple was mistakenly known as the Tempio della Fortuna Virile, but has now been identified as the Temple of Portunus, god of the river port, once located near the Emilio bridge. The importance of this well-preserved temple (perhaps because of its small dimensions) is due to its very rare Greco-Italic architecture and its age. In fact it dates back to the second half of the 2nd century BC and was renovated during the following century. It is rectangular in shape, and is built of tufa and travertine stone. It has four frontal columns, and has semicolumns built into the walls on the sides and back. The temple became a church in AD 872 and was named after Maria Egipciaca, a loose woman from Alexandria who was converted and spent the rest of her life in penitence in the desert.
Temple of Vesta
The Temple of Vesta (Aedes Vesta) was one of the most ancient Roman sanctuaries in the forum. It was dedicated to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. The much restored remains of the temple stands between the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Caesar, the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins.
The temple underwent many changes through the centuries, maybe because of the inherent danger of fire in the cult, and very little is known about the oldest buildings on the site. They did, however, have some common, immutable features. All the buildings on the spot followed the circular ground plan and the entrance was always to the east.
The current temple dates from 191 BCE, when Julia Domna, wife of the emperor Septimius Severus, ordered a thorough restoration.
The circular cella was surrounded by twenty Corinthian columns and rested on a marble covered podium in opus caementicium with a 15m diameter. The outer walls of the cella was decorated by semi-columns. The inside of the cella only housed the sacred hearth where the Vestal Virgins kept the eternal fire burning.
The temple was closed by Teodosius in 394 BCE, when all non-Christian cults were definitively banned.
The temple was partially rebuilt in 1930 using ancient fragments.

The church was built in the 5th century, presumably at the site of the original Titulus Sabinae, a church in the home of Sabina who had been martyred c. 114. The tituli were the first parish churches in Rome. The exact date of the foundation is believed to be 422-423, and it is known that it was founded by an Illyrian priest named Peter.
It was restored in the 8th and 9th centuries.
In 1218, the church was given to the Dominicans by Pope Honorius III, who had approved the foundation of the order. They still serve the church, although since 1370 Santa Maria sopra Minerva has been their main church in Rome. The Pope was of the Savelli family, whose palace was next to the church.
St Dominic lived in the adjacent monastery for a period soon before his death in 1221. Among other residents of the monastery is St Thomas Aquinas.
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, some additions were made. In the 20th century, most of these were removed to restore the church back to its original state. The restorations took place 1914-1919 and 1936-1938, and were led by A. Muzo and P. Berthier.
The church looks much as it did when it was built in the 5th century.
The style is Illyrian rather than Roman, which explains the unusually large windows. The windows are of silenite, not glass.
The original front door can be found by walking through the arcade in front of the monastery. It is possible to enter from the side porch, but I recommend going through the front door. It dates from between 420 and 450, and is made of cypress wood. About 10 of the original 28 panels are missing, but any wooden object from this period is a rare sight. In one of the panels with scenes from the life of Moses, God the Father is depicted as a hand extended from a cloud, the earliest way of representing Him in Christian art. The crucifixion scene in the top left-hand panel may be the earliest preserved representation of the Christ crucified between two thieves in Western art.
Opposite the door, there is a hole in the wall. If you look through it, you can see and orange tree which is descended from one planted by St Dominic.
St Dominic, Pope St Pius V, St Celsus, St Hyacinth and St Thomas Aquinas are among those who have lived in the monastery adjacent to the church
Below a grating in the floor is a room of a Roman house, which has been excavated. It might be the original Christian 'house-church' at the site, the "Title of Sabina".
The church's interior is different from other early churches as we see them today, because the large windows let so much light through. This was common in ancient and early medieval churches, but we rarely experience it today because the openings have been walled up. The reason for this is the idea that less light would give better conditions for prayer and meditation.
There is no apse mosaic, which is unusual for a church of this date. It was originally decorated, as was the triumphal arch, but the mosaics are lost. They have been replaced by frescoes by Taddeo Zuccari, painted 1560, and these probably have the same motif as the lost mosaics.
Below the high altar is a shrine to St Sabina and other martyrs.
Over the cypress doors, there is a mosaic showing ecclesia ex circumcision, "The Church from the Circumcision" and ecclesia ex gentibus, "The Church from the Nations". Some believe that it represents the Old and New Testaments, but it seems more likely that they are intended to represent the Christians of Jewish origins and the Christians who were converts from pagan religion. Between the two figures is a text recording the building of the church by Peter the Illyrian, who was a priest. The first line contains an assertion of the Pope's supreme and universal authority, and is an early example of such a text.
The columns are ancient, and may have been taken from one of the many buildings on the Aventine that were destroyed by the Goths in 410. They support arcades rather than straight architraves, and this is the earliest example of such a construction in Rome. The proportions of the church are based on Hellenistic principles, as described by Vitruvius. For instance, the height of the columns equal 9 1/2 times their diameter, and the space between columns equal 5 times their diameter; this is just as Vitruvius describes it.
The wooden ceiling is a simple one, and it was restored to this state in 1936.
The schola cantorum, or choir enclosure, dates to the ninth century. The relief on it is inspired by Persian style.
The mosaic on the tomb in the middle of the nave floor depicts a Master General of the Dominicans, probably Monoz de Zamora, who died in 1300. The mosaic has been dated to c. 1300 on stylistic grounds, so it seems likely that the identification is correct.
In the Cappella d'Elci, on the left side at the middle of the length of the nave, is a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary by Sassoferrato. She is flanked by St Dominic and St Catherina of Siena.
In the right nave is the late 15th century tomb of the Spanish Auxias Cardinal di Poggio (died 1484). The artist is unknown, but it is likely that he belonged to the school of Andrea Bregno. The inscription says: "To live after death, he lived as one who was going to die".

The Porta San Paolo is one of the southern gates in the 3rd century Aurelian Walls of Rome. The Ostiense Museum is housed within in the gatehouse. Just to the west is the Pyramid of Cestius, an Egyptian-style pyramid, and beyond that is the Protestant Cemetery.
The gatehouse is flanked by two cylindical towers, and has two entrances, which had been covered by a second, single-opening gate, built in front of the first by Belisarius (530s–540s).
The structure is due to Maxentius, in the 4th century, but the two towers were heightened by Honorius. Its original name was Porta Ostiensis, since it opened on the way to Ostia. Later it changed its name to Porta San Paolo, because it was the exit of Rome that led to the St. Paul basilica outside the walls.
In 549, the Rome was under siege; the Ostrogoths of Totila entered through this gate, because of the treason of the Isaurian garrison. On 10 September 1943, two days after the armistice between the Allies and Italy had been agreed, Italian military and civil forces tried to block German seizure of the city, with 570 casualties.

Although this 4 sided arch is named after Arch of Janus, the god with 2 heads looking in opposite directions, it was probably an honorary tribute to the Emperor Constantine and was erected in the most easterly part of the Forum Boarium, the cattle market, in the area known as Velabrum.
As well as being a monument, the arch provided shelter to the merchants during their business deals and negotiations.
At the back of this arch you'll find the Church of San Giorgio in Velabro, a parish church of the 5th century.
Velabrum was the ancient name given to the marshy ground beside the river; it was here that Faustolus found the twins Romulus and Remus in a floating basket. The basket had been snared by the roots of a fig tree on the bank of the Tiber. The area is one of the most symbolic of the legends that narrate the story of the birth of Rome.