Rome Reborn: Watch what Ancient Rome looked like in 320 AD thanks to 3D reconstruction

An academic research project has created a 3D render of Ancient Rome, featuring monuments like the Pantheon to the Colosseum.

A long-running project called Rome Reborn is attempting to create an accurate 3D render of Ancient Rome.

Iconic monuments like the Pantheon and the Colosseum were well documented during Ancient Rome but there were limited descriptions of what was in between; and this project is attempting to fill in those blanks.

It seeks to illustrate scenes from the first settlements in the late Bronze Age (1000 BC) to the depopulation of the city in the early Middle Ages (550 AD).

The leaders of the project have decided that 320 AD is the best time to begin the modelling.

“At that time, Rome had reached the peak of its population, and major Christian churches were just beginning to be built. After this date, few new civic buildings were built and much of what survives the ancient city dates to this period, making reconstruction less speculative than it must, perforce, be for earlier phases.”

The full video can be viewed below which features insight from Indiana University professor Bernard Frischer, who leads the Rome Reborn project.

It is an extensive endeavour as Rome was the largest city in the Western World until it was overtaken by London in the nineteenth century.

More information on the project can be found at www.romereborn.org