A fountain 100 feet tall. A temple with columns the size of redwoods. The greatest early Christian church. This video explores some of the masterpieces of Roman architecture that were demolished for building materials during the Renaissance.
Further Reading
The Temple of Minerva
Platner & Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 227-29 (available online)
A useful webpage on the Forum of Nerva
The Septizodium
Platner & Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 473-75 (available online)
Edmund Thomas, “Metaphor and identity in Severan architecture: the Septizodium between reality and fantasy.” In Simon Swain, Stephen Harrison, and Jas Elsner (eds.), Severan Culture (Cambridge University Press), 327-67. (available online)
The Baths of Constantine
Platner & Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 525-26 (available online)
A useful webpage on the history of the Baths of Constantine
The Temple of Serapis
Platner & Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 491-93 (available online)
Rabun Taylor, “Hadrian’s Serapeum in Rome” American Journal of Archaeology 108 (2004), 223-66 (available online)
Old St. Peter’s Basilica
Rodolfo Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome (Houghton & Mifflin, 1892), 127-51 (available online)
James Lees-Milne, Saint Peter’s: The story of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome (Hamish Hamilton, 1967) (available online)