Bring the Ancient World to Life with 3D 

My two pennies’ worth

It can be tempting to display an impressive model, rotate it a few times and then continue with the lesson. The model may attract attention, but students will not necessarily learn very much from it. The real educational value begins when we give them a reason to explore.

You do not need a large collection of models or specialist knowledge of 3D technology. One carefully selected object or building can support an entire lesson. The key is to begin with a clear historical or archaeological question and then use the model to help students investigate it.

Try not to explain everything before students have had an opportunity to look. Give them time to notice details, make suggestions and form initial ideas. Some of these ideas may be wrong, but that is part of the process. Archaeological interpretation begins with observation, develops through comparison and changes when new evidence becomes available.

STEP 2 – Explore cities from Rome to the Roman Empire and back

The images below show reconstructed views of the Roman Forum during the Late Republican period (c. 100 BCE, top left), at the time of Augustus’ death (14 CE, bottom left) and around 310 CE (right). All the images were produced by the Digital Roman Forum research project. Explore the website to learn more about the buildings and the many successive phases in the development of a space that remained one of Rome’s principal political and religious centres for more than a millennium.

Now move to the Curia Iulia, the seat of Rome’s Senate House. Ask your students: can you locate it on the map? Julius Caesar began the new Curia, but Augustus completed and inaugurated it in 29 BCE. After a major fire in 283 CE, it was rebuilt under Diocletian, and in 630 CE Pope Honorius I converted it into the church of Sant’Adriano al Foro.

The building we see today, however, is also the product of major restorations directed by Alfonso Bartoli between 1930 and 1936. In keeping with the ideology of Italy’s Fascist government, the Curia was stripped back to what was believed to be its original Roman appearance. This helped sustain a political narrative that presented the ancient Roman Empire as the predecessor and legitimising model of a new Fascist empire. The restoration therefore removed many of the medieval and early modern additions associated with the church, erasing much of the building’s post-antique history. Today, the Curia is still used for public conferences and cultural events, adding another layer of meaning to a building that embodies many of the cultural, institutional and political transformations of Rome’s history.

Invite your students to reflect on a broader idea: buildings often survive precisely because they are repeatedly repaired, adapted and given new uses. These accumulated meanings form part of the heritage landscape we encounter today. When we look at an ancient building that has been excavated, restored or partially reconstructed, we are not seeing only a product of the period in which it was first built. We are also seeing the values, beliefs and political choices of the societies that later preserved and reshaped it.

2.b - Roman Urbanism during Rome's expansion across Italy

Use Cosa as a case study to explore how Roman urbanism developed alongside Rome’s expansion across the Italian peninsula. Rome established the settlement as a Latin colony in 273 BCE, following the conquest of territory formerly controlled by the Etruscan city of Vulci. From its rocky promontory overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, Cosa could command the surrounding territory, coastal routes and access to its port.

Invite your students to examine the plan of the colony. What combination of streets, public spaces, religious buildings, defences and houses was considered essential when founding a new city? How were these elements arranged and how did the planners adapt them to the local terrain? Cosa was enclosed by massive polygonal walls and organized around a regular street network laid across the uneven hilltop. The Forum occupied a natural saddle between two higher areas, while the principal sanctuary stood on the Arx above it. Houses were arranged in blocks across the settlement, creating a planned urban landscape in which civic, religious, commercial and domestic activities occupied distinct but interconnected spaces. What can this layout tell us about how the colony was organized and how its inhabitants experienced the city?

STEP 3 – Explore cities from Rome to the Roman Empire and back

Invite your students to bring together the evidence collected during their journey. Which buildings and urban features recur across the empire? Which were considered essential to a Roman city, and how were they adapted to different landscapes, climates, traditions and communities? Were provincial cities simply copies of Rome, or did they develop their own forms of Roman urban life?

Encourage students to reflect on Roman urbanism as a flexible and evolving system rather than a single fixed model. Shared institutions, building types and infrastructure connected cities across the empire, but every settlement was shaped by its own history, population and local environment.