A stroll across the ancient city:
We have been in the Forum and then the Colosseum. This map doesn't actually have the main Forum marked on it but you can find it by locating the Colosseum. The main forum is in that blank area on the map between the Circus Maximus (#8) and the Colosseum .
Let's now go to the Circus Maximus, #8 on the map above. You can see that between the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus, there is a hill. That is Palatine Hill that we looked up at while strolling the Forum. We will now skirt it as we walk to the Circus. Palatine Hill though, is a great place from which to view the Circus.
From
the Circus Maximus, we are looking up at Palatine Hill and the
remnants of Emperor's palaces and hill extensions.
This is the view you get from
Palatine Hill:
This was once a
race track for chariots. An oval stadium rose around this track.
150,000 people could sit here. 200,000 and more could stand here.
Between the races, the people would mill around below the stands,
just like in stadiums today. There they would be buying souvenirs,
eating, gambling and looking forward to the next race.
Let's now stroll back over to Capitoline hill. We've completed a circle.
Here's the Capitoline wolf up on Capitoline Hill (Capitol Hill on the map) above the Forum:
The Capitoline
wolf 
Now in the Capitoline museum on Capitoline Hill, this she-wolf was, you could say, the mascot for the Romans. Shoved underneath are Romulus and Remus (these statues were added during the Renaissance in the 1500's A.D, 2,000 years after this sculpture was sculpted). According to Roman legend, these two lost and alone boys--sons of Mars--were found and raised by this she-wolf. Romulus went on to found Rome around Palatine Hill, killing Remus in the process.
Let's now stroll north through the city....
This
is actually modern Naples but gives you an idea of what the streets
of ancient Rome were like. Roman streets were lined with
multi-storied buildings.
At the street level would be shops and bars and laundries....
The
upper stories were apartments. The better and more expensive
apartments were on the lower levels. Poorer Romans lived on the upper
levels.Better views
but a lot further to haul up water and haul down waste to the
sewers.
Here we are at the Pantheon, that
temple built by Hadrian to all of the gods. It stands in the place of
an earlier temple built by Agrippa, which is why Agrippa's name is on
it.
You can barely see the dome in this
picture, but it is huge.
Now, here we are on the other side of the city from the Forum
Here
we have arrived at the tomb of Augustus. This was the mausoleum for
he and many members of his family. It was covered in marble. Here we
see merely the interior brick shell.
Nearby, we get to the Altar of Peace or Ara Pacis in Latin.
This
is the Ara Pacis, or, Altar to
Peace. Despite the myth, the Romans were quite tolerant of the
non-Pagan religions. But one thing that was expected of you, no
matter what your religion, was to make a token sacrifice to the Pagan
gods. By doing so, you were demonstrating your loyalty to Rome and
your thanks for the peace brought by Augustus. You weren't expected
to believe in the Pagan gods, just go through the motions, which I
think that I will do now!
You
can walk to the right of the altar and see Augustus and his family.
Cool.
Let's leave Rome and drive south to Pompeii and Herculaneum. There we can get a better sense of how Romans, during the Pax Romana, lived.