Monday, June 18, 2007
"Rome Reborn"
This is cool:
Computer experts on Monday unveiled a digital reproduction of ancient Rome as it appeared at the peak of its power in A.D. 320 — what they called the largest and most complete simulation of a historic city ever created.
Visitors to virtual Rome will be able to do even more than ancient Romans did: They can crawl through the bowels of the Colosseum, filled with lion cages and primitive elevators, and fly up for a detailed look at bas-reliefs and inscriptions atop triumphal arches.
"This is the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome and many other great cities around the world," said Bernard Frischer of the University of Virginia, who led the project.
It is fitting that the University of Virginia, home to leading examples of American neoclassical architecture, leads this project. Its "Rome Reborn" web site is here, with still images and videos that are well worth a few minutes of your time. Especially if you have actually been to Rome.
I certainly hope that the scholars behind this project apply the same technique to other ancient cities. Is there a team out there brave enough to tackle Jerusalem? The trick, I suppose, would be in choosing the subject time period.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Jun 18, 10:43:00 PM:
"The trick, I suppose, would be in choosing the subject time period"
Nah. Getting the basic layout and geography is the hard part. Time is just another dimension that you should be able to travel through in the simulation.
By 
Angevin13, at
Mon Jun 18, 10:45:00 PM:
Indeed, this is so cool. I've visited many ancient and medieval sites and always found it quite difficult to envision what it was like there hundreds and thousands of years ago.
I, too, hope the same is applied to other ancient cities, but I'd also like to see it applied to individual structures as they appeared at various times throughout history, for instance cathedrals.
By , at
Tue Jun 19, 12:42:00 AM:
And i guess that the romans also probibly painted their houses as well at least the more wealthy romans
By , at
Tue Jun 19, 03:39:00 PM:
It won't really be experienced by that many people until it's inserted into a video game. Which I think will probably happen within 5 years :)
By Georg Felis, at
Tue Jun 19, 05:21:00 PM:
Certainly. I would expect it within Second Life. There's already a Second Life Louvre, Sweden has an embassy there, and several universities operate classrooms there.
And weirdly enough, there is a group Second Life Left Unity, a socilist and anti-capitalist group, inside this virtual world. (can't get away from them anywhere I guess)
