The Ancient History of Cities Lives On in Their Layout

The ancient history of cities lives on in their layout. One of the most beautiful squares in Rome, Piazza Navona, owes its rounded northern end to the fact that in 46 BC Julius Caesar built a stadium here, which the Emperor Domitian later considerably enlarged, giving it the shape of a horseshoe, in AD 85. The stadium was called the Campus or the Circus Agonalis, and festivals and contests were held here until the 4th century. In the arches beneath the tiers, which held 15,000 spectators, there were shops and brothels. In the Middle Ages this part of the city continued to be called a circus, the circus of Alexander or of Alexander Severus, and races were still held here, for an ancient city does not, after all, have so many large open spaces. The houses built around the stadium could conveniently be set on the existing foundations and outer walls, which is why the horseshoe shape has survived to this day

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The Ancient History of Cities Lives On in Their Layout

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s