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# The ancient Roman would not have recognised the layout of his own city, were he to behold it
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/drevnii-rimlianin-ne-uznal-by-raspolozheniia-svoego-goroda-esli-by-uvidal-ego/
- Published: 2026-01-20T12:04:36.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:17.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Archive, Architecture, Books, Rome

> The ancient Roman would not have recognised the layout of his own city, were he to behold it. It has often happened that, on digging deep into the earth, men have struck the top of a very tall column which "still stood at its full height below." For their houses they seek no other foundation than old hovels or vaults, which are to be seen beneath all the cellars. But even upon the fragments of old buildings, just as fortune scattered them when they crumbled, they have set their new palaces, as though upon great fragments of hard and solid rock. It is easy to see that many streets lie more than thirty feet below the present ones.

Montaigne on urban archaeology