Rome · 125 AD
What you're walking through
In 125 AD, Rome was the capital of an empire that stretched from Britain to Egypt and Syria, and with perhaps a million people, one of the largest cities in the world. Its emperor, Hadrian, spent years touring the provinces, and at home he was finishing the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods under a concrete dome 43 m across, still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
East of the Forum, the old heart of the city with its temples and law courts, stood the Flavian Amphitheatre, which we call the Colosseum, opened 45 years before. Some 50,000 people came to watch gladiators and wild-animal hunts there. Above the Forum rose the Palatine hill, covered by the emperors' palace, and an aqueduct carried water to it on arches.
Who lives here
Roman man
A wool tunic, and a toga on formal days · Rome had perhaps a million people
Most Romans rented rooms in apartment blocks called insulae, several storeys high, with shops on the ground floor. Men worked as shopkeepers, craftsmen, builders and porters, and many were slaves or freed slaves. About 200,000 citizens were given free grain every month.
Roman woman
A long tunic with a cloak, the palla, over it · women could own property but not vote
Women ran their households, and many worked, as shopkeepers, weavers, midwives and hairdressers. They went to the baths, the temples and the shows, though at the Colosseum they had to sit in the highest rows.
Donkey
About 1.2 m at the shoulder · the pack animal of farms, roads and markets
Donkeys and mules carried firewood, grain and the farms' produce into town, and goods to and from the markets and harbours.
Dog
Kept as guards, hunters and pets · 'cave canem', beware of the dog, was written at house doors
Romans kept big dogs to guard houses and flocks, hounds for hunting, and small dogs as pets. Some front doors had a mosaic of a chained dog with the words 'cave canem': beware of the dog.
The city is drawn far smaller and tidier than it was: the Pantheon really stood about a kilometre north-west of the Forum, and the streets between were packed with apartment blocks. Many buildings are left out, and the people and their period clothing are stylized approximations.
How to walk
Press Start walking above. WA SD or the arrow keys move you, the mouse looks around, hold Shift with a movement key to run at 3× walking speed, and Space jumps. Look at someone to see who they are. Esc pauses, and M turns the sound on or off. You're invisible: nobody here can see you.
Other cities
1200 AD
Angkor
Lotus towers above a broad moat, stone faces at Bayon, naga-lined causeways and wooden homes beneath the palms.
450 BC
Persepolis
A royal terrace of towering columns, double-bull capitals, guarded gateways and relief-covered stairways beneath the Persian hills.
2500 BC
Mohenjo-daro
The Great Bath on a raised mound, a grid of brick neighbourhoods, open courtyards, circular wells and carefully built drains.
575 BC
Babylon
Blue glazed gates, lions along the Processional Way, and a great stepped tower above the brick city beside the Euphrates.
100 AD
Petra
Follow a winding sandstone gorge to the Treasury, then explore the carved tombs, theatre and temples of the Nabataean city.
1250 BC
Thebes
Painted temple columns, colossal gateways and obelisks beside the Nile, in the time of Ramesses II.
432 BC
Athens
The newly finished Parthenon on the Acropolis, the agora below, and Athenians going about their day.
35 BC
Alexandria
The great lighthouse of Pharos, a harbour full of ships, and the colonnaded Canopic Way, in Cleopatra's time.
750 AD
Chang'an
The Tang capital at its height: its great avenue and gate, walled wards, the East Market and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.
1000 AD
Chichen Itza
The pyramid of Kukulcán, the Great Ball Court and the Temple of the Warriors, painted and busy, with the forest all around.
1010 AD
Thanjavur
The great Chola temple the year it was finished, its granite tower 66 m tall, with the town, the tank and the rice fields around it.