Page 54 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

52  INTRODUCING IT AL Y

The Golden Age of Rome

From the age of Augustus to the reign of Trajan, Rome’s power
grew until her empire stretched from Britain to the Red Sea.
Despite the extravagance of emperors such as Nero, taxes
and booty from military campaigns continually refilled the
Imperial coffers. Under the wiser rule of Trajan, Hadrian and
Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd century AD, Roman citizens enjoyed Roman Empire in AD 117
wealth and comfort, with most of the work performed by slaves. Maximum extent of
Entertainment included visits to the baths, the theatre and the the Empire
games. The town of Pompeii, buried when Vesuvius erupted in
AD 79, preserves many fascinating details of everyday life.

Mosaic of Gladiators Frescoes of
Bloodthirsty gladiatorial festoons and
combats were very popular. medallions
The gladiators were mostly
slaves captured in war.

Trajan’s Column
The carvings record The triclinium
Trajan’s successful (main dining room)
campaigns in Dacia had a beautiful frieze
(present-day Romania) of cupids.
in the first decade of
the 2nd century AD.

House of the Vettii
This reconstruction shows one of
Roman Shops Pompeii’s finest houses (see pp498–9).
Buildings in towns were The Vettii were not aristocrats, but
lined with small shops freedmen, former slaves, who had
open to the street,
like this pharmacy. made a fortune through trade.
The front was closed The rooms were richly decorated
with wooden panels with frescoes and sculptures.
and locked at night.

9 BC Dedication of Ara Bronze cooking AD 79 Eruption
Pacis (see p414) in Rome AD 17 Tiberius pots from of Vesuvius
to celebrate peace after fixes boundary of kitchen at destroys
wars in Gaul and Spain Empire along the Pompeii Pompeii and
Rhine and Danube Herculaneum
50 BC AD 1 AD 50
27 BC Augustus takes AD 37–41 Reign of Caligula AD 67 Traditional date for AD 80 Late 1st century AD
title Princeps, in effect martyrdom of St Peter Inaugural Amphitheatre of Verona built
becoming the first AD 43 Roman conquest of and St Paul in Rome games in
Roman emperor Britain in reign of Claudius Colosseum
AD 68 Deposition and suicide of Nero

052-053_EW_Italy.indd 52 26/04/16 5:14 pm