Think of Rome and you quickly picture so many treasures from the ancient world: the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, the Forum. At its height in the 2nd century CE, the Roman Empire, reaching out from its heart in the city of Rome itself, was the most extensive political and social structure in western civilization. Still today, almost 2,000 years later, we marvel at how sophisticated and grand Roman society was--and how much of ancient Rome has survived for us to see in the modern Italian metropolis. From public baths to catacombs, from the Appian Way to small frescoes and sculptures, from temples to private houses to aqueducts, Visual Explorer Guide: Ancient Rome shows the reader both the world-famous and lesser-known sites in the city. What emerges is a picture of not only the grandeur of antiquity, but also the last days of pagan worship, as by Rome's final days temples were being converted into churches.