Location: Capitoline Museums

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Map of ancient Rome and Forma Urbis, from Le antichità Romane, 1835-1839. — This ancient map served as an administrative tool for one of the largest empires in history.

Severan marble plan (Forma Urbis Romae)

Temple of Jupiter (detail), Relief with Marco Aurelius sacrificing to Jupiter (Pietas Augusti), from the decoration of a triumphal arch, 177-180 C.E. (Capitoline Museums, Rome) — This three-in-one temple to “Jupiter Best and Greatest,” Juno, and Minerva was central in ancient Roman religion.

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Rome

Capitoline Venus, Venus Pudica — Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, emerges from her bath, but what did her nudity mean to the Greeks?

Capitoline Venus (copy of the Aphrodite of ...

Portrait Bust of a Flavian Woman (Fonseca Bust), from Rome, c. 100 C.E., marble, 63 cm (Capitoline Museums) — Is this delicate female portrait what we think? Take part in a discussion of a masterpiece we know little about.

Portrait Bust of a Flavian Woman (Fonseca ...

Capitoline Wolf, 5th century B.C.E. or medieval, bronze, 75 cm (Capitoline Museums, Rome) — Abandoned as infants, the mythical founders of Rome were raised by a she-wolf.

Capitoline She-wolf

Capitoline Brutus, 4th-3rd century B.C.E. bronze, 69 cm (Capitoline Museums, Rome) — Once identified as the founder of the Roman Republic, debate over this figure’s true identity rages on.

Capitoline Brutus

The Colossus of Constantine, c. 312-15 (Palazzo dei Conservatori, Musei Capitolini, Rome) — Does the abstraction of form and faraway look in this colossal portrait hint at the growth of Christianity in Rome?

The Colossus of Constantine

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Bust of Medusa (detail) — She’s a monster, but in this poignant marble bust, Medusa becomes a victim of her own plight.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Bust of Medusa

Dying Gaul, ancient Roman marble copy of a lost bronze Greek sculpture, c. 220 B.C.E., Hellenistic Period (Capitoline Museum) — Pain is visible on the face of this dying warrior. Did the ancient Greeks sympathize with their defeated enemies?

Dying Gaul and Ludovisi Gaul

Equestrian Sculpture of Marcus Aurelius, c. 173-76 C.E., bronze (Capitoline Museums, Rome) — Due to a fortunate case of mistaken identity, this commanding statue was saved from destruction.

Equestrian Sculpture of Marcus Aurelius