Description: The foundation of Rome, once thought to be lost in the mist of legend will slowly be unveiled to as you join us on this two day adventure, as we trace the history of Rome from its very beginnings through to the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar.

We start with the Forum Boarium, where we will trace the origins of Rome using both archaeological data and by exploring what information can be gained from the limited historical sources for this period, as well as investigating what can be learnt from the mythological stories which surround Rome’s foundation. We will start with the Great alter of Hercules and the temple of Hercules Victor, were we will discuss the legends of Hercules, as well as King Evander and Aeneas. We will then spend some time exploring Tiber Island, the site were according to legend in 510 BC, the hated tyrants Tarquinius Superbus surplus grain was thrown into the river thus forming the island we see today. This is also a perfect place for us to explore the topographical advantages of Rome’s location and its importance and influence in shaping Rome into the world power it would later become.

Our adventure will then take us to the palatine hill, the mythological birth place of Rome. Here in the shade of the Farnese gardens we will discuss the development of archaeology and its importance to the understanding of the Roman world and in particular the Roman city. From there we will head to the archaic huts atop the palatine hill some of the oldest surviving structures in Rome and onto the Museum Palatino where we will examine a reconstruction of the earliest Roman dwellings.

The second part of our day will be spent in the Roman forum, were we will discuss the birth of the Republic and take you back in time to one of the most fascinating periods in history, the 482 years of the Roman Republic. Join us as we delve headlong into the political intrigues, battles and personal vendettas of some of the true giants of history. Charting the meteoric rise of Rome we will bring to life the events of 387BC when Rome was burnt to the ground by the invading Gauls and the scars this would forever leave on the minds of the Roman citizen. We will recount the terror that would be brought to Italy by Hannibal and his war elephants, and his eventual defeat at the battle of Zama, by the legendary Scipio Africanus.

Ironically what appeared to be the Republic’s greatest hour would instead be the beginning of its demise! With Rome’s greatest external enemies gone a new generation of Romans were deprived of what they saw as there birth-right, the chance for glory abroad. The wholehearted energy of the republics best talent was turned upon itself and slowly the republic lapsed into waves of civil war and social unrest. Slowly the prophecies of the East would come true, ‘"Not foreign invaders, Italy, but your own sons will rape you, punishing you, famous country, for all your many depravities, leaving you prostrated, stretched out among the burning ashes. Self-slaughterer! No longer the mother of upstanding men, but rather the nurse of savage, ravening beasts’, and so we will explore the trials and tribulations that would eventually destroy the republic.

Our journey will then take us to the beautiful Capitoline museums were we will bring to life the emotions, the attitudes, and the city itself. Here we will examine the Capitoline she-wolf and Brutus, the beautiful collection of Etruscan artefacts and the foundations of one of the earliest temples in Rome, the monolithic temple of Jupiter (date needed), before stepping out the gallery of the ancient tabulaurium home of the Roman archive and one of the most spectacular views of the Roman Forum. As the sun sets and the site is filled with the golden rays of early evening we will leave our story in the 2nd century BC with the Fathers of socialism ‘the Gracchi brothers’ and their ultimately grisly end.

Day 2
Our second day will start with a trip to the Appian Way and the tombs of the Scipions were we will further delve into the history of the Punic wars, as well as discussing the importance of the Gracchi brothers’ reforms, and the consequences they had for, the military, every day life, and the republic itself. From the civil wars of Marius and Sulla, too the street gangs of Claudius and Milo and the political wrangling of Cato, Cicero and Hortensius to name but a few.

Our afternoon will be spent back in Rome were we will examine the rise of two giants of Political, Roman and World history. Two men whose very size will cast a shadow and eventual engulf the Roman Republic itself, the tale of ‘Pompey the Great’ and his father-in-law, the all conquering Gaius Julius Caesar. Escorting you to the magnificent temple complex at Largo Argentina will discuss the implications of these two men’s actions, the causes and ideals they believe they stood for and feelings of the Roman people towards them. It is here we will recount the Ides of March 44BC and the assassination of Caesar and the failure of his assassinators to kill of his regime, a error which Cicero would lament by stating ‘the conspirators have brought the spirits of men, but the foresight of children’, and as the republic crumbled around him who could argue as the Caesarean faction would once again plunge the Roman Empire into a Worldwide war, from which one man would emerge victorious.

So join us for this in depth seminar of Rome from its very foundation to the birth of an empire that would eventually stretch from the South of Scotland to the south of Egypt, from the coast of Portugal to the far off exotic lands of the East. Let us bring to life not just the rich but the poor, not just the palaces but the slums, not just the pure but the corrupt, the scandal and drama of 475 years of democracy.