Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome

Able to inspire wonder and awe in all who gazed upon them, The Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome - the Pantheon, the Aqueducts of Rome, the Via Appia, the Baths of Caracalla, Trajan's Markets, Circus Maximus and the Colosseum - were the works of great men who translated fantastic visions into the epitome of human achievement. These visionaries included ambitious Emperors like Hadrian and engineers with revolutionary ideas such as Apollodorus. By the second century AD, Rome had become the 'caput mundi' - the head of the world. Architectural marvels with a clear civic purpose such as roads and aqueducts stood alongside constructions of great beauty and immense luxury. They transformed Rome into one of the greatest cities of classic antiquity and the Roman Empire into a vast monument to the genius of its architects.