Beginner to AI Product Manager in 3 Months

Class Central is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

University of Reading

Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City

University of Reading via FutureLearn

Best Course of All Time
Go to class Write review

Overview

Coursera Plus Monthly Sale:
All Certificates & Courses 40% Off!
Grab it

Explore Roman history, architecture, and society as you’ve never seen before

From gladiators to empires – join expert Professor Matthew Nicholls on a transformative guided tour through the Eternal City: Rome.

Using his award-winning 3D digital model, you’ll gain a unique perspective on Rome’s architecture and infrastructure.

From grand temples to historical places, you’ll explore how the Romans worshipped their gods, governed their empire, and built the city that has influenced the world for centuries.

Discover how Ancient Rome was built

You’ll begin this course by exploring the foundational architecture of Ancient Rome.

From the city’s earliest structures to its monumental landmarks, you’ll discover how the Romans designed and built iconic buildings like the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

Wander through Italian history and politics

You’ll then dive into the political evolution of Rome, examining its transition from monarchy to republic to empire.

Discover how the Roman political system shaped the Roman Empire’s growth and influenced leaders and citizens alike.

Learn more about Roman society and daily life

Next, you’ll explore Roman society, delving into the lives of its citizens, from the elite to the common people.

You’ll understand their social structures, cultural practices, and the entertainment that defined Roman daily life, such as gladiatorial games and chariot races.

Unpack Ancient’s Romes influence and legacy

Finally, you’ll reflect on the lasting legacy of Ancient Rome. From its engineering marvels to its political systems and cultural contributions, you’ll uncover how Roman innovations continue to influence modern civilisation.

The next time you walk the streets of Rome, you’ll see it’s landmarks with a new perspective and recognise the ancient foundations that continue to shape our world today.

This course is open to anyone curious about ancient Rome – whether you’re a history enthusiast, a traveller, or considering studies in archaeology or classics.

No prior knowledge is needed, just a passion for exploring the past.

Syllabus

  • Location and infrastructure
    • Welcome to Rome: A virtual tour of the ancient city
    • Part I: Building the ancient city
    • Encountering the evidence
    • Part II: Walls, roads and building materials
    • Part III: Aqueducts and sewers
    • Review and reflect
  • Political architecture
    • Welcome to Week 2
    • Part IV: The Forum
    • Part V: Monuments and the imperial fora
    • Texts in the city
    • Review and reflect
  • Religious architecture
    • Part VI: Roman religion and republican temples
    • Encountering the evidence: music and coins
    • Part VII: imperial temples
    • Worshipping the gods
    • Review and reflect
  • Life and death in ancient rome
    • Part VIII: Life
    • Encountering the evidence: the baker's tomb and Roman food
    • Part IX: Death
    • Review and reflect
  • Bread and circuses
    • Part X: Bread and Circuses
    • Part XI: Theatres
    • Part XII: Baths
    • Part XIII: Colosseum
    • Encountering the evidence: the Colosseum and entertainment venues at Rome
    • Review and reflect

Taught by

Matthew Nicholls

Tags

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 41 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City

  • Anonymous
    This course really gave insight to the daily lives of ancient Romans. The videos, articles and
    3-D models provided a clear understanding of the function, size and placement of various buildings in ancient Rome. The articles were easy to read and the supplemental links easy to follow.
    The mentor for this course was Jack Hanson. He replied to questions and responded to feedback in a timely manner. His input helped clarify misunderstandings.
    The other learners were generous in their comments and added to the course with descriptions of their experiences and links to helpful articles and videos.
    All around an engaging course!
  • Anonymous
    I have completely loved this course on Ancient Rome and will miss it. Prof Matthew Nicholls and department have been so generous by making it available to us. It was easy to spend a lot longer than the allotted time each week. The course was a surp…
  • Alexander Grant Young
    This was a fabulous course. Brilliantly presented by Matthew, and drawing on an impressive range of evidence and material - not least the wonderful 3 d model of the city. I must be honest and confess that I approached the modelling with more than a…
  • Brent Hostad
    I found this to be a very enjoyable, as well as educational online course. I once did an online Yale University course on Roman Architecture. I think these two courses compliment each other very well. I have visited Rome briefly in the past, and p…
  • Linda Baynes
    This stunning course was presented with dedication and passion. It had a fascinating choice of content and the videos of (real) Rome brought it to life.

    It also incorporated a 3D model of the ancient city - amazing! - which you could wander through at will. This brought the (virtual) city to life.

    If all teachers and lecturers shared the skills of this presenter, we would be a better educated people.

    A big round of applause for all those who helped with the course!
  • Anonymous
    This is a wonderful course that uses 3 D models, original texts, and coins to bring Ancient Rome to life. I highly recommend it for people interested in how people worked, lived, and used the city for entertainment, worship, and politics. Thank you so much for creating this course!
  • Danielle De Vergezac
    This is a facinating course. I highly recommend it to those who are interested in Roman history but also to those who are planning to visit Rome in a near future. It is an excellent introduction to a futher discovery.
  • Dave Rawlings
    An excellent course, professionally delivered. It is one of the most enjoyable MOOCs I have done. The virtual tours add great interest to the buildings covered and the videos and articles provide good context as well as information. The engagement by the lead educator and others was also very good. Highly recommended.
  • Anonymous
    If it was possible to award more stars for this course, I definitely would. The amount of work I imagine must have been involved in producing it is phenomenal. The lectures are recorded and presented in Rome by Professor Matthew Nicholls who genero…
  • Anonymous
    A fascinating course by a compelling guide and instructor, Dr. Matthew Nicholls. While I had difficulty using the SketchFab tool in exploring Dr. Nicholls's 3D models of ancient Rome, the videos, lectures, articles, tours of the city, interviews with scholars from The University of Reading, and opportunities to interact with my fellow students, made Rome come alive for me. I highly recommend this course.
  • Anonymous
    This wonderful course was amazingly informative. Due not to only to the detailed research, the explanations offered by Dr. Matthew and his team but the audio, video and modeling elements made this an incredibly valuable learning resource. Years…
  • Anonymous
    A very well presented course, I have seen many Roman sites in the UK, Europe , Turkey Tunisia, Libya, Jordan and this course gave me a more coherent view of these different places. I had not realised Rome had many homeless people, and the apartment…
  • Anonymous
    One of the best classes I've taken!

    The content is not only informative and interesting, it is also easy to follow and understand.

    Fantastic!
  • Anonymous
    This history course will take you to a place in your mind that is out of this world! It begins at the time of the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar in the Roman Republic at about 20BC and ends in the Roman Empire in about AD400. You will not be learnin…
  • Anonymous
    Wonderful course superbly put together with a stupendous tool in the 3D model created and kept by Matthew. I so enjoyed this course the very first one in fact that struck me on FL and it took this long to come around again. I am delighted I stayed a…
  • Anonymous
    Like other learners I never managed to properly access your model but I think my system was too old. The bits I did manage to access were great. The range of activities - videos, the model, 3-D aspects, links, downloads and the non-mandatory quizz…
  • Anonymous
    It was a wonderful course. Matthew gave us a vivid insight into the lives of ancient Romans from the great emperors down to the lowest slave. All this was illustrated with detailed computerised visualisations of the city as it would have been at the height of the Roman Empire. His knowledge of Rome took us on many visits to the modern city at the same time relating it to the ancient city upon which it has been built. The course was detailed with displays of ancient coins minted at the time of the Emperors, and even poetry and music of that time were explored. I learned a lot about ancient Rome during the five weeks and I was sorry when it ended.
  • Anonymous
    My work at an experimental archaeological site includes Public visiting and school classes, so I found this course invaluable for my own study purposes and to enhance the knowledge I already had.

    Although my work focuses upon Roman Britain the course was invaluable background information on Roman architecture and way of life of the City’s inhabitants.
    The 3D images were invaluable and brought Ancient Rome ‘alive’

    I now want to visit Rome to experience the sites for myself.
    Thank you to the Universy of Reading staff and other Institutions involved in this superb Course.

  • Anonymous
    This was a fascinating course, led with great passion and expertise by Matthew Nicholls. The range of material was impressive: site visits, the 3D model, use of coins, literature, inscriptions, conversations with other experts. Each week had a clear theme and logical structure. I really enjoyed Week 5 with its focus on ‘circuses’. What surprised me most was the amount of information that can be gleaned from the study of Roman coins. While I found the 3D model a bit hard to navigate, I became more adept as the course proceeded and I enjoyed my trip to the Colosseum!
  • Sande Jennings
    This course was excellent great introduction and each module revealed more about the Emperors, the people, the music,

    poetry, food of times, the buildings, and innovations in civil engineering that survive today. Combination of new technology and talks by different experts in the fields of food, music, design were thoroughly enjoyed. I would love to see a course on early Greece as there was such an incorporation of Greek techniques into their arts, crafts. I would sign up immediately. Thank you to everyone both Course leaders, and course members.
Go to class

Never Stop Learning.

Get personalized course recommendations, track subjects and courses with reminders, and more.

Sign up for free
Someone learning on their laptop while sitting on the floor.