Ancient Rome lives in $2 million simulation

COMPUTER BOFFINS have recreated a virtual version of Ancient Rome, as it existed at the height of its power and before it was flooded with Japanese tourists.

The $2 million simulation shows Rome at the peak of its power in AD 320 and has been dubbed the largest and most complete simulation of a historic city ever created.

Bernard Frischer of the University of Virginia, who led the project said the simulation reconstructs some 7,000 buildings at the time of emperor Constantine, when Rome was a vibrant and cosmopolitan city of about a million people.

It was built using laser scans of modern-day Rome and advice from archaeologists.

It has interiors of about 30 buildings, including the Senate, the Colosseum and the basilica built by the emperor Maxentius, complete with frescoes and decorations. Statues are recreated stripped of centuries of pollution and the efforts Italian censors who fig leafed bits to prevent ladies fainting.

It took the boffins nearly 10 years to build.

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L'INQ
Rome Re-born