Saw a photo of the Roman forum from 1870 vs today and the difference is wild

In the old photo it was basically a cow pasture with a few columns sticking up, now it's all excavated down to the original street level. Does anyone know what kicked off the big dig that uncovered it all?

3 comments

3 Comments

foster.jordan8d ago

From what I've read, it was basically Mussolini trying to flex on ancient Rome in the 1920s lol. He wanted to dig it all up and make it look all grand for propaganda purposes. Before that, the place was literally called "Campo Vaccino" which means "cow field" - people were just grazing livestock between the fallen columns. Crazy to think tourists now pay to see what was basically a muddy pasture with some old rock piles 150 years ago.

karencampbell8d ago

Yeah I actually ran into something similar with a local historical society project a few years back. We had this old overgrown cemetery that everyone just called "the old field" and nobody cared about it until we got a grant from the state to clean it up. Turns out it was a Revolutionary War burial ground with like 200 unmarked graves. The whole thing blew up once we started digging and finding artifacts, local news picked it up and suddenly people were lining up to volunteer. It's AMAZING how fast things change when someone with money or power decides a piece of land matters.

drewr158d ago

Wait hold on. Cow field? Like people were just letting cattle graze in the middle of the Roman Forum? That's wild.