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Fifteen centuries after its fall, the Roman Empire still has the power to fascinate. The crumbling ruins and rutted roads in the lands where its mighty empire once held sway are testament to the vast scope of its greatness and a reminder of the mortality of glory. When the first edition of the Horizon Book of Ancient Rome appeared in 1966, it set the standard as an introduction to this great empire, and today, it continues to be a magnificent guidebook to a civilization that had endured for more than a thousand years and left to us a bequest both timeless and dynamic. Since the book's publication, there have been exciting discoveries and fresh interpretations that have deepened our understanding of the Roman world. Numerous archaeological excavations have found evidence of Roman architecture and communities throughout the Mediterranean and have revealed such precious jewels as the Vindolanda Tablets (a marvelous collection of private letters from Roman soldiers stationed at the Empire's lonely outpost in northern England). Increasingly sophisticated techniques in excavation have revealed entire Roman cities in northern Africa, and in the heart of Rome itself, the great Imperial markets have been unearthed and reconstructed. The Emperor Nero's palace, the Domus Aurea, also has been meticulously restored and opened to the public for the first time since the fall of Rome. Roman coin discoveries (the Hoxne Hoard being only one) and their display on dozens of accessible Internet sites have made it as easy to own and study a genuine piece of Roman history as it was formerly to read about it. ROBERT PAYNE has written many highly praised and popular books on historical topics, including The Gold of Troy, Alexander the God, The Roman Triumph, and The Isles of Greece. RORY O'NEILL and EDEN GREIG MUIR, both professors at the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University, are the founders of Cybersites, Inc., a New York city-based developer of interactive online communities. They also developed S.P.Q.R., a CD-ROM game set in ancient Rome, from which the computer-generated images included in this book have been selected. BERNARD FISHER, Ph.D., Fellow, American Academy in Rome; Professor of Classics at UCLA, and VASILY RUDICH, Ph.D., a Blegen Research Fellow and Visiting Professor of Classics at Vassar College, were historical and archaeological consultants on these images. Dr. Rudich provided additional consultation on the captions. JOHN ALTEMUELLER and SUZANNE CROSS write for the web site AncientVine.com. \Bwww.AncientVine.com\B\a150one of the many web sites Cybersites, Inc. has developed\a150is an online community that encourages scholars, students, and history fans to read and write about the ancient world. The site provides a discussion board, chat rooms, historical games, recommended homepages, and articles written by members of the site.