Where the Divine Julius was killed is now a Cat Sanctuary. History is wild.

I love that site and have a lot of knowledge about it! We visited the cat sanctuary, too. I'm so thrilled that visitors will be able to walk through the ruins and see them up close. Can't wait! Love listening to you, Darius! I'm a fan!

Terrific video! As a new resident in Rome I walk through this area every day and am happy to see the work going on.

It’s great that they are doing something with this site. It’s always been a bit neglected. Was in Rome a few times in late 2021 and saw some of the initial works.

That's exciting! Thanks for the update. Glad that this will be accessible to all and that the cats get to stay.

It is interesting to see ruins from the Republican Era, whereas most Roman ruins come from the Imperial period, I suppose because of a much larger budget for public works. As always, the video was very educational. Thank you.

Wonderful explanation, Thanks.

Exciting to see the outcome!

Thanks for sharing!

Great work. Thanks for filming, explaining and posting

Thanks for the explanation. I obviously need to go and have another look at this.

I lived very close to the Largo years back. I well remember the older ladies who would come by in the early evening and drop a bag of leftover pasta into the ruins for the ever-present cats in residence. Great news that the restoration of such an important site in the historic center is finally underway.

Only in a city like Rome could surviving medieval structures be pulled down because there’s something of even greater interest lying underneath. Consider the efforts cities in other countries have made in restoring medieval neighborhoods destroyed during the Second World War. The depth and variety of the archeological inheritance of the place is staggering.

This is fabulous, especially the frescoes! As an American, I can never get used to seeing two-millennia-old ruins in the middle of a modern city. Would love to know why and when Rome turned Caesar's assassination site into a latrine. In the vintage photo, the fellow on the left looks like he's related to Darius! Found this site via Wondrium. Great course.

Meraviglioso! Where are the buses? You must have got there early. Hope Regno dei gatti will not object.

This is great news but a question renains for all those who love Rome as a great open air museum but alsom as a living fascinating town. what will happen to the cats that have their own sancuary in Argentina square?

whats going to happen to the cats?

At 1:23...three cats in the ruins. In about 1970, I was walking around Rome at night and passed by a lot which had Roman ruins in it, but no preservation...just a dark pit. In that dark pit of ruins there must have been a least 100 cats.

Another great video Darius, thank you. Do we know if the head of Fortuna will be returned to the site, either a replica or the real thing?

great news

Did they build public latrines on that site as a way to diminish the importance of Caesar's assassination? Or, was it a rebuke of Pompey? Or, simply a matter of space and need? I have often wondered why this archeological site has not been given the attention that (I believe) is warranted as one of the most consequential locations in western civilization. Thanks Darius.

Thanks Darius. You are a wealth of information (you helped me recently with an Appian Way question). So now it's March 2023. Is the site now open to the public? I'll be visiting Rome in mid May of this year. One of my "must do's" is to walk Caesar's last walk. I assume, as Pontifex Maximus, Julius Caesar lived in the House of the Vestals, instead of on the Palatine Hill as one would expect at his status. If anyone knows differently, please chime in. So a walk from the Forum to Largo Argentina is my plan. I can hardly wait.

It pains me every time I think of that ancient masonry being burned just to make lime! Forgive me for this personal remark, but you easily could be the ancient Hellenic-Persian or Hellenic-Bactrian prince you name suggests, so handsome!

Do we know *where* the statue of Pompey stood? Is it still buried under modern Rome? Basically, can we access *the* spot where Caesar was killed?

But what of the cats? Any accommodations for the sanctuary?

I was in Rome in July and it wasn't opened yet. Any updates on when that might be happening?

Hope it's open in December 2022.

Whats happened to the cat sanctuary? Have they moved or still part of the sit?

Theater of Pompey!

Is it open to the public now?

I wonder what they're going to do about the overwhelming scent of cat urine. It's not pleasant and you can smell it from street level. Can't imagine what it will be like down below, but happy they're restoring the area.

The Latin word for time, is Tempus and I’m inclined to believe the word temple is a derivative of the word tempus. Temples were made with four enclosed walls and and entry. I always wonder what mechanisms were housed within these temples, for although they are considered places of worship, they only became that when the empire collapsed and when christians were looking for edifices to convene and worship in. I believe Roman numerals depict time better than Arabic numerals for the fact that zero is omitted to make it convenient to read a 12 hour day. If Rome was an administrative centre for the trading empire, then time would have been of the upmost importance. Perhaps Rome was obsessed about time and schedules and meeting deadline dates for completion etc. Because while N means nulla (zero) one finds it difficult to believe that Roman numerals facilitated engineering calculations for what Arabic numerals were possibly still being used. The 12 month calendar was adopted from the Arabians also. 12 being a significant number to the Romans for comprising a day. So it makes sense to turn a 10 month calendar year into a 12. Anyway I’m only speculating since quite often life develops as a result of synchronised events and associations. How else could you grow and expand an empire without some sort of time accuracy and an obsession with organisation. And while the Greek Byzantine reverted to orthodox systems during the time of Constantine, the Cathars retained the modern conventional systems but that does not mean that Roman numerals were applied to everything just because these are only what we see in historical accounts. I’m inclined to believe that Roman temples were huge computers or telecommunications systems. In any regards, it certainly had something to do with keeping time.

Any updates to when this will really open - we know Rome is notoriously slow

One of my favorite spots in Rome! I miss Porthos, the Rastafarian Greeter Cat.

Lush grass and healthy bush sprouting from ancient sh_t. Cool.

The cats will find a new home, don’t worry.

How insulting. Imagine building a giant shitter right on the Grassy Knoll and in the middle of Dealey Plaza…