Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project

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  • 3D model of Fragment 492



    INTRODUCTION TO THE DATABASE

    This page introduces you to a database of the fragments of the Forma Urbis Romae. The database infrastructure, digital photographs, and 3D models are primarily the creation of Natasha Gelfand, David Koller, and Marc Levoy of the Stanford Computer Science Department. The text is researched and written by Tina Najbjerg and Jennifer Trimble of the Stanford Classics Department. This site is still under construction and we welcome your comments about the layout and content.

    To go directly to the database, click on the CONNECT TO DATABASE button below. This takes you to the index page of our database with a list of all the fragments and a search box. From there, click on any highlighted number to see the entry for that fragment. For information about the individual entries, how to download our 3D viewer, and how to use the search function, see below.


     

    The database is currently offline for maintenance, and will be temporarily unavailable. Direct any questions to David Koller (dk@cs.stanford.edu)


    Important: The photographic images and computer renderings of individual fragments of the Severan Marble Plan of Rome (Forma Urbis Romae, Pianta Marmorea) that appear on the web pages of the Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project are the property of Stanford University and the Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali del Comune di Roma. Aside from the ephemeral downloading and copying associated with browsing the web and personal research, the images and models of individual fragments may not be copied, downloaded and stored, forwarded, reproduced or published in any form, including electronic forms such as e-mail or the web, without express written permission from the Sovraintendenza in Rome. For the full copyright notice, click here.

    Each entry page in the database contains the following

  • ID, Location, and Condition box
  • Color photograph of the fragment
  • Plate from PM 1960
  • 3D model of the fragment
  • Search box
  • Identification
  • Inscription
  • Analysis
  • History of fragment
  • Bibliography
  • ID, Location, and Condition box
    Stanford # - This is the number Stanford has given the fragment, based on and updating AG 1980.
    AG 1980 # - Number given to the fragment by AG 1980, based on and updating PM 1960.
    PM 1960 # - Number given to the fragment by the authors of PM 1960.
    Museum Inv. # - Inventory number assigned by the Capitoline Museums. This is the number to which you must refer in any correspondence with the Sovraintendenza about the fragment.
    Crate - Number of the crate in which the fragment is presently stored in the Museum of Roman Civilization. Click on this number to find out what other fragments are contained in this crate.
    Slab # - This tells you which slabs the fragment belonged to, if known. The Plan was constructed of 150 marble slabs, numbered by Stanford from left to right and from top to bottom. To see the location of the slabs, visit our Slab Map. If you click on the slab number you will get a list of all the fragments that belonged to that particular slab.
    Adjoins - This tells you to which other fragments this particular piece joins. Clicking on these numbers will bring you to their database entries.
    Located - This tells you if the location of the fragment on the Map is known or not.
    Incised - This tells you if there are any incisions on the fragment or not.
    Surviving - Here you are informed whether the fragment still exists or not. If the answer is "false," the fragment was lost some time after its discovery in the 16th century. It may, however, have been reproduced in a Renaissance drawing in which case we give it an individual entry. A search in the search box for "surviving" and "false" will provide you with a list of entries for all lost fragments.
    Subfragments - The number of pieces glued together in this fragment.
    Plaster Parts - On occasion, marble or plaster copies of known but lost fragments have been attached to the original fragments with which they join. These copies were usually marked with a star to distinguish them from the original pieces (see for example fr. 18bc).
    Back surface - Matching the many fragments is made easier by distinguishing between pieces whose backs are rough, smooth, or have been sawn off.
    Thickness - We are working on how to calculate the exact ranges of thickness of a fragment. This will eventually be of great value in the attempt to match fragments. For now, refer to the plates from PM 1960, reproduced in our database. The measurements are written next to each fragment in the black and white photographs.
    Slab Edges - Here we tell you of how many slab edges, if any, this particular piece was a section.
    Clamp Holes - The marble slabs were originally fastened to the wall of the aula with metal clamps. Holes from these clamps still remain in both the aula wall and in the marble pieces, and they are sometimes key to locating fragments of the Map. Here we tell you how many clamp holes are visible in this particular fragment, if any.
    Tassello - In addition to clamps, the marble slabs were on rare occasions also held in place by wedges of marble or wood. The holes carved in the wall of the aula and in the back of the slabs (tasselli), still remain, and they can also be key to joining fragments and locating them on the wall.
  • Color photograph of the fragment
    Each entry contains a thumbnail image of the fragment. By clicking on the thumbnail image, you will get a high-resolution detail of the fragment. If the image has been mosaicked together from more than one image, you can click on raw images to see these. As the raw images are very dark, you are better off clicking on color corrected which will give you the same images, but with better lighting. Important: These images belong to Stanford University and the Superintendency in Rome and must not be copied. Refer to the copyright page for more information. See the color image metadata page for more information about the processing applied to the images and and the remaining artifacts. In the database entries for the many lost fragments, you will in lieu of a photograph see a detailed Renaissance drawing of the fragment. These details are taken from plates in PM 1960.
  • Plate from PM 1960
    This thumbnail is a view of the plate(s) from PM 1960 on which the fragment appears. The number(s) of the plate(s) appear(s) below the image. Clicking on the thumbnail or the plate number will take you to a medium-resolution image; click on that for a high-resolution image of the plate (very large!). When we release the full database, you will be able to click on these numbers and get the complete list of all the other fragments that appear on the same plate. Important: The images of these plates are the property of the Comune di Roma and must not be copied. Refer to the copyright page for more information.
  • 3D model of the fragment
    This thumbnail shows a 3D model of the fragment; which can be rotated, zoomed, and re-lit interactively. To view the 3D models, you must download ScanView, our viewer, which works on PCs only (sorry, Mac users--we are working on this problem). To download ScanView onto your computer, click here, click on the thumbnail image itself, or on one of the three sizes listed below it and follow the instructions. For some larger fragments, the complete 3D models of the fragments provided may be of a lower overall resolution, and so a finer resolution model of the top fragment surface alone is available via the Top surface link. See the 3D model metadata page for more information about the measurement errors and visual artifacts that may be present in the models.
  • Search box
    Here you can perform all types of searches Choose all from the pull-down menu or specify a category. Then type a term in the query bar (e.g. "010g" or "Basilica Julia" or "taberna") and click on the Search button. For example, if you want to know which of the fragments have been identified, click on identified from the pull-down menu, type "true" in the query bar and click on the Search button. You should receive an index of such fragments. Or, if you are interested in seeing all the fragments on which the Circus Maximus appears, choose identification from the pull-down menu, type "Circus Maximus" in the query bar, and click on the Search button. You should get to an index of several such fragments (Note that you must use quotation marks around the title of the monument you are searching for if its title has more than one word. For example, you need to use quotation marks to search for "Porticus Aemilia" but not for the Septizodium. You may qualify your search even more by using the second pull-down menu and query bar in addition to the first.
  • Identification
    Identification of the architecture incised on the fragment.
  • Inscription
    If there is an inscription on the fragment, you will see three parts under this headline:
    1) The exact transcription of the letters, 2) The interpretation of the inscription on Renaissance drawings of the fragment, and 3) The modern reconstruction of the inscription. All are followed by a bibliographic reference. To see the epigraphical conventions used in this site, click here.
  • Analysis
    The analysis is divided into 1) a description of what is depicted on the fragment, 2) an explanation and discussion of its identification, with bibliographic references, and 3) a discussion of issues pertinent to the fragment and its significance.
  • History of fragment
    A brief description of the fragment's discovery and subsequent history.
  • Bibliography
    In this box you will find references to recent scholarship on the fragment. Each of the abbreviated titles is linked to our bibliography page where you will find full titles and annotations.
  • If you have questions about the database and its use, contact David Koller (dk@cs.stanford.edu) or Tina Najbjerg (najbjerg@alumni.princeton.edu).


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