In the past days, while searching KD's blog (Section listhttps://www.stolenhistory.org/articles/the-ptb-history-fabrication-tools.480/#post-509), I found a very interesting engraving by Piranesi (Giovanni Battista Piranesi - Wikipedia) that can possibly reveal some information on the past of the city of Rome. It's called "Antiquus Circi Martial. Cum Monum. Adiacentia Prospectus Ad Viam Appiam" (roughly: "Ancient Martial Circus with Monuments. Perspective near the Appian Way") and it is supposed to be a fantasy by the author.
What struck me was that strange and unusual line of obelisks and bizarre structures in the middle of the engraving. I recognised immediately the typical spina (Roman circus - Wikipedia) of the hippodromes of the past. Here below is represented the Hippodrome of Constantinople with its spina.
"Circi" is obviously a Roman circus. The word "Martial" reminds me the Campus Martius, while the Appian Way (Appian Way - Wikipedia) is a famous Italian and Roman landmark. The Campus Martius was located north of the Capitoline Hill (Capitoline Hill - Wikipedia), while the Appian Way began its course near Porta Capena, a gate in the Servian Wall which was near the Circus Maximus (Circus Maximus - Wikipedia), the hippodrome of Rome, located south of the Palatine Hill (Palatine Hill - Wikipedia). I think this last is the optimal position if Piranesi engraved something really existing.
It seems that Piranesi's point of view was near Porta Capena and therefore the palaces represented should be those on the Palatine Hill.
The central palace in Piranesi's painting could be the Palace of Domitian (Palace of Domitian - Wikipedia) composed by the Domus Flavia, the Domus Augustana and the garden or "stadium".
Could this palace be represented on the Hereford map (Hereford Mappa Mundi - Wikipedia) to symbolize Rome?
But if all of this is true, then the enormous palace behind the Palace of Domitian should be a representation of the famous Domus Aurea (Domus Aurea - Wikipedia) built by the Emperor Nero and said to be a vast landscaped palace!!! It is placed exactly in the position where it should have been, where the Colosseum is located nowadays.
If we assume that Piranesi was representing Rome, then there are a lot of things to add. In the painting we can clearly see how the Appian way and the Circus Maximus are the same. The road doesn't end or begin near the circus but it continues in the distance with other palaces and also two pyramids on the right (if we imagine to walk in that direction). I have prolonged the hypothetical Appian Way on the map of Rome in the same direction indicated by Piranesi and the result is quite interesting.
As you can see the road hits perfectly the Vatican on the top left of the map! But this is not all. This road overlaps with the course of the Tiber River and in particular it entirely encomprises Tiber Island (Tiber Island - Wikipedia).
I have circled in red Pons Cestius (Pons Cestius - Wikipedia), an "ancient" Roman bridge, while in blue the Great Synagogue of Rome (Great Synagogue of Rome - Wikipedia). Now more or less in the position of the blue circle in Piranesi's painting we see a pyramid, the first one on the right! One could say that there is no certainty that the pyramid was placed there, but there is a very peculiar particular: the name of the bridge! Isn't it strange that the bridge is named after the same family that gave its name to to the Pyramid of Cestius (Pyramid of Cestius - Wikipedia), built for Gaius Cestius Epulo? Should it be surprising to have a Great Synagogue in the same place where a pyramid stood?
I think this gens Cestia (Cestia gens - Wikipedia) is one of those families to research with great attention.
What struck me was that strange and unusual line of obelisks and bizarre structures in the middle of the engraving. I recognised immediately the typical spina (Roman circus - Wikipedia) of the hippodromes of the past. Here below is represented the Hippodrome of Constantinople with its spina.
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