This huge structure is the largest in the forum started in 308 by Maxentius and then completed by his rival Constantine in 312 CE. You can see how this type of building was easily converted to churches such as Santa Sabina that we saw at the beginning of the week.

The day we had the guide who is trained as an archeaologist we were discussing what that profession is like. You spend a lot of time digging for very little reward. She told us of a time she and a friend were digging and she gave up a particular spot to her friend who then found the crown of Maxentius that had been thrown away after his defeat at the hands of Constantine. It didn’t make her famous, but was quite exciting in any case. Marisa is guiding now because the physical stress of all that digging was for young people only.