Model of Campus Martius Marked

This is a model of the Campus Martius in the first century A.D.   View looking south southwest.  In the foreground, on the north side of the CM is the circular Mausoleum of Augustus.  A long white street leads to the Pantheon on the south side of the CM.  The white street, perpendicular to the above, leads east to where the Ara Pacis originally was constructed.

The tree-lined square at the junction marks the spot where it is thought that the body of Augustus was cremated (ustrinum augusti).  Midpoint between the Ara Pacis and the cremation spot was a Horologium, the gnomon of which was an obelisk that had been brought from Egypt.

On the right (west) side of the image the brown area indicates where the Tiber River was at that time.  On the left (east) side of the image the long white road was the Via Flaminia, today the Via del Corso—some slabs of the ancient road have been found beneath the modern road.

Although today it is built up, in ancient times it was a large open space used for a variety activities: military exercises, sporting activities, etc.