Ancient Rome in Google Earth

From the I-am-Spartacus! department, an article on BBC alerted me to a detailed 3D rendering of ancient Rome in Google Earth.

Just fire up Google Earth, head to Gallery in the Layers section, and turn on Ancient Rome in 3D. You’ll head to Rome and get a lot of yellow building markers. Click on one and you’ll see layers for Ancient Terrian, Ancient Roman Landmarks (250 buildings), and Ancient Roman Buildings (5000+ buildings). These are detailed models, so be prepared to wait a bit while they load.

I cranked up the soundtrack to Gladiator on my MP3 player (yes, I’m that guy) and started skulking about ancient Rome. It’s a really impressive use of Google Earth. If you are the least bit interested in history it’s worth a long look.

Although the intellectual 1/8 of my brain is highly entertained with this, the rest is clamoring for an avatar, a sword, and a battle hamster named Boo.* Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!

*If you recognized Minsc’s sidekick from Baldur’s Gate, give yourself a gold star. Then slap yourself.