Forma Urbis Romae

Forma Urbis Romae, also known as the Severan Marble Plan, were created between 203 and 211 CE, under the rule of the emperor Septimus Severus. The marble plan was a map, detailing Rome, where buildings, fora and roads were marked and named. The marble plan was placed on the wall of the Temple pf Peace at the Forum Vespasiani. The wall where the marble plan was situated can still be seen today, though none of the marble slabs are still there. The wall can be seen when standing along the Via dei Fori Imeriali and watching towards the Basilica of Maxentius. The wall of the marble plan is on the building right next to the basilica.

The marble plan depicts the depicts the buildings in great details, displaying architectural elemements such as columns and stairs. The streets and the buildings, both public and privat ones, are described with their names listed on the corresponding feature on the map.

The original site of the marble plan is on the other side of the wall in the middle

The marble plan meassured 18 x 13 meters and consisted of 150 marble slabs. Of these, only c. 10% have survived. At total of 1186 fragments of the marble plan have survived. An additional 87 fragments are known through drawings from the Renaissance, though the fragments themselves are lost.

Forum Romanum is one of the many fora depicted on the marble plan,
the details of it such as the Tabernae in the Basilica
and the columns in the temple is displayed

All of the known pieces of the Forma Urbis Romae, both curently existing and drawings of lost pieces, is collected in an online, searchable database, created by the Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project.