Beginning in the second century BCE, the Romans began to explore in a trial and error manner the possibilities of using concrete instead of fine stone, because the stone was in short supply. The concrete could be shaped into arches and vaults of all sorts by fashioning wood shuttering in the desired form, pouring in the mortar, and adding in the stone aggregate. The place to see all of this first hand is the amazing Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Fortune of the Firstborn, at Praeneste, south of Rome. It's a major sanctuary that included a theater and a temple, and in order to experience it you had to go up some seven different terraces from the Forum area below in the town, and if you were working your way up, you would probably have a chance to rest down below. There would be a lovely little stoa, or recess, where you could have a seat for a while, if you were an old person like I am, and then you work your way up one of two ramps. Here is a big ramp that goes all the way up this complex, and when you got to the top of it you would look out and you'd have a remarkable view out practically half way to the Mediterranean Sea. On the next terrace, we can see that the Romans are using a lot of technological innovation in the early first century BCE. If you look here you see an annular vault, which is like a barrel vault going around in a curve, and it's got recessed coffers in it. They've used traditional Greek Ionic style columns, and up above it they have a curved architrave, and they have an opus incertum facing, a stone facing with irregular shape with a concrete core to it and then they have a decorative column with no capitals or bases, this is very baroque stuff. This sanctuary just goes up terrace after terrace and you climb and you have this experience of going through almost an initiation. With a guide no doubt would take you on each terrace step by step, so that you get closer to the experience of being with the goddess Fortuna Primagenia, the first born. We are almost at the top of the sanctuary now, and when you got near the top, there was a beautiful area, a big, broad area, you can still see it indicated here, where you could have pageantry and display all kinds of performances in honor of the goddess. Up at the top of the sanctuary, there was a natural spring and a little round temple, which was replaced in the Renaissance by the Barberini palace. Today the spot houses the archaeological museum of the site. And from here, you could sit and look out, watch all the performances in front of you. Actually, you could look beyond them to this absolutely incredible vista and view. [SOUND]. In the bustling forum area of Praeneste, we can see how they've integrated the past with the present. Behind us are the traces of public buildings and the Basilica of Praeneste, which once had two rows of columns in it, and now these have been integrated into a series of modern offices and the Tourist Information Center. [SOUND]. In an Italian town like Praeneste, it's not at all uncommon to have the main church or cathedral, the duomo, of the town to be plunked right directly on a ancient Roman temple, and that's exactly what we have here in Praeneste. [MUSIC]
