Animated videos offer a glimpse of ancient Rome and the Pompeii disaster.

It has been almost 27 years since my last visit to Rome (and greater Italy). For a casual student of history going there and looking upon the ruins of the ancients, there is an inevitable disorientation. It's difficult to fill in the gaps and visualize what these places looked like, and how they functioned, during their prime.  

This video purports to do so, and while probably overly sanitized -- housing stock never looked so uniformly good, anywhere -- it's worth a look.

Rome The ‘Eternal City’ In Its Peak Showcased Through A Brilliantly Animated Video

An incredible fruit of collaboration between the Rome Reborn project and Khan Academy, the video in question gives us a fascinating tour through the ancient mega city in its arguably peak form in 320 AD.

As a bonus, the Realm of History web site offers another video recreation, this one of demise of Pompeii. Both videos are described by Dattatreya Mandal.

Animation Showcases The Pompeii Disaster With Accurate 3D Rendering Of The Events

A 2009 exhibition named aptly as the ‘A Day in Pompeii’ was showcased at the Melbourne Museum. The exhibition used 3D renderings to present a more accurate picture of the impending disaster that took place in 79 AD, and its baleful effects in the span of 48-hours surrounding the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.