Click here to purchase tickets to Ancient Rome & America*
*includes admission to Ancient Rome & America and the Center's permanent exhibition, The Story of We The People, "Freedom Rising" and Signers' Hall. Ancient Rome & America tickets are not a timed entry ticket. Times are chosen for entry to "Freedom Rising" only.
Ancient Rome & America showcases the cultural, political, and social connections between the lost world of ancient Rome and modern America. The exhibition features more than 300 artifacts from Italy and the United States, bringing together a never-before-seen collection from Italy’s leading archaeological collections in Florence, Naples, and Rome, paired with objects from over 40 lending institutions in the United States.
Covering over 8,000 square feet, the exhibition is organized into five galleries: Introduction, Building a Republic, A Classical Revival, Expansion and Empire, and Epilogue.
Exhibition Highlights
- A Roman bronze eagle and American gilt eagle depicting the classic symbol shared by ancient Rome and America.
- Roman busts of Scipio Africanus, Julius Caesar, and Cicero.
- Busts of the Founding Fathers, such as George Washington, portrayed in togas.
- Gladiator helmet, “greave” (shin guard), two spearheads, and dagger from the gladiator barracks in Pompeii. Comparatively, a “modern gladiator” football helmet of Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Harold Carmichael is displayed.
- Remnants from Pompeii, including silverware, a preserved piece of a wall fresco, and the cast of a man who did not escape the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
- Slave collars from ancient Rome and the United States, which were both slave societies.
- Founding Fathers’ personal copies of Roman classics such as Plutarch’s Lives, Cicero’s De Oratore and works of Roman historian Tacitus, which helped shape their political views during the early American republic.