Pompeii

Built in 80 BC and considered the earliest of its kind in the world, this grand venue hosted gladiator games and seated up to 20,000 fans in three sections based on social class.

Considered Pompeii's oldest religous building, a replica of the bronze statue of the god of prophecy stands poised, as if holding a bow and arrow, amid a row of Corinthian columns.

Mount Vesuvius looms in the background of the temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Romans revered Jupiter as the most supreme of their deities.

It's one of the largest residences of Pompeii, housing the replica of the famed Alexander Mosaic, which depicts Alexander the Great battling Persian king Darius III.

This opulent abode with frescoes and mosaics takes its name not from its original owners, the Poppaeus family, but from the striking fresco portraying the Greek poet Menander.

After becoming freed slaves, the Vettii brothers spared no expense highlighting their nouveau-riche status, boasting exquisite frescoes and lustrous wall paintings.

Nine painted scenes on the walls of the Initiation Chamber reflect a bride's ceremonial passage into womanhood and the cult of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility.