rome
the eternal city
the place where ezio auditore rested
control away from the corrupt borgias
and rebuilt the brotherhood and
assassin's creed brotherhood
let's take a walk around rome at the
beginning of the 16th century to learn a
bit about the city's rich and storied
history
before we dive in it's important to
mention that with more than 2000 years
of history rome is filled with more
ancient landmarks renaissance monuments
and influential people that can ever be
covered in a single video
let's start with the most colossal
monument in rome the flavian
amphitheater
you probably know it better by its
nickname the colosseum
construction on the coliseum began in 72
ce under emperor vespasian as a way to
appease the roman public
to separate himself from his hated
self-obsessed predecessor nero vespasian
built the amphitheater directly on top
of nero's personal man-made lake oddly
enough we have nero to thank for the
building's famous nickname
while vespasian was comfortable tearing
down nero's lake he wasn't about to
destroy the colossal statue of him
erected nearby
when it became necessary to start
differentiating between amphitheaters
romans quickly began referring to the
flavian amphitheater as the one near the
colossus and thus the colosseum was born
the amphitheater could accommodate more
than 50 000 spectators and played host
to all manner of entertainment from
gladiator fights and animal hunts to
musicals and plays
it could even be filled with water for
mock naval battles
by the time ezio visits the colosseum
had seen better days
while the majority of the destruction
was due to a 14th century earthquake the
building would have been in far better
shape if not for stone thieves
during rome's dark days after the
sacking by the visigoths and even up and
through ezio's time the colosseum was
used as a glorified quarry
after all why travel all the way up to
the mountains of tivoli for travertine
stone when there's a giant pile of it in
the middle of your city
it wasn't until 1749 when pope benedict
xiv consecrated the site and declared it
sacred that the material theft stopped
in the 16th century rome was a shadow of
its former self
more than a millennium removed from its
heights during antiquity and about a
century away from the grandeur and
over-indulgence of the baroque period
the city like many of its landmarks
could have used some renovating
thankfully ezio was a patron of the arts
and had plenty of coin to spare
rome was rebuilt through the patronage
of wealthy families in the catholic
church
so surely an auditorium would have
contributed to the renovations
isn't she a thing of beauty
very impressive if you want to look at
one of the most pristine ancient
monuments in rome look no further than
the pantheon
originally constructed in 72 bce by
marcus agrippa emperor augustus's
right-hand man
the current iteration of the building
was constructed under emperor hadrian's
rule in 125 ce
take a look at the building and you'll
notice that hadrian still gives credit
to its original patron agrippa right on
the temples in tablature
part temple to the roman gods and part
throne room for hadrian the pantheon
survived the rise of christianity the
way most pagan temples did
it was converted into a church
for as simple as the pantheon looks with
its circular interior the building's
structure is incredibly complex and
centuries ahead of its time
to this day it remains the largest
unreinforced concrete dome in the world
roman engineers use a variety of tricks
to build up the dome
including removing material from the
dome center its weakest point to create
an oculus
they also changed the weight and
thickness of the concrete mixture along
the dome
ensuring that the concrete at the top
was lighter than the concrete at the
base
that's not easy to do
as the first assassin's creed to feature
a single massive urban environment
brotherhood's rome was a chance for
ubisoft montreal to showcase
environmental diversity within a single
map
while they may have taken some artistic
liberties when it comes to scale and
distances they use real-world historical
development to justify their decisions
take a look at the southwest portion of
the map and you'll see it contains many
of the city's ancient ruins and
monuments including the forum
rome's ancient city center
venture further north and you'll
encounter the city's medieval portion
the utilitarian brown and white
buildings
head towards the northwest closer to the
vatican and you'll find a city dominated
by churches and castles
signaling the future of rome as a
centerpiece for catholic baroque art and
architecture
speaking of the catholic baroque the
game kicks off of one of catholicism's
most famous buildings st peter's
basilica
while construction of the current
iteration of the building designed by
architect donato bramante had only just
begun at ezio's time and wouldn't be
completed for more than 100 years the
building is a constant fixture in the
roman skyline
as the biggest church in the world at
the time saint peter's was the
embodiment of catholic grandeur and
excess
and while you'll get to explore its
iconic sistine chapel you won't get to
see michelangelo's famous ceiling or his
huge last judgment fresco since he
didn't start painting either of them
until 1508 a few years after the game
takes place
nearby you'll find the castel saint
angelo a monument just outside the
vatican city
at the time the building served as a
defensive fortress for the vatican and
came in handy during the sacking of rome
in 1527 by the mutinous troops of the
holy roman emperor charles v
a pivotal mission early on in
brotherhood sees ezio-free katarina
sforza from a prison cell in the castel
this was inspired by real world events
as sforza was imprisoned in the
building's basement for more than a year
after being accused of attempting to
poison rodrigo borgia
the building's origins are actually much
less militaristic
it was originally constructed by emperor
hadrian in the second century ce to
serve as a mausoleum for his family
brotherhood's rome isn't just buildings
and monuments
it was also influenced by some of
history's most famous and infamous
figures
let's start with the borgias at the head
of the house was rodrigo borgia
an infamously corrupt politician and
vatican vice chancellor
in 1492 he outmaneuvered his opponents
in the college of cardinals to become
pope alexander vi
during this time popes had nearly as
much political power as religious power
meaning they often had free reign to do
whatever they wanted
borgia wasn't the first pope to have
mistresses and illegitimate children
but he was the first to acknowledge them
as his offspring and even made his son
cesare a cardinal at the age of 18.
when cesare's brother giovanni died
cesare took over his command of the
papal army and started to accumulate and
conquer lands in central and northern
italy
when rodrigo died in 1503 the new pope
julius ii stripped cesare of his titles
and threw him in jail for nearly three
years
but cesare's time as people commander
made an impact
most notably on nicolo machiavelli in
fact it's believed that cesare even
influenced machiavelli's seminal
literary work the prince
we cannot use the stables here
oh the wheel of the borgia is law now
what are you implying ezio assassin's
creed fans know machiavelli as the
secret dealing assassin spy
but in reality he was a man of many
skills
a prototypical renaissance man
machiavelli was an important politician
philosopher humanist and writer
he spent much of his adult life as a
government official in florence
but today is remembered mostly for the
prince
considered one of the earliest written
works of political philosophy the prince
focused on what machiavelli deemed to be
the brutal but effective methods of
ruling it inspired the modern usage of
the word machiavellian to describe
someone who's underhanded and scheming
and even helps shapes the current
negative sentiment towards politicians
you can really see where cesare's
influence came in on this one once our
enemies are dead we can speak of vaults
and gods and ancient places
you should have killed him
we're sure to suffer for it
rome's history spans thousands of years
and ezio's brief time there is just a
snapshot of the eternal city
if you want to learn more explore the
world of assassin's creed brotherhood
and consult the in-game database
for more videos like this subscribe to
this channel and visit us at
news.ubisoft.com