Rome


 * This article is about the city of Rome in the standard timeline. For the larger political entities, see Roman Empire and New Roman Empire. For information about versions of Rome and its empire in other timelines, see Alternate Rome.

Rome was a city in Italy. It played an important role in Earth history because it was the centre of the Roman Empire, a large empire in early human history. Its main attractions were its seven hills, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Circus Maximus. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)

The First Doctor and Susan once travelled to Rome prior to meeting Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. They visited the city broadly around the time of Jesus Christ, and the Doctor found it a "brutal and murderous place". He called it "terrible", replete with "slavery, crime in the streets, everybody stabbing everyone else in the back". He held the same views of Jerusalem and Antioch, other ancient Earth cities the two Gallifreyans visited together. (PROSE: Byzantium!)

Later, the First Doctor took Ian, Barbara, and Vicki in AD 64, and accidentally inspired the Great Fire of Rome. (TV: The Romans) According to his tenth incarnation, he didn't have much time for sightseeing on that particular visit. He therefore tried to return with Donna Noble, but ended up instead in Pompeii. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)

In AD 79, the Caecilius family moved to Rome after the Tenth Doctor and Donna helped them escape the destruction of Pompeii. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) The family apparently left behind a record of their escape. In 1923, a British archaeological survey of Rome by Professor Livesy-Smythe turned up a scroll by Caecilius telling of the true fate of Pompeii. This expedition's findings alerted Torchwood Three to the existence of the Pyroviles. (Captain Jack's Monster Files)

The Pandorica was kept in Rome for many years: first brought there in AD 120 and taken in raid by the Franks in AD 420. It came into the possession of the Knights Templar in 1120 and subsequently was given to the Vatican in 1231. (TV: The Big Bang)

Both the Eleventh Doctor and Rory Williams attested to being present at the fall of Rome. (TV: Day of the Moon)

In 1966, the city was a destination of the villainous Chameleon Tours, where the brother of Samantha Briggs was supposed to go. (TV: The Faceless Ones)

In 2006 Rome was one of the many locations affected by the Sycorax's blood control, causing people to stand on the top of the Colosseum, ready to jump. (TV: The Christmas Invasion) In 2096, Rome was an independent city-state on a destitute Earth. (PROSE: The Indestructible Man)

Behind the scenes

 * In 2007, Rome's Cinecittà Studios played host to production of the episode The Fires of Pompeii (CON: The Italian Job). Discounting some minor second unit work done for Daleks in Manhattan, this was the first Doctor Who adventure to be filmed outside the UK since Doctor Who in the 1990s.