Time and again, I tried to recreate Rome archaeologically- as it was following its heyday during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. The best timespan for this historically canon map would be the reign of Commodus (ca. 190 /943 Ab Urbe Condita).
This is the closest rendition possible, with plenty of Colosseums in the place of the various stadia of Rome,such as the Naumachia Augusta and Stadium Domitiani. There are villas above the hills, on the outskirts of the city centre. The centre itself features the Imperial and Roman Fora, as well as the temples of Capitoline hill and the palatial complex, including library and schools for the nobility and princes of faraway lands client to the Roman Empire. A colossal stadium, The Circus Neronis occupies what we now call the Vatican, just beyond Hadrian's Mausoleum.
While half of the houses have poor nutrition, it is important to remember that by 190CE Rome did not produce all of its food, and had to rely on Egyptian and North African grain for sustenance. To quell this problem, there is widespread coverage of health and sanitation.
This is just the first in a series of historically accurate maps that I will be posting in the coming year. The next will be Alexandria, followed by Carthago (Carthage), Lugdunum (Lyon), Londinium (London),Colonia Agrippina (Cologne), and Gades (Cádiz)- the latter of which is DLC. If time allows, I will also build my own map and provide a Constantinople scenario, as a pièce de résistance!