French Artist recreates ancient Rome in new book
French comic book artist Gilles Chaillet has brought the ancient city of Rome before its fall, back to life with an immense map based on a lifetime of research and a touch of artistic license. The some 1,350 fountains still trickle with water, the 1,790 palaces havenīt fallen to ruins and the 240 public latrines are still in business.
 Chaillet dreamed up the project when he was 9 years old. Nearly 50 years later, he came to the Eternal City to show it off to the Romans. "This was an idea I could never get out of my head, it was a bit of an obsession." There are no definitive surviving maps of ancient Rome, which was most of the challenge, he said.
Chailletīs immense map is colored in with cheerful greens, russets and pearly tones by his wife, Chantal. Looking at it, you can imagine a dayīs stroll in Rome circa 314 A.D.: a leisurely morning at the bathhouses, a stop at the market to buy some chickpeas and trip to the Circus Maximus to take in a chariot race.
When Chaillet was a child in Paris, he discovered the ruins of Rome through a postcard and comic books. Inspiration struck. "I announced to my parents, īI want to re-create ancient Rome," he said. "They said, īcalm down and go do your math homework". At one point, Chailletīs father was so frustrated by his sonīs lack of attention to his schoolwork that he set fire to some early Rome sketches.
Chaillet, now 58, made other Rome maps at age 13 and at 20, during his military service. After high school, he became a successful comic book artist in a country where everyone from kindergartners to executives read them. In his free time, Chaillet visited archives, libraries and museums to research his side project.
He set his map in 314 A.D. because the majestic and well-preserved Arch of Constantine wasnīt built until around then, and he felt most Rome-lovers couldnīt imagine the city without it.
At that time, Rome had about 1 million inhabitants and was ruled by Constantine I, who legalized Christianity. When Chaillet finally sat down to sketch the 11 foot-by-6.5 foot map, he spent 5,000 hours at the drawing board. His wife spent another 3,000 hours coloring it in. Chaillet thinks that about 5 percent of the mapīs 13,000 buildings are completely accurate. About 30 percent are fairly accurate, and the rest is based on educated guesses, he said.
The map has been displayed in museums around France, and in April Chaillet published a 200-page French-language book to accompany the project, "Inside the Rome of the Cesars." Now, his sketches and a smaller copy of the map are on display at the French cultural center in the city that inspired his dreams. "Itīs the end of a long quest" - and probably the end of his career as a mapmaker, Chaillet said.
"There are other cities I also love, like Venice and my hometown, Paris," he said. "But thereīs not the same emotion there. ... Iīd need a second life to do a second city."
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