This chapter explores the archaeology of late antique Rome, focusing on the city’s transformation between the third and eighth centuries. It examines architectural, epigraphic and material evidence to trace changes in urban infrastructure, social organisation and religious practices. Recent archaeological projects, including excavations at the Crypta Balbi and the imperial fora, have yielded significant insights into the reuse of urban spaces and shifting patterns of habitation. This study challenges earlier narratives that describe late antique Rome as a city in decline, instead presenting it as a dynamic environment where old structures were adapted to new functions. A major emphasis is placed on the integration of Christian and imperial elements in the cityscape. This investigation highlights the construction of monumental churches such as St Peter’s and the Lateran Basilica, which repurposed materials from earlier Roman buildings, reinforcing Christian authority while maintaining connections to imperial traditions. Another important aspect discussed is the evolution of private housing, with evidence indicating a gradual shift from elite domus to smaller, more communal living arrangements. The chapter concludes that late antique Rome was characterised by both continuity and transformation.

Caesar’s famous intervention in the Catilinarian Debate of 63, too often viewed as fundamentally opposed to the Senate's authority, instead illustrates the kind of "patrician republicanism" discernable in his early career. His failed proposal for permanent imprisonment seems to have been intended to avoid the kind of popular backlash against the Senate’s authority that was inevitable if the laws protecting citizens against execution without the People’s authorization against were blatantly violated by that body. His advice was ultimately rejected, but his view of the matter would be vindicated by Cicero’s expulsion in 58. Caesar’s praetorship and successful Spanish command brought further clashes with Cato, whose development of his favored tactic of the filibuster in these years shows that he did not as a rule carry the majority of the Senate, while Caesar’s own pursuit of military glory and cultivation of a "popular" though not aggressively populari persona was consistent with long-standing republican tradition.