Travel with Rick Steves · Saturday, September 12, 2026
Author Philip Barlag explains his approach to understanding ancient Roman ruins, emphasizing the importance of knowing the people who built them and their accomplishments. He shares how his deep curiosity about even simple stacks of ancient bricks drives his quest to uncover the history behind these structures.
“If I see four ancient bricks stacked on top of each other, I feel this compelling deep urge to know what were those things? What was the building that was there? Why was it built?”
“I think knowing who the people that built the buildings, what they were trying to accomplish, what was happening inside Rome at the time, and stack those chronologically with one another so that the cumulative effect of looking at a small handful and then thousands of interesting buildings in Rome, gives you a real sense for how to put these things together in space, where they sit on a timeline.”