Sizing it Up
Athlit Ram renders from VRML model Feb 1, 2002
©2002 Institute for the Visualization of History
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Based on detailed drawings of the ram (published by Steffy 1994:60, 62), we were able to create an accurate and precise 3D computer model of it and then export it to VRML for real-time study. This was a crucial first step in our understanding of the size and shape of ancient Roman rams and in our process toward determining the size and shape of the rams that once projected from the monument at Actium, Greece. We could use the Athlit ram model as a starting point, and then warp its surface carefully and proportionately until the new shape fit a specific socket in the wall at the Actium monument.
This process worked perfectly, so we know have a computer model of one of the actual rams from the monument; and we can use this process to move from socket to socket until we know the shapes and sizes of each original ram (which will, in turn, inform scholars about the sizes of the original warships, and thus, for the first time, about the composition of Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet).
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Step by Step
Rendering from our virtual reality model showing the Athlit ram (the smaller one) and the proportionately enlarged ram that fits into one of the sockets at the monument at Actium;
© 2002 Institute for the Visualization of History, Inc
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This was a crucial first step in our understanding of the size and shape of ancient Roman rams and in our process toward determining the size and shape of the rams that once projected from the monument at Actium, Greece. We could use the Athlit ram model as a starting point, and then warp its surface carefully and proportionately until the new shape fit a specific socket in the wall at the Actium monument. This process worked perfectly, so we know have a computer model of one of the actual rams from the monument; and we can use this process to move from socket to socket until we know the shapes and sizes of each original ram (which will, in turn, inform scholars about the sizes of the original warships, and thus, for the first time, about the composition of Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet).
Reference
Page Created: November 4, 2009
Page Updated: September 12, 2012
URL:
Page Author: The Institute for the Visualization of History |
