Basilica Iulia in Rome

You're standing at the Basilica Julia, in the Roman Forum. At first glance there's not much here. A big rectangular platform, about a metre above the ground, scattered with jumbled blocks of stone. Yet this was once one of Rome's grandest buildings. Along the Via Sacra side runs a long row of marble steps. At the end facing the Temple of Castor and Pollux the stairs are taller, because the ground drops away there.