The Roman Forum appears to the casual observer a tangled mass of walls superimposed one upon another without rhyme or reason. After a careful elimination, however, of the confusing elements brought in by later restorations, it is possible to establish certain common levels not only for the Forum but also for the smaller areas closely united to it. Of these levels, that which we may again, after the lapse of many centuries, call the present level may best serve as a fixed point of reference in our discussion, since all the greater monuments of the Golden Age in and about the Forum were built or rebuilt in conformity to it. A clearly defined, though much broken, pavement of travertine slabs, which is clearly traceable throughout the whole Forum, renders it more easily recognizable. Though badly sunken in many other places, the height of this pavement along the line of the main axis of the central area is 12·50 to 14 metres above sea level.