Roman Forum, Rome, Italy (© Marco Romani/Getty Images)

【March 15 2015】A funny thing happened on the way to the creation of the Forum in ancient Rome: They built a sewer. This lowland was originally a marshy drainage between Capitoline Hill and Palatine Hill. But with the construction in the seventh century BCE of Cloaca Maxima, a large covered sewer system, the marshes were drained and this former wetland eventually became the unlikely center of Rome’s government and the architectural emblem of its vast power.Explore breathtaking Gallery from the HuluTrip homepage over the past 5 years..