Wouldn’t you know we’d be up very early since our internal clocks
haven’t quite adjusted to Roman time yet!
But it gave us a few hours to just relax and figure things out. We have
a tour booked in which we enjoyed seeing the following:
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| Outside the Colosseum |
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| Inside the Colesseum |
The Colosseo … What can I say that people don’t already know about this wonderful ancient icon of Rome? Except … most of what you’ve seen in the movies is Hollywood’s great imagination! It was originally dedicated as the Flavian Amphitheater in 80 A.D. for the imperial family and seated about 60,000; but over time the name Colosseo was dubbed by the locals because of the close proximity of a colossal 115-foot tall statute of Emperor Nero. Even after that statue was removed, the name stuck. It is a massive four-level amphitheater where the Emperor Senators and other higher ups sat on the first floor … which, by the way, is level with the center stage … and each floor was allotted to different “classes” of people, the poorest relegated to the least expensive top row nose-bleed standing only. All of the 80 entrances except the one for the Emperor and other dignitaries, were numbered with tickets purchased to the events corresponding to that entrance. The main floor was made of wood covered with four inches of sand for the gladiators, animals and other performances there; but the 20-foot deep “basement” was the back stage of the theater where caged animals, condemned criminals, gladiators and props were kept before being brought onstage through trap doors via simple elevators, which provided the element of surprise by popping up onto the floor.
Most interesting to me is that the shape as we know it with
half of the top two floors now missing on this circular building is the result
of looters and the “recycling” of the metal rods that strengthened the walls. With
reinforcement removed, that portion of the wall collapsed in the earth quakes
in the 8th and 12th centuries. Also surprising to me was
that not every gladiator fight resulted in death. Actually, most did not. It was entertainment, and the owners of the
gladiators had a lot of time and money invested in these men; so of course, it
just wasn’t practical to have them killed off early in their careers! Plus there would have been 4-5-6 “fights”
going on around the floor at one time … too many to fight to the death every
time. AND with the animal fights and criminal executions done in the mornings,
the people just wanted to be entertained in the evenings, not see more blood!
Another myth is that of the “thumbs up, thumbs down” signal of the Emperor
signaling life or death. It never
happened … or so historians are telling us. As Christianity was legalized and
became the State religion, the Coliseum was converted into a Catholic venue,
including the Stations of the Cross situated around the building. Even today the Pope comes to pray the
Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, walking first around the outside of the
building with the final Station inside.
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| Arch of Constantine |
Ancient Rome – Ancient Forum … There is just so much that has
been learned about Ancient Rome through the diligent archaeological digs over
the years. According to legend, Romulus
and Remus “founded” the city, and many artifacts, sculptures and buildings have
been found honoring these two. Grand
villas were built on the Palatine and Capitoline hills by the nobles and
emperors; and the small valley between, once a swampy burial ground, became the
Roman Forum, a grandiose district of basilicas (courts of justice), the Senate
House and other government houses, monuments, arches and statues plus the
center of commerce. It was also once the
religious center of Rome where the greatest temples were built. Some were later
“converted” to Catholic churches as well.
The Forum fell into disrepair after the fall of the Roman Empire until
it was finally used as pasture land. In the Middle Ages it was known as the
“Cow Field” which was plundered for its stone and marble. Thankfully the area
has been systematically excavated since the 18th century, which
continues to this day, so we can learn and walk through to experience life in
Ancient Rome!
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| The Ancient Forum |
Imagine the black
marble said to cover the tomb of Romulus, or the burial site of Julius Ceaser,
or the dining room of Nero, or the elaborate podium where Shakespeare had Mark
Antony make his famous “friends, Romans, countrymen..” speech. Imagine the
temple of the state treasury or the Casa delle Vestele, home of the six Vestal
virgins, picked as perfect young ladies between the ages of 6 to 10 years old
to serve in the temple for 30 years. They tended to the sacred flame of the
temple; but if the flame went out, the one responsible would be flogged; and if
one would lose her virginity, she would be burned alive outside the walls and
the offending man would be flogged to death in the center of town. How fascinating was our past!
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| Ancient ruins in the Roman Forum |
Our tour ended with a walk through parts of the city where ancient findings have been unearthed, also noting some of the more famous sculptures, fountains and buildings the Romans enjoy today. Even the soaking rains today haven’t been able to dampen our enthusiasm experienced in this very beautiful, unique city.
By now we’re getting hungry and because we were unable to
connect with the seminarian-led tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, we opted for
pizza … seafood pizza. Imagine our
surprise when it was placed on the table .. the photo says it all. And it was simply delicious!
What was left of the afternoon we spent catching up on sleep
… or maybe it is needing sleep due to the exhaustive walking we’ve been doing …
either way, it is good to simply relax and enjoy! It has been a great day in this soggy city
today. (Tomorrow promises to be drier!)
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