Rome TRIP #2
Well, trip #2 to Rome is in the overhead bag. It was great - I knew more about what I wanted to see and how to find it. Also, I didn’t spend hours figuring out e-SIMS or travel insurance or what to wear to avoid looking like an easy target. Despite an all-black ensemble, not sure I fooled anyone - the second I said salve or grazie, the response invariably came in English.
Last time I went, I shared a couple of videos on social media which were well-received. This time I shot a series of vignettes at sites in Ancient Rome. They’re strung together in the YouTube video below and range between 30 seconds and 2 minutes each, roughly.
In my research, the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘when’ of Ancient Rome are widely documented. But the ‘where’ is often reduced to ‘Italy’ or the city itself, which is huge. I wanted to give a spatial perspective for important events, people, and ideas - to narrow in on the ‘where’; to climb the hills, to scuttle down the alleyways, to navigate the crowds; to put all this in physical space so I could stand on the spots where history happened, even though the Romans surely wouldn’t recognize any of the locations after 2,000 years. I wouldn’t say it was transcendent, but it sure was cool.
0:00 - Trevi Fountain - not ancient, but close to my hotel (the wonderful Albergo delle Regioni), so I started there
0:51 - Spolia - ancient materials or items that were reused or incorporated into other structures Aaaand .. I got pretty much everything wrong. This is Julius, not Augustus, Caesar. It's a modern statue, albeit a copy of an ancient bronze version. And the cornucopia is original - it symbolizes abundance and prosperity. Just goes to show what happens when I speculate!
1:28 - Spolia in reverse - the Colosseum was stripped of its travertine (which I mistake for marble)
1:51 - Quirinal Hill and the Fountain of the Dioscuri. These are the twins Castor & Pollux who date back to ancient Greece but whom the Romans came to honor, too
2:43 - Trajan’s Column - a representation in relief of the emperor’s conquest of Dacia (modern Romania). It stands about 125 feet tall. In case you’re wondering like I did, there were multi-story structures around it so people on the higher floors could see the intricate sculpting from a better vantage point than we have today
3:40 - Domus Aurea - or Nero’s Golden House. Buried and forgotten for centuries, this palace spanned the vast space between 3 of Rome’s 7 hills, and was built after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD conveniently made space for it. (Post & pictures coming soon with more information)
3:55 - Ticket gates at the Colosseum - not the modern kind for tour tickets, but the ones you’d enter in order to watch the beast hunts, executions and gladiator matches
4:23 - Temple of the Divine Julius Caesar - where the assassinated Caesar’s supporters staged an impromptu cremation following a stirring speech by Marc Antony
5:16 - A brief interlude to whine about the rain and to tease the story of Tiberius Gracchus - my favorite Roman and who lit the first spark in the conflagration which would end the Republic and usher in the Empire
6:06 - Tiberius Gracchus - Part 1 - read part 1 of my 3-part series starting here
8:47 - Tiberius Gracchus - Part 1.5 - because I forgot to mention something important
9:42 - Tiberius Gracchus - Part 2 - read part 2 here
11:35 - Tiberius Gracchus - Part 3 - read part 3 here
13:22 - Temple of Antoninus and Faustina - a long-reigning emperor and his wife about whom we don’t know a whole lot except that things went pretty smoothly during their time as emperor and empress
13:54 - The Temple of Vesta (the Vestal Virgins) - one thing I should’ve mentioned: if a Vestal crossed the path of a condemned man was on his way to execution, he was automatically freed
14:54 - Statue of C. IVLIVS CAESARI - The name ‘Gaius’ was represented by a ‘C’. Latin of the period frequently used ‘V’ and ‘U’ interchangeably
15:35 - Arch of Titus - elaborate reliefs documenting his career and brief reign as emperor, including his conquest of Judea
16:12 - The Cloaca Maxima - you just need to watch it to learn what it is
16:51 - Servian Walls, Aurelian Walls & the Pyramid of Cestius - I misstate the date of the Aurelian Walls as the 5th c AD They were constructed in the 3rd c AD
17:54 - Monte Testaccio - a 5-acre artificial hill
19:00 - The River Tiber - and some of its many uses
20:22 - The Baths of Caracalla - video 1 - everybody who’s anybody (or nobody) went to the baths
22:49 - The Baths of Caracalla - video 2 - artwork
23:10 - The Baths of Caracalla - video 3 - where I really try to impress upon you the size of the place
23:42 - The Baths of Caracalla - video 4 - Roman bricks and the arch
24:41 - The Imperial Fora - spaces where Rome conducted government business alongside temples, art displays, gardens and shops
25:27 - Theater of Marcellus - I meant to mention that Augustus had 2 grandchildren on whom he’d also pinned succession hopes. They died young (in their 20s). The exceptional mini-series I, Claudius implicates Augustus’s wife Livia in all these deaths to ensure her son from her first marriage, Tiberius, dons the purple. Which he eventually did.
26:58 - Temples of Hercules and Portunus in the Forum Boaria - site (roughly) of human sacrifice
28:14 - The Circus Maximus - ancient site with huge importance to Roman history
31:03 - The Circus Maximus - a better view, and the Temple of Apollo
31:42 - A Mithraeum - just trust me on this one
33:53 - The Colline Gate - or where it used to be; site of huge civil war battle
35:30 - A Really Bad Joke
35:42 - Thanks and Farewell
