Today I had to get up early to take a Greek exam before our official class day started (no fun!). But I got through it and eventually we were on our way to explore the city. Our first stop of the day was the old city center and forum. On the way there, the sun came out (it had rained yesterday on and off, and was generally cloudy) and it stayed out all day, making for a slightly more pleasant experience. We spent several hours wandering around the forum--there really was a ton of history packed into that space! We saw the old Senate building, the arch of Septimius Severus, the temple of the Vestal Virgins, in addition to several other temples and public buildings. Of course, it was mostly in ruins, but it was still very cool to be there and see it all. From there, we walked up the Palatine Hill, where you could get an outstanding view of the entire old city center. Many good pictures were taken from there. We saw several buildings on our Palatine jaunt, including the Hippodrome, the temple of Victory, and the temple of Cybele. From there we stopped off for a nice pizza lunch before heading to the Colosseum. The Colosseum is perhaps more amazing and intimidating from the outside than from the inside. However, it is not hard to stand inside of it and imagine it in all its glory of centuries ago. You can still almost hear the roar of the crowds and see the movement of animals and people below. The 'underground system' of the Colosseum is especially intricate and impressive. After the Colosseum, we headed up to Nero's Domus Aurea (Golden House), which was unfortunately closed for renovation or something. We were really excited to see that, so it was a bit disappointing to miss out. After that, however, we made our way to the Church of San Clemente, which was not at all disappointing. We had learned a great deal about this church from one of our undergraduate professors and Allison had written a paper on a fresco located in the subterranean section of the church. The church itself was very beautiful, but under the church was thousands of years of history--from a Roman Mithraeum to a Roman domestic spring to an early Medieval Church to a saint's tomb, a whole world lay beneath the actual standing church itself. The whole thing is really quite illustrative of the Romans' tendency to just build one layer on top of another. After San Clemente, we headed back to Constantine's Arch, then took a little breather in the hotel before another delicious dinner.
Several pictures from the Roman Forum and old city center
Some pictures of the old city and other sights taken from the Palatine Hill
The famous pines of Rome, the Palatine gardens, and the Hippodrome
To the Colosseum...
The Colosseum inside and out.
Some pictures taken from inside the Colosseum of sights outside of the Colosseum
No comments:
Post a Comment