What a way for a student of history to start off the experience!! Twenty Euros for the ticket to the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. There were only a few fanciful embellishments by our tour guide, but he did pretty well.
Here are some of my other pictures from inside the famous Colosseum.
The maze of tunnels underneath the actual floor of the amphitheater(you can see a recreation of where the floor would have been off in the distance).
The emperor's box...
A view down onto the floor...
And me having fun...
After we were done in the Colosseum it was off to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. I got a nice picture of the Arch of Constantine--first "Christian" emperor of Rome...
Then I realized that I lost my ticket :( So despite how much I hate spending Euros, I dropped another twelve to see the heart of Ancient Rome; I never would have forgiven myself if I hadn't paid again. Anyways, I paid more than I wanted but I was walking where the Caesars walked, so I couldn't stay unhappy.
The last picture and the next one are both showing ruins of the Imperial Palace. It was HUGE. I knew that it was going to be extravagant, but it was literally taking up more than twice the space of the Roman Forum, the seat of the Roman Senate.
The one place I wanted to go actually took me forever to find, or at least it took me forever to find the route through all the roped-off portions. I wanted to find the view of the Circus Maximus from the Palace. I finally found it...
It doesn't look like much now, but imagine an stadium encircling the track you see here. 250,000 Romans would watch the chariot races that took place here, and the emperor had the best view of all :)
I had a little chuckle at the fact that even though the Circus Maximus was still in use for entertainment, this time a beach volleyball tourney, the space taken up was a pathetic one eighth of the original Roman creation.
Now it was off to the forum, the seat of the Roman Senate and the home to the republican ideals of divided power and civic virtue.
The Forum was the ancient center of Rome; physically, economically, politically, & spiritually. It is where everything happened. If you wanted to know what was going on in Ancient Rome, you went to the forum. You could buy things at the market, listen to announcements about the new laws passed by the senate, or you might even be able to sneak a peek in side the Curia, where the Senate met. You definitely would see the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus-Jupiter the Best and the Greatest-it would have been hard to miss. Maybe you could even see the Vestal Virgins, as they went about their holy duties in this temple, duties that were absolutely essential for the security and even the very existence of Rome.
Of course, as the days of the Republic ended and the Emperors came to power, all Roman life in the Forum would come to be overshadowed by Imperial Palace, a reminder of who was really in charge...
But political life in the early days of the Republic have left there mark on this city. After all, the storm drains and man-hole covers are still emblazoned with the symbol of Ancient Rome's motto-"Senatus Populusque Romanus--The Senate & People of Rome."
The Emperor's left their mark to. We walked into a plaza looking for a famous site knowing we were close, turn around at there it is...
It's the Pantheon. Why only half in that pic? Because the rest is under restoration...
The inside was nice though...
That what touring Rome on foot is like. Modern building, modern building, that looks kinda old, Whoa!! Something really old!!
That is the Column of Marcus Aurelius; it commemorates a great victory of his over a group of Germans and Sarmatians. We stumbled upon it after eating the "best gelato in Roma," from a place called Giolitti's. The Aurelian Column isn't as famous as Trajan's Column...
But it is still fun to just stumble upon these things while walking through one of the most historic cities in the world. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment