(I feel the need to apologize for my lame writing on this blog... on reading over a post I realize it's very hasty, but I don't want to be spending all of my time here editing this thing so I'm just going to leave it as it is.)
This morning we started off marching through ruins up the Palatine hill to the house of Augustus Caesar, which is off-limits to the public, though we had permission. Our guide was a middle-aged Italian lady who only spoke Italian and was not very impressed with us, so we were pretty much left to figure things out on our own. The house was very humble - unremarkable, even - except for the really well-preserved frescoes on the walls. We saw (what we think is) his receiving room, his study, and his bedroom. They were pretty small but had roofs, probably restored, though a fresco was all over the top of his study so that must have been original. The readings Professor Donahue gave us noted that Augustus lived very humbly - supposedly in the same bedroom for 40 years - which matched up with the pretty standard ruins we were seeing. Though it was really fun to think, whether correctly or not, that we were in the living chambers of Augustus Caesar. Epic stuff!
Right afterwards we crossed the Palatine toward the Via Sacra (passing the Arch of Constantine with a great view of the Colosseum!) and descended to the Forum. It was, as last time, overwhelming. This time around I really got a sense of how crowded the forum must have been. There are ruins everywhere you step. Most of the brick remains were fronted with marble and stood at least one if not several stories high. By 200 AD - even by 30 AD! - it must have been incredibly crowded in that space. By year 1 AD, that area had been settled almost a thousand years already, and ruins of very ancient inhabitants have been found in the forum, giving you a sense that each new building project there would have built over something else. Crazy!
We were able to enter the Curia, which we couldn't in 2007, though it was sort of lame inside - just a huge, boxy brick building. There was, however, a remarkably good exhibit on Nero going on there, which was really fun to go through. We took our time with it and I really felt like I got a better insight of who he was in that short time. (Highlights: He tried have his mom killed several times, and succeeded; kicked his pregnant wife to death; loved theater and the arts and may have performed in drag; was actually beloved by the people even though the senate hated him.) The Temple of Romulus was also open this time around, which again was disappointing inside (more of the Nero exhibit here, though it wasn't as good). I guess it was adopted as a christian church somewhere along the line, so there are the remains of a basilica behind it and christian paintings on the walls. Most exciting was seeing the quarters of the Vestal Virgins, which I hadn't seen before. They were really well preserved and it was easy to see how they lived.
Overall, it was nice to have Professor Donahue there; he's really knowledgeable about the time period so he can answer a wide range of questions.
We meant to get into the prison by the Forum (the one St. Peter was supposedly held in) but it was closed for lunch (surprise). Instead we walked a ways to the Piazza Navona. Like the Trevi fountain and Spanish Steps, I found it pretty disappointing. There was very little there - just a big fountain with an obelisk, which was cool, and two smaller ones - and the shape of an old circus. Otherwise, it was a total tourist trap, with vendors set up every two feet, shady guys selling fake brand name merchandise who would literally pick up and run from the police when they approached, and all manner of silly tourist-gimmicks. The thick, syrupy concentration of tourists makes it feel like these sites are self-perpetuating for no reason: like the Phantom of the Opera, they're famous for being famous; people flock to them because it's something people flock to, not because they're more worthy of appreciation than other places in Rome.
Pardon the complaint - I guess I'm getting picky about which man-made marvels I most appreciate in this City of A Thousand Wonders. In the Piazza Navona, Zara, Elaine, Jacque and I just walked around, browsed artwork, got gelato and sat by the fountain, just people-watching. It was nice to have the break. We walked back to the Theater of Marcellus, past VE, and caught a ride back home.
Tomorrow we're going out of the city to look at some catacombs on the Appian Way.
No comments:
Post a Comment