Alright, I have time to write again, now that I'm on my way to the airport hotel, where I'm staying (and probably posting this from) tonight before leaving tomorrow morning to return to Athens. But, to continue my story where I left off...
After a quick lunch at the Capitole Museum cafe, we headed off towards the Forum, for the second half of our visit. As we entered, we left the modern age and entered the remains of one 2000 years old.
The Roman Forum is in some respects analogous to the Greek Agora (which, I realize I haven't written about yet... But I have visited it, and as I catch up on the backlog, I'll discuss it further). It was the center for both secular and religious life in the ancient city. However, the Greek agora, in it's ideal form, us a primarily open meeting space; the Forum was anything but. There were numerous triumphal arches, public buildings, temples, memorials, and other ruins. One of the most impressive of these was the Senate House, which is now preserved as a museum. Unlike in most popular media, this was not an open semicircular theatre. Instead, it was a roofed rectangular building. When the senate would vote in antiquity, individuals would move to one side or the other, to signify a yes or no vote. The number of senators on each side would be counted to determine the outcome. The building itself is really beautiful. As Ilaria explained, and as was still visible in places, the walls would have been covered in frescos, and the floor with colorful marble. The objects stored in the building had little to do with it, but were also really interesting. Much of it was glasswork, including a really cool miniature portrait, made of fine plated gold placed between two pieces of glass. There were also many perfume bottles, cosmetic jars, and other little storage containers. Most of them were quite intact, which was really neat to see.
The next major building we saw was, in my opinion, the prettiest. This was the House of the Vestal Virgins. As luck would have it, we came right as the roses in the middle of the house were blooming. It helped restore some of the glory to this home I'd one of the must important people in Rome. The Vestal Virgins were in charge of keeping the sacred light that Aeneas brought from Troy when he went to found Italy. They were also in charge of keeping many state secrets. These priestesses were trained from age 6 or 7, and their post lasted until they were 30. Aster two and a half decades in a position of power, however, most found leaving the house to become a wife and mother to be both challenging and unrewarding, and so they remained in the house. The must famous of these priestesses were honored with status around the vineyard of the two-story building.This was a place where some of the most important women in classical civilization lived, and so definitely one of my favorite places to visit.
There was a ton more in the Forum to see, and that we did see, but I'm going to skim over that and move on to Palatine Hill. This was the site of the emperor's palace, a little away from the Forum, and overlooking it. This was in some ways a subtle cue of power dynamics, first instituted by Augustus. As the years went on, and emperors went on, new palaces were built, until the rule of Domitian. His palace was so huge, and so beautiful, with brand new styles of architecture, that most emperors after him choose to live there. It was the first example of "gothic" like building styles, with flowing curves instead of harsh angles. In many rooms, there was an apse for the emperor's seat, mimicing a statue niche and giving the emperor a status of power and a resemblance to the gods. We spent a lot of time wandering through here as well, looking at the various fountains, rooms, and marble floors.
The next visit was to one of the largest Roman bath houses, the Caracalla baths. These functioned more as a sort of rec center/spa/social hall than as simply a place to go wash up. The rooms were magnificently tiled, and the ceilings would have vaulted up over 40 ft when intact. It is still magnificent today, in it's ruined state; I can only imagine how impressive this complex was when it was in use.
Our final stop was at the Colosseum, the iconic image of ancient Rome (as the Parthenon is for ancient Greece). This, too, was an extremely impressive feat of engineering. And, according to Ilaria, it's function was more as a circus or theatre than as a bloody tournament ring. Wild animals, particularly big cats, were expensive, so it would have been impractical to let then get killed every single gladiator battle. And the gladiators themselves were more like sports stars; no one wanted their favorite to get killed. So, once again, the media got it wrong. Still, though, the site would have held impressive spectacles, especially of you were one of 50,000 packed it to watch. It really is one of the most unique buildings we saw during the tour, and the perfect place to end the day. It was time to get dinner and go home after our quick overview walk through the city of Rome.
