Don't Anger an Ancient Roman!

Sunday, 7/18/10

Amphitheater at Capua

 Our trip to Rome would have been pleasant except that there were problems with the air conditioning on our bus. It was so hot, it was close to unbearable. We actually got blasts of cold air on the rare occasions when the bus was heading uphill. I was also uncomfortable because I could not find enough space to stretch out my leg. By 3 pm my knee was hurting me, but after pain medication and a lot of wiggling around, I found a position that was comfortable enough.

 On the way we stopped in Capua: not modern Capua, but the ancient one, which has been under a new name, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, since the 9th Century A.D... something to do with Saracens destroying the town and residents relocating to the Capua that now shows up on Italian maps. Ancient Capua is the home of the second-largest Roman amphitheater. It was connected to Rome by the Via Appia and was the second most important city after Rome. 

Over the centuries, Capua made some poor political mistakes. They sided with Hannibal during the Punic War, for which Rome punished the town harshly. It also sided with Pompey against Julius Caesar in one of Rome's civil wars, and, of course, Pompey lost. Julius Caesar settled 20,000 of his veterans in Capua and renamed the colony “Iulia Felix.” Somewhere in the course of these wars, Rome demoted the town's citizenry to non-citizen status, declared the town's lands ager publicus, and executed the town's leadership when the war was over, but I am a little confused about the exact chronology. The overall point is that the town made political mistakes and suffered for it.

 The amphitheater is beautiful, and the nearby gladiator-museum was cute and interesting. I posted pictures on Flickr. There's another museum that we could not get into. Within walking distance is a Mithraeum, a sacred space for devotees of Mithras. It was an ancient mystery-cult popular with soldiers and merchants in the 2nd-3rd centuries A.D. It rivalled Christianity for membership and, like other mystery-cults, promised its followers eternal life and union with Mithras after death. Only men could be members, which might be one of the reasons Christianity won out over time, according to Alan Pagan's lecture. Another reason might have been a less hierarchical structure and thus greater variation in belief than Christianity had. 

Mithraeum

Mithras, according to what we know of the myth, killed a sacred bull that represents chaos, thus bringing order to the world. He did this in a cave, so a Mithraeum is often underground and cave-like. Mithras is associated with light, the sun and other celestial bodies, and the stars. He wears a Phrygian cap because he came from the East, although Alan says it is uncertain whether the religion came from the East or whether it developed in Western Europe and borrowed ideas and imagery from the East. It also has Platonic influence with the idea of the allegory of the cave. Certain attributes besides the bull, such as a raven, a snake, a torch, etc., help one identify Mithras in art. 

I would later be reminded of this Mithraeum when I visited the Vatican Museum. I saw a large, dramatic sculpture of Mithras slaying the bull there.

Mithras Slaying the Bull (Vatican Museum Collections)

The  Mithraeum in Capua Vetere had a relief sculpture that looked like Cupid and Psyche, although I have no idea why it would be in a Mithraeum, if so. Psyche, named after the Greek word for Soul, looks suspiciously like Tinkerbelle in “Peter Pan.” I posted pictures on Flickr. This Mithraeum is usually locked up, so if you go during visiting hours, you need to make an appointment so someone can meet you with a key. The same goes for Cicero's tomb (see below).

Psyche, or Tinkerbelle??

 I am beginning to conceive of a project where I could assign teams of students artwork that portrays mythology or some other aspect of Greco-Roman art, and the students have to figure out from there what the art is about, find other examples, and present their findings to the class. A picture of a relief I found at the gladiatorial museum might make a good example. It shows a raven picking at a bound man. I assume it represents the punishment of Prometheus.

 Also on the way to Rome we stopped at Formia, ancient Formiae, for lunch. We saw a pleasant little museum there, and we learned a little about Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was an orator, statesman, lawyer, and a consul in Rome during 63 B.C. He had a much-loved villa in Formiae and there is a monument there that is allegedly his tomb. The group read in English translations three different accounts of his death. The historian Livy praises his courage. That is the version I most like, because I am rather fond of old “Chickpea,” as this name translates. Like Capua, he made a poor political decision, attacking Marc Antony is a series of speeches he called “Philippics,” after invectives that the ancient Athenian, Demosthenes, delivered against Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great's father. As a member of the Second Triumvirate, Antony had Cicero proscribed. This means his life was forfeit and his property confiscated. The murderer(s) got a piece of his estates for their efforts, and the government took the rest.

Cicero was murdered and his head and hands brought back to Antony: the head that contained the tongue that spoke the diatribes against him, and the hands that wrote them. His head and hands were hung from the speaker's platform, the rostra in the forum at Rome, where Cicero had delivered some of his most important speeches. A sad end for a great orator and writer.

 On a happier note, our group really likes its accommodations at the Casa La Salle in Rome. The rooms are bigger and air-conditioned with better amenities if lacking the Vesuvian Institute's view.We will be here for a week. I posted a video of the accommodations on Youtube.

My thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of the trip possible.

My Sassy, Italian Hair Cut

Friday, 7/16/10

 My boyfriend, Don, misses me. We had a nice talk on the phone last night. He actually had a good belly-laugh when I told him about the lack of water I mentioned in my last post. Not because my situation was funny, but because it reminded him of some earlier life experiences of his own when he was a young man in the U.S. Navy.

 I guess these crises always seem lighter in retrospect. The water was out in the entire city of Castellammare di Stabia, not just in our hotel. When I woke up this morning, the water was flowing again, and all was well in the world. At least for me. The neighbors, Ryan and Alan, still have issues with their bathroom, including an ungodly stench and flies buzzing around in the bathroom all night. The source of the insects is uncertain, but possibly from the pipes. Anyway, my friends are not happy, and the hotel has not been able or perhaps willing to put them in another room. If necessary a couple of women in the group who have single rooms will double up and let Alan and Ryan have a better room. Time will tell.

 The hotel eventually resolved the above by moving Ryan and Alan into a more comfortable room. It took about 24 hours but they did it.

 Alan (Pagan is his last name) gave a presentation this morning about the ancient mystery-cult of the god Mithras. It was the best presentation on mystery-cults and Mithraism I have ever seen in my life. How Alan could have given such a great presentation after the lack of sleep he got last night, I don't know, but he was wonderful.

 Now our group has this afternoon and all of tomorrow off. Considering how swollen my feet and ankles were at the end of the day yesterday, I do not think I will do much. I feel I need some rest more than anything else. After the shops open this afternoon, I may go down what our group calls the Death March Hill, or the D.M. The view of the sea at the top of this hill is magnificent, but the march back to the hotel from town after a day of walking around in the hot Italian sun at Capri or Herculaneum or Naples is a little tough. If I go to town I will look for more batteries for my camera and perhaps a haircut if I can get one.

 Tomorrow I may go to the Terme di Stabia for more aqua s. ferrata. My rash is practically gone and I'd like to bottle up some water to carry to Rome. I also need to pack tomorrow. In the meantime I'll either nap this afternoon or do a little research on wax tablets, or maybe both. My eyes are getting heavy as I type this. It is so nice to have a chance to rest. 

My new haircut

...... I decided to go down the DM into town after all. First on my agenda was a haircut. At the suggestion of one of the hotel employees I went to “Massimo Hair Philosophy” and asked for a cut.  Despite my limited English, Meda—I think that's the hairstylist's name-- did a great job. I will post some pictures of the cut: please remember that this was taken after the march up the hill and not fresh out of the salon, where it looked even better. The cut was a splurge for me price-wise, but I felt pampered and had some fun. The cut seems a little Italian and a little sassy somehow, definitely different from what I would get at home. I'll also look better in August when I have to rush back to work than I would if I had gone two months without a cut. After a little shopping for toiletries and camera batteries in town, I headed back up the DM.

My thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of our trip possible. I paid for my own hair cut, though. :)

View from the side