Rome: the Colosseum, Palatine, and Capitoline Hills

Sunday, August 1, 2010

 

At the Colosseum

 I let my son, Matthew, sleep in until about 9 this morning. After breakfast we headed out to the Colosseum. First we saw the Ludus Magnus, the barracks outside the Colosseum where the gladiators trained while waiting for their turn at the fights. They didn't live there long term, however, because the Romans were leery of having armed slaves trained to fight hanging around the city. 

Then we splurged on a tour guide to beat some of the lines heading into the Colosseum. The guide was actually pretty good and had some good illustrations and explanations. Then we headed to the special exhibit on gladiators, which had some good reproductions of gladiatorial costumes that can give my students a better idea of the different types of gladiators.

A type of gladiator: murmillo

Included in our Colosseum tour was entry to the Palatine Hill and Forum, so we spent some time there. Our tour guide was so bad and rude that we left him and finished looking around the area on our own, which was more satisfactory. 

We saw the Palatine Museum. The House of Augustus and the House of Livia were closed to the public, unfortunately. But we got to see “Romulus' Hut” where evidence of the first huts on the Palatine Hill, the first settlements in Rome, are to be seen. It's basically just some holes for supports of these huts in the ground, but it's still neat to see. In the forum there was a special exhibit on the family of the Aemilii,  which had some beautiful relief sculptures in it. Matthew also liked looking for the remains of coins on the floor of the Basilica Aemilia in the forum. There had been a massive fire there, so hot that coins left behind by the bankers actually fused to the marble floors.

 Our original plan had been to make our way from the Capitoline Museum to the Pantheon before it closed, but we had trouble finding the right bus and couldn't make it there on time, so we made it back to Trastevere to pack and take it easy before our trip to Campania, modern-day Campagna, tomorrow. Seeing the inside of the Pantheon again was one of my big goals for my stay in Rome, so I was sad not to have made it. Hopefully it will be incentive for Matthew to come back and see it someday. It is my favorite spot in the city.

Rome At Last!

Monday, 7/19/10

View of the Colosseum from the Palatine Hill

 

 Well, our new digs at Casa La Salle are an improvement but not perfect. I all but had the date and time set up to Skype with my mom and my son, Matthew, who was visiting her, and also to make another call to my boyfriend, Don. But the internet service that worked perfectly yesterday is defunct all of today, so unless it magically reappears by 10 pm Italy time, Skype will have to wait. Blah!

 Some of my fellow participants have decided to drop off laundry at a nearby laundromat to get an actual load of clean clothes. I decided to continue to hand wash a few things and to hang them in the bathroom to dry. I wanted to hang them out the window, but my roommate was pestered by mosquitoes  last night and doesn't want the window open now that we have air conditioning. There are no window screens. 

Fair enough! But I was glad of my decision to hand launder when I found out people were paying 17 Euros per load. That's about $20 or so. That seems like a ridiculous amount to pay.

 Today our group took Rome's Metro, which is crowded but cheap and convenient, to the Roman Forum. There we met with a charismatic man named Darius Arya. He has been in documentaries on the History Channel on television, so some of our group gasped when they recognized him. He is actually a very nice, very energetic, and very intelligent guy with a beautiful smile. He took us all around the forum to tell us the latest discoveries about ancient houses in the area. He even got us special permission to visit the House of the Griffin, located in the substructure of a portion of Domitian's grandiose palace. Another highlight was visiting the House of Augustus and seeing some gorgeous colors preserved in the frescoes there. 

Darius is the head of the American Institute for Roman Culture. He said we can follow him on Twitter. He also is very interested in archeological conservation issues. His group will soon be releasing a free series about conservation efforts at ancient Ostia on Itunes U. When I have time I may check into both opportunities. I might come up with some ideas that would interest my classes.

Apollo in the House of Augustus

 Some of my classmates and I had a lovely lunch at a place just outside the forum area called Cavour. I had a fantastic spinach salad with ricotta cheese whipped with herbs and slivered almonds for 6 Euros. After our return, I did my PT exercises, again without any painkillers, and then we had an evening session. Ryan presented a little bit about ancient homelessness and exile. George presented about Cicero's house and offered some suggestions on how he would teach it to his classes. His idea of a monopoly-style game for the properties is adorable. “Clodius burned down your villa. Move back four spaces.” Hilarious! Then we had a reading and translation session regarding the expenses people went through to decorate these villas. After a snack of Wasa crispbreads, apricots, and almonds I bought earlier at a local grocery store, I am ready for bed. There is still no internet, so I guess I'll turn in. For more pictures of this day, visit Flickr.

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