Day 3 Rome: August 9

We visited the Colosseum on Saturday morning, one of the most recognizable relics of the ancient Roman empire and a top tourist attraction today. Completed in 80 AD, its survival testifies to the skill of Roman engineering and building. The last recorded events in the Colosseum occurred in 435 AD. The end of the original uses of the Colosseum was probably more a result of the financial decline of the Roman Empire than any kind of moral outrage about the bloody battles that took place here.

The Colosseum has survived at least 3 fires and 4 earthquakes. Over the past 1500+ years it has been used as a fort, a cemetery, as housing, as workshop space, as stables, and as a monastery. People used the structure as a quarry as well, carting off stones, pillars, and decorations to use in other buildings. Conservation efforts didn't begin until 1743 when Pope Benedict XIV declared the Colosseum a sacred site due to Christians who died here and outlawed further removal of material.

Despite popular perception, Christians weren't especially targeted for killing in the Colosseum, although some people who were killed were certainly Christian. It's estimated 400,000 gladiators, criminals, prisoners of war, slaves, and other unfortunate people died here. Along with humans, millions of animals were killed, including lions, tigers, wolves, bears, elephants, giraffes and crocodiles. Romans loved the bloody events which lasted all day, carefully choreographed with surprise entrances made possible with elevators and trap doors. The Colosseum is a bit of a cautionary tale of extreme cruelty embraced by a society.

Events at the Colosseum were free, but richer people still got better seats than poorer people. The Colosseum had 80 entrances and held over 50,000 spectators. It was so well designed that it only took 15 minutes for the Colosseum to empty. We were impressed with the Colosseum, yet felt uneasy because of its grim purpose.

The Colosseum is on the edge of the Roman Forum, the center of the ancient Roman Empire. Once filled with impressive temples, memorials, meeting places and shops, it fell into disrepair and was covered over by multiple rebuilding projects. Valuable marble and metal finishes and ornaments were stripped away. Interest in the forum grew in the 1800s and the site has gradually been excavated. The forum is about 15 feet below street level of modern Rome. The remaining structures are still impressive in their ruined state. The Arch of Constantine, built in 315 AD , is one of the last major triumphal arches of the Roman Empire.

This photo shows a carving from the Arch of Titus, built in 81 AD. The arch commemorates Titus' destruction of Jerusalem and the sculpture shows the spoils the Roman soldiers took from the temple, including the gold candelabra with its distinctive 7 branches. The plunder stolen from Jerusalem was used to build the Colosseum.

This is the Temple of Romulus, built to honor the son of an emperor. The pillars in front are made of porphyry, a hard red stone that came from Egypt and was restricted for imperial use only.

Currently the temple is hosting an exhibit about the cult of Magna Mater, a Roman god we had never heard of before, but which was the most favorite god of upperclass women in Rome. The cult was fairly bizarre which Brandan attributes to the boredom of its devotees.

Next to the temple of Romulus is the temple of Antonius and Faustina which is interesting because it was incorporated into the Catholic church of San Lorenzo in Miranda in the 7th or 8th century.

This area shows the remains of the temple of Vesta.

These are the remains of Trajan's market, the world's first shopping mall.

This area was helpfully labeled "historic pile of marbles." Yup, it's an old pile of rocks.

We probably could have spent several more hours exploring the forum, but we had tickets to a museum for the afternoon and had to leave.

Along the way we passed the Mamertine Prison, where both Paul and Peter were held prisoner. This is known to be the actual site of their imprisonment because there was exactly one prison in ancient Rome. It looks fancy now because a church was built on top of the site. 

We stopped to refill our water bottles at a public fountain. Romans are proud of their clean water. We took advantage of easy access to drinking water throughout our trip.

Our destination was the Capitoline Museums, founded by Pope Sixtus IV in 1471. Throughout the middle ages, the Catholic church collected ancient Roman treasures. Pope Sixtus felt these treasures deserved to be displayed for all people to see. Later popes expanded the collections and some of the most famous artworks ever created reside here. Enormous statues of Castor and Pollux greet visitors to the plaza. These statues were created in the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD and discovered in the 16th century.

Michelangelo designed the plaza in the center of the museums.

A central room displays some of the most famous bronzes from ancient Rome, including the Boy with Thorn.

This is the Capitoline Wolf, the symbol of Rome. Interestingly, the wolf part of the statue is much older than the boys.

This is a statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Brandan shows how large this statue is. Written records indicate that the ancient city of Rome had over 20 similar equestrian statues, but this is the only one that remains. The others were probably melted down and reused since bronze was a valuable and desirable material.

Archaeological practices and museum standards were much different in the 1400s than they are today. As a result, a lot of the statues were displayed without any sense of their context or meaning. These marble pieces are the remains of a colossal statue of Constantine.

This is the goddess Roma, the personification of Rome.

The Dying Gaul is believed to have been made in Greece around 230 BC and is known for its realism and pathos.

This is a portrait of Queen Helena. Becky was happy to see her appear alongside various busts of emperors.

This delicate statue shows a girl protecting a dove from a snake.

This bust has truly impressive marble curls.

This beautiful bust of Medusa was made by Bernini around 1640. 

This bronze and marble bust of Michelangelo was sculpted by Michelangelo's friend, Daniele da Volterra.

This mosaic was discovered in the ruins of Emperor Hadrian's villa in the 1700s. It is believed to have been created in the 2nd century AD, but it could be older. The mosaic was the centerpiece of a mosaic floor.

The craftsmanship of the mosaic is exquisite. The picture is composed of thousands of tiny tesserae.

We left the Capitoline Museums and walked past the church of Santi Cosmo e Domiano. We remembered that this was an important and/or interesting church from our preparations for our trip, but we couldn't remember what was significant about it. We decided to drop in.

The entrance opened into a beautiful courtyard filled with plants.

The church was built in 527 AD and is quite lovely inside.

Cosmo and Domiano were brothers and physicians. The beautiful mosaic at the front of the church showing the brothers being presented to Christ was made in the 6th century. So far, the church was very nice, but not unusual compared to all of the other churches we had seen.

Then we noticed that the back wall of the church was made of glass and looking down, we saw the interior of the temple of Romulus we visited earlier in the day. The church of Santi Cosmo e Domiano was built on top of the temple of Romulus. In their current state, they occupy the same space, Christian and pagan together.

We had one last stop to make: the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. This church, founded in 324 AD, is the oldest Christian church in the western world. The Lateran family had a palace on this site during the days of the Roman Empire. Constantine gave the palace to the Bishop of Rome in 313 AD and it became the home of Pope Sylvester I before converting to a church. The popes lived here until the popes moved to France in the 1300s. When they returned to Rome, they built the Vatican City and moved there. San Giovanni remains the most important Catholic church and also has the distinction of hosting the largest Egyptian obelisk in the world, built to honor Pharaoh Thutmose III. The Romans displayed this obelisk in the Circus Maximus. It was moved to its current location in 1588.

This is a photo of the facade of the church. We had expected a plainer looking church, probably equating age with simplicity. However, the church has burnt down a couple of times and its current facade is from the 1700s. Now that we know its history as a Roman palace, the building probably never looked simple or plain.

The interior of the church is richly decorated.

The church features gorgeous statues of the Apostles, each carved by one of the best sculptors of the 1700s and paid for by a prince. We started getting better at reading iconography and looking for the clues and symbols that identify the important characters in art. This is Saint Matthew who is typically shown with a book, representing the gospel he wrote. This statue also includes a sack of money under Matthew's right foot, a reminder that Matthew was a tax collector before he became an apostle.

Across the street from the church is a smaller building that holds the Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies) and the Scala Sancta. The Sancta Sanctorum was the private chapel of early popes. The Scala Sancta are supposedly the steps leading to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate that Jesus walked up on His way to His trial. Queen Helena (again!) brought the steps from Jerusalem to Rome in 326 AD. At first they were installed in the Lateran Basilica, but they were moved during one of the many remodels of the church.

The Scala Sancta are covered with wood to protect them and pilgrims are only allowed to walk up the stairs on their knees to show their devotion. There are not so special stairs for those who don't want to walk up on their knees. Photography is not permitted. We walked up the alternate stairs and looked in the Holy of Holies at the top.

Near the Lateran Basilica we saw the ruins of a Roman aqueduct, built around by more modern construction.

Here's another section of aqueduct. Aqueducts represent another Roman engineering triumph, less violent than the Colosseum and actually helpful to Roman citizens.

We frequently skipped lunch on our trip. Most tourist sites closed by 6 or 7 pm and we had a hard time missing exhibits or unique places to take time for lunch. This meant we were very ready to eat dinner after the museums and (in this case) churches had closed.

We had bruschetta and pizza for dinner. There were restaurants everywhere and the prices were better than we expected. Our tips for finding a good restaurant were to look off the main piazzas, find one that opened late for Americans which meant right on time for Italians, and look for a restaurant that specialized in a few dishes, rather than trying to make lots of different kinds of food. This turned out to be good advice.

Our hotel was near the Colosseum and we walked home as the sun set, turning the Colosseum a rosy pink.