If there is a city in the world that deserves its reputation as the eternal city, it is Rome.
Last week, we travelled from Lanciano right across Italy to Rome. The highway cuts through the mountains and pasture land, bypassing small towns giving one lovely views. The relative tranquility of the countryside does not prepare one for the congestion of Roman roads!
In fact, our bus driver had to stop at a checkpoint in the outskirts to obtain a special pass in order to drive further into the heart of Rome. Apparently, this is a traffic volume control process. Just watching him manoeuvre his bus down clogged streets, one could only wonder what driving in Rome would be like if such control measures were not in place!
Our objective was to show the new CCI students the Roman ruins while the returning students were taken to the National Gallery. The first group spent the afternoon in the Colosseum and the Forum while the second group went on to La Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna located a short distance away.
One cannot help but be amazed at the scale and size of the Colosseum. Its original name was the Falvian Amphitheatre. Commissioned by the Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD to gain favour of the crowd and opened in 80 AD, the Romans adapted the plan of the Greek amphitheatre and created the first freestanding structure of its kind by having in essence, two amphitheatres facing each other. It also represented a forward movement in Roman engineering as it pioneered the use of concrete and the use of the rounded arch for strength. Its express use was for public gladiatorial contests of one sort or another. The building later was nicknamed the ‘colosseum’ because of its proximity to a colossal statue of Nero, now lost to antiquity, which was also over portions of Nero’s massive palace which is also for the most part gone as well.
There was seating for 55,000 people arranged by rank with the most wealthy nearest the ground level right up to the top level which could be occupied by women and slaves. Large canvas awnings anchored in the uppermost walls (the holes that houses the poles remain visible today) were drawn across to provide shade. Underneath what was a wooden floor covered in sand, were chambers housing the animals and equipment necessary for the games to run. Admission was free as the games were sponsored. When it first opened, there were 100 days of games. Each day games were scheduled from mid-morning to later in the afternoon, with the best gladiators fighting at the end of the day. It is reported that upwards of 5000 animals were killed during that period. Within 400 years, the gladiatorial games were in disfavour and the building underwent a slow decline.
The Arch of Constantine built in AD 315 stands between the Colosseum and the Forum. It was built to celebrate his triumph in battle over his co-emperor Maxentius.
The Roman Forum nearby was Rome’s civic centre. Walking through, one can see the layout of the marble streets some of which remains today and appreciate just how crowded it was with businesses, temples and state building standing side by side.
The Arch of Titus looms at one end, commissioned by Emperor Domitian in AD 81 to commemorate the sack of Jerusalem by his father Vespasian and his brother Titus some thirteen years earlier.
Further along, one arrives at the Basilica of Constantine and Maxentius which would have dominated the skyline in its day. The three large vaults (approximately 135 ft. high) are all that remain of what would have been a building decorated with marble and gilt with a floor about the size of a football field and used primarily for the administration of justice. In essence, these were the law courts. Along with the Basilica Aemillia nearby, it served as model structure for Christian meeting places. Christians would later adapt the buildings’ size and name for their larger churches.
How many of us know the story of Julius Caesar’s untimely death and the remarkable speech made by Marc Antony that triggered a civil uprising? It is in the Forum that Antony gave his speech and it is here where his friend’s body was cremated.
The small apse (pictured above) is reputed to be that place. Above it stands what once a temple (pictured below) renamed by Emperor Augustus, as the Temple of Julius Caesar, as he had deemed his late uncle and mentor a god, the first Roman god of its kind.
The Temple of Antoninus Pious and Faustina was built to honour Emperor Antoninus Pius (AD 138 – 161) and his deified wife, Faustina. It was later pillaged. The cuts located high on the pillars are attributed to people who wanted to rid the site of such pagan symbolism. Using ropes dipped in vinegar, they attempted to cut through the marble. The problem was that the vinegar ate through the rope faster than the rope cut through the marble. So, Plan B was adopted. They simply built the church inside and retained the columns as a facade.
Rome’s imperial glory lasted for a thousand years. By AD 500, it was in decline. Rome’s many building in the Forum were destroyed by rival tribes and nations. Its population was rapidly shrinking.
As its military might faded, rising on the horizon was its new focus of power and influence, which was Christianity centred in the Catholic Church. Constantine issued an edict in AD 313 providing Christians with full religious freedoms and equal rights. By AD 391, Emperor Valentinian II ordered that Christianity be the official state religion.
With the decision to locate the Catholic Pope in Rome a few hundred years later, Rome’s return to prominence and its reputation as ‘the eternal city’ was assured.
