Rome: The Ancient Center

Statue of Marcus Aurelius
on the Capitoline Hill.

First off, be prepared for a history lesson as you read this blog! (Or, of course, you can just look at the pretty pictures. And remember, if you just want to see those, you can click on any of them to enlarge them and then click through them all.) We began our tour of the ancient center on the Capitoline Hill on November 1 (All Saints' Day), which is a national holiday in Italy. Therefore, they had shut down the Via dei Fori Imperiali (the large wide street running between the Colosseum and the Capitoline) to cars in order to turn it into a large pedestrian area for the day. And boy, were people taking advantage of that! The Capitoline Hill was the site of the largest and oldest temple in Rome, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and is now the site of a museum and the huge Victor Emmanuel monument (dedicated to the first king of the united Italy and pictured in the previous blog entry as the sign to restrooms in Rome).

Climbing the Palatine, one can see the foundations and
segments of the wall of the imperial palace.

From there we went to the Palatine Hill (we certainly got our exercise in that day!), which in Roman mythology, was the location of the cave where Romulus and Remus (the twin founders of Rome) were nursed by a wolf after being abandoned. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation on the Palatine dating to about 1000 BC. In the Roman Republic (5th century to 1st century BC), the Palatine was home to many aristocrats and Augustus, the first emperor, had a house here. After his death, emperors continued to live on the Palatine, adding more land and buildings to house the various imperial offices until the whole hill was the residence of the emperor. Hence our English word, palace.

Hippodrome, Palatine Hill.

This next picture is the so-called "Hippodrome" (because it looks like a horse-racing track) in the part of the palace built by Domitian in the 90s AD. It's not clear what this was used for, but we know it wasn't for horse-racing. It was probably a huge sunken garden.

Foundations and walls of the Severan Palace.

Still climbing, we came to the foundations and walls of the Severan part of the palace, built by the Severan family of emperors in the early third century AD. As the hill had become too small to house all the bureaucrats vital to running the empire, the emperors extended the palace off the hill into the plain below by constructing several-story-high buildings on the plain that connected with the structures on the hill.

Baths of Caracalla.

Looking out, we caught a view from the Palatine looking towards the Baths of Caracalla (built in the early third century AD). This is one of my favorite sites in Rome, but unfortunately, we didn't have time to go there. Aaron talked about how much he loved this place, and thus Lisa will always remember it as the place we didn't go.

We made a stop for some of Rome's abundant water supply with all that walking! Climbing down the north-west side of the Palatine leads to the Forum Romanum, the "downtown" area of the ancient city. Located in a depression between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum was originally the city's main commercial, political, and judicial center. People could buy food here, watch trials being conducted, and hear the recent business of the Senate (citizens could not attend Senate meetings but could wait outside the building to hear the results of debates). Over time, it became packed with monuments and temples erected by various politicians and emperors.

The Arch of Titus over the entrance to the Forum Romanum. It was built by Emperor Domitian in about 82 AD to commemorate the victory of his brother, the late Emperor Titus, over the rebellious Jews in 70 AD. Part of the carvings depict the carrying of the spoils of war from Jerusalem into Rome, including the Menorah from the Temple in Jerusalem. Click to see the detail.

This is one of the first major ruins you see on the left side of the Forum, the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

This is part of the Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, which faces the main square of the Forum. This particular column base is thought to mark the spot where Caesar's body was cremated following his assassination. As you can see, people still lay flowers there in his honor.

View from the Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar across the Forum. The big building in the background is actually on the Capitoline Hill so you can see how the Forum runs right up to the foot of the hill.

A view just to the right of the one above, this one shows the triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus, dedicated in AD 203 to mark Severus' victories over the Parthians in modern-day Iraq.

Continuing around the north-west side of the Forum, this is taken from the front of the Senate House at the north-east corner of the Forum (near the Arch of Septimius Severus) looking across the main square.

The Basilica Nova, north-east of the Forum on the main road out towards the Colosseum. This was begun by the Emperor Maxentius in AD 308 and completed by Emperor Constantine in AD 312 after he defeated Maxentius. It was the largest building in the Forum and this picture gives you a good sense of its overwhelming size.

Between the Forum and the Colosseum is the Temple of Venus and Roma, a huge double temple begun by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 121.

This is a view from the Colosseum looking back towards the Forum. The street on the right side of the picture is the Via Sacra, the main entrance to the Forum. On the left is the Arch of Constantine built to commemorate his victory over Maxentius. Much of its sculptural elements were removed from older arches and put on this arch. In the center of the picture is the round base which once supported a colossal statue of the Emperor Nero (later changed to an image of the sun god after Nero's death). The name "Colosseum" actually derives from this Colossus and didn't originally refer to the size of the Colosseum at all!

In the first and second centuries AD, several emperors constructed new fora that extended north and east off the original Forum Romanum. The purpose of these new fora (the Imperial Fora, as they're called) was, first, to demonstrate the power and wealth of the emperor and, second, to provide more public space to conduct trials and official business. This is a picture of part of the Forum of Augustus and the Temple of Mars Ultor, built by Augustus and dedicated in 2 BC.

This is a view of part of the Forum of Trajan (with the Column of Trajan in the background), the last of the Imperial Fora built in 112 AD. Unfortunately, many of these imperial fora lie buried beneath a major street, the Via dei Fori Imperiali, making full excavation virtually impossible.

The Markets of Trajan, a three-story shopping center built into the side of the Quirinal Hill on one side of the Forum of Trajan.

The last major site in the ancient center is the Colosseum, which lies to the south-east of the Forum Romanum. Constructed between 72 and 80 AD, it was the largest amphitheater built in the Roman Empire. It was begun under the Emperor Vespasian, the first emperor after Nero who held power for more than a few months. Nero had constructed a massive palace for himself which occupied most of the city of Rome. One of the goals of Vespasian's reign was to dismantle this palace and give much of the land back to the people of Rome. The Colosseum was part of that strategy as it sits on the site of what was Nero's private lake.

The interior of the Colosseum showing the walls and the substructure of the spectator stands. The Colosseum could hold between 50,000 and 70,000 people.

A view of the structures beneath the arena floor. These structures housed store-rooms for weapons, cages for wild animals, and an elevator system to bring gladiators and animals up to the floor of the arena.

A view of one through one of the arches into the center of the Colosseum.