On Tuesday this past week we went to the Capitoline Hill at the center of Rome. We didn't have time to really look at the Forum or Trajan's Column, we had to meet the rest of the class. We all sat on top of the hill and talked about the many different buildings which had been built and leveled on the hill. Everything used to face the Forum and now faces the Vatican. Mind you most of this discussion is in Latin. We were invited to stick around and keep exploring but I wasn't feeling well so I went home. I spent the next few hours trying to find little things like an ATM, a supermarket, a pharmacy, and so on. Rome is not on a grid system. It makes things interesting. Later that day we met again as a group and I can't for the life of me remember what else we did.
Wednesday morning, I had my usual Cappuccino and we had our first small group meetings. I ended up in the easiest class and was severely disappointed with the level of the class. We had taken a placement exam the first day to see where we should be and, having gotten off of a plane less than 24hr before and not having known about the exam, I ended up looking like a beginning Latin student. Fortunately after a brief discussion with the staff I've moved to the intermediate section. Wednesday afternoon was an amazing site visit. We met at the Arch of Constantine, there are pictures on my Facebook. We went into the Colosseum and began to delve into the history of the building. I won't name dates and if I get something wrong don't shoot me. The land where the Colosseum sits was originally part of the site of the Domus Aurea, the Gold House. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64CE which leveled a large chunk of the city Emperor Nero began construction of his palace using the space which had been cleared. He leveled out a large area in the middle for a fish pond/lake. This flattened area became the land for the Colosseum. Another interesting note is that my flat, which I hope to get pictures up of soon, sits on some of the stones of the Domus Aurea. I will also post pictures of me climbing the wall of those ruins. This is generally frowned upon. Shh.
A few years after Nero's suicide The Colosseum was built on the land to host the gladiatorial games popular in ancient Rome. The gladiators were slaves, though if they fought well were highly prized. These men would face not only each other either in single combat or in groups but also any number of wild animals, bears, tigers, elephants. These animals were also pitted against each other. There are some ancient accounts of flooding the floor of the Colosseum in order to reenact naval battles however this is unconfirmed. It seems so distant when put is such steril terms. Thousands of men and animals fought literally tooth and nail simply to survive. And most of them didn't. The Games as they were called could last for months. Each time. The activities for which the Colosseum had been built, the blood sports which captivated the Roman interest, fell out of favor eventually. The Colosseum was used for apartments, looted for metal (there are holes in every wall from where the metal used to line up the blocks of stone were dug from the walls), turned into a monastery, looted for stone and marble, renovated, and finally closed off as a historical site. But that last didn't happen until fairly recently.
Being in Rome is amazing. It literally amazes me every time I wake up, when I walk out of the door of my flat, buy lunch, all of the mundane things. Being in the Colosseum, which I'll remind you is about 5 min. away as I write, is an entirely different level of WOW. Honestly, I look around sometimes at the ruins and they make me really sad. Sad for how much we've lost of that distant time, how much we could have learned had preservation not come about so late. But there are little things that spring up and surprise me and make me happy again. Like this. Did you know there is a specific dialect of Italian in certain parts of Rome called Romana which has a particularly strong and noticeable influence from Latin? Did you know there is a mound in the south part of the city where the old amphora (containers used to ship oil and wine) were thrown and it pilled so high it became a small hill? The neighborhood there is named after what used to mean "that gross, smelly, old pile of Greek amphora". Its called
Testaccio :) and its one of the most authentic Roman areas of the City. I was there this morning to buy groceries. We're having a Roman cooking lesson at our flat tonight and having a few people over.
My goodness, so much more to tell but I think we'll leave it at that for now.
Vale!
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