Monte Testaccio and Vatican Museums

Our next field trip was Monte Testaccio, fondly called “Trash Mountain,” by me. We had seen the outside of this place much earlier in the semester, but were’ allowed to climb Trash Mountain on this trip! While we toured it, our fearless leader went to stand in line for us at the Vatican Museum (the line itself is legendary).

The view from 'Trash Mountain' is good.. and you can see some of the pieces of pottery at the bottom!

Monte Testaccio is made up of pottery. Broken pottery, specifically, pieces of ancient amphorae used to transport oil. They re-used the wine ones, but for some reason, oil-holders were smashed and piled up here, back in the day. It’s a great time for scholars who can figure out when the amphorae were used, and from where they came! The Roman Empire reached some pretty great distances..

The pile itself if pretty wide.

SHERDS!

After that, we were on our way to the Vatican Museum. There is far too much awesomeness contained there to have seen even half of it, let alone post it all here, but we did what we could. Our line experience was nonexistent, and we went right in to see the good stuff.

In one of the first rooms we found this, from the tomb of a family of builders. Sweet crane, eh? I was excited because we had studied this in art history at Vandy.

Then we saw him. Primaporta Augustus.

For Classicists, Primaporta Augustus is a big deal. He's got a lot of symbolism going on in this one little pose. First off, he's studly and authoritative. Then you've got the conservative haircut, with the breastplate depicting the return of the standards from the Parthians. And that's a little Cupid by his foot, mythologically speaking, his cousin. Nice and small compared to big, awesome Augustus, right?

We react to his majesty.

I really enjoyed the Nile River depicted here. Rivers are often seen in a reclining position, surrounded by things that make them special. Check out the Sphinx and other Egytptian stuff with this guy.

Also part of the Nile sculpture: Babies can totally handle alligators.

I've seen this before...

Laocoon and his sons being eaten by serpents is a really famous sculpture at the Vatican Museum. It's from the Aeneid story, wherein Laocoon the priest warns his fellow Trojans not to trust the Giant Wooden Horse the Greeks have left. The Greek suggestion is that it's a gift for Minvera, but Laocoon doesn't buy it. He throws his spear into the side of it. Shortly thereafter he is killed by serpents which come out of the sea and hide in Minvera's temple shortly after devouring him. What Trojan could ignore that kind of a sign?

Augustus. With patera.

Augustus liked to portray himself as a pious guy. This is him with his head covered, in ritual manner, and there is a patera, a little dish used for offerings, in his hand. He wanted to be immortalized making libations to the gods.

I took some pictures of the paintings after we were turned loose, but they didn't come out well.

This is my "I WAS THERE!" photo.

Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, and the Villa D'Este

I certainly don’t want to leave this blog as a testament to my not finishing it. Now that I have some time, I definitely want to finish out what I can of the semester in Italy blog!

I last left you with the third week of November, 2007 (!) so I take up with what followed.

As autumn deepened, we went to Hadrian’s villa. It turned out to be a beautiful fall day, and we even got to see some fall color.

Ah, autumn...

Hadrian was considered a Greek-loving emperor, because he had a beard, and a boy lover named Antinous. He also had a really sweet villa. There are a lot of anecdotal stories about his designing some of the architecture himself, and having the master Apollodorus condescend to him. One of his “bad” ideas was the ‘gourd dome.’

I think it's kinda cool, actually.

His villa also had baths, a little theatre, dining halls, and this peculiar space, the actual purpose of which scholars still debate. Some say it was a theatre space, and others a quaint little getaway. It’s a round little island house surrounded by a moat, which used to have a removable bridge, they say.

Dare you to cross the moat!

Whatever it is, Hadrian’s villa is most famously recognized for the Euripus. This is a long thin reflecting pool (kind of like in front of Washington Monument) surrounded by Egypt themed things. Hadrian’s lover drowned in the Nile, so this space was sort of dedicated to him. Here it is from the back end:

Apparently, he used to dine here.

And, me being artsy with the camera near the top end:

The Eurpipus was very, very awesome.

After that, we hurried to nearby Tivoli, to check out some temples from the Republican period.

We were basically in people’s doorway to do this. It’s amazing how ancient stuff exists right alongside regular people and their homes.

This was fascinating as the temples we could not access because of the gate.

Thereafter, we went to the Villa D’Este in Tivoli, to see the copious fountains and get an idea of what gardens and water features might have done to enhance the lavish setting of Hadrian’s villa.

My love for this tree is very great.

From above, the Rome Ship fountain.

This is depicting the myth of Pegasus who created a spring by striking the ground with his hoof.

This portrayal of Isis is meant to emphasize fertility and maternal aspect.

I really like the fountain-as-stair-rai

Hannah and Alice walk along the fountain wall.

The Villa D’Este is a popular spot of lovliness for Italians as well: Professoressa Colantoni’s first date with her now-husband was there!