BDE: A Triumph of Elegance

BDE = "Best Day Ever"

Our very last Forum field trip became our Centro Prom. This was an idea developed mostly by Nick and Hanner (my Centro roommate!), and allowed/endorsed by our professors. The natural result was that half of our photos were of the scholarly things upon which we were supposed to be focused, and the other half were more of this variety:

Classic prom poses were struck in front of ancient ruins.

Tri-Em-virate?

But, no matter how awesome we all looked, we were still on a learning excursion. So, this is the Basilica of Constantine, not actually built by Constantine.

(just re-appropriated by him when he took power)

Don't quote me on all the details here. I am having trouble recalling the facts without my notes, writing this more than a year after the fact.

Something memorable, noteworthy, and not found in books, happened on our journey from the Basilica to the Arch of Constantine. We were re-united with King of King. Or rather, Brookie was re-united with him.

Can this get better?

Guys in gladiator outfits are always hanging around important tourist landmarks like the Colosseum offering to take photos with people for a small fee. Most of them know a few handy phrases in lots of languages. Once when I walked past a few of them, they spoke to me first in English, then in German. They kind of try pegging what ethnicity you look like, and offer to take photos with you.

The more animated and charismatic dudes probably get more business. One day, when we were in the vicinity, one of them brandished his sword and shouted heroically at us (nothing in particular, just a sort of "Raaaa!"). Brookie, being who she is, roared back at him. He then yelled "King of King!!" And brandished his sword some more. It was duly hilarious and we went on our way.

On Prom day, we saw him again, the same guy, whom we'd now nicknamed King of King. I don't think he remembered his warrior maiden, but it didn't matter much. Our entire group busted out the cameras to get our euro's worth documenting their hilarious game of heterosexual chicken.

(Yes, it does get better)
"I'd almost pay a euro to see that." - Prof. Roman

But.. right, right. We were on a field trip. Students had presentations to give! So we turned our attentions to the Arch of Constantine.

Not up to the classical standard, if only for being composed of chunks of other monuments?

Our Triumph of Elegance proceeded to the Lateran church, where we were to eat lunch and tour the premises. On the walk up the hill, I found a big orange flower and decided it was just for me, just for prom.

Totally awesome.

The old senate doors are preserved here.

Okay, not quite this. This is the front facade of the Lateran. Impressive!


Here are those big ole bronze doors...

But while we at lunch on the steps outside in the joyful sunlight, something even more awesome happened.

Stephanie in her lovely dress is for some reason asked not to sit on the bench where she was before.

A fire engine arrives. Concern mingles with curiousity, and Emily G points out that the guy in orange looks like one of those guys who helps land planes. Soon, she is proved absolutely right.

So.. wait, is that thing going to land right here?!

I take some video footage, complicated only by the fact that the wind hits me. Since I am wearing a dress, I am suddenly overtaken by the concern that my dress is about to fly up over my head.. hence the disturbance right when the wind edge hits us:

Priceless.

In addition to wind, we are struck with lots of dust. My apple is a lot less appetizing at this point.

I'm not sure which is more entertaining.. what's happened, or Chris's reaction to it all.

Our professor talks to one of the "Wigils," a fireman, who looks suspiciously like his name should be Fabio.

...

She discovers that there is not in fact a fire or medical emergency, but rather, it is a particular saint's day, the patron of the firemen, and they are bringing all their old and new equipment to show off as tribute.


But, we are adults. We can still focus on the learning that is at hand. We are informed about the paintings inside the main area of the Lateran.

Inside Lateran!

We are totally not done. After this we still have 36 more churches! Actually, just two. And an arch.

Another good example of that ancient/modern thing they have going on in Rome.

An additional note from the editor: I didn't even remember that I'd already written a bit about this. Find that here!

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!

what's the holdup?

I planned to finish up posting about the end of the program during the early part of school, when things are calmer and not as crazily work-filled as the end of the semester.

That's not working out so well. Unfortunately, this blog is not the top of my priorities list these days. Look for periodic post updates, but don't hold your breath!

School's a rough lass.

More backposting - November's Third Week

Week three of November:

Tuesday was the 20^th and we went to the Forum of Nerva (AKA the Forum Transitorium because it is long and skinny), which was actually begun by Domitian, but he suffered the damnatio memoriae, so he couldn’t have his name on anything. It was headed by a temple to his patron goddess Minerva, which is a fun play on words with the emperor who followed him (Nerva!).

This would be the fourth of the imperial fora built at this time. (Caesar, Augustus, Forum of Peace by Vespasian). Not much is left, but there are two columns that can be seen pretty well from the side of the road. We went down into the forum, then traipsed across the Forum of Augustus to get to the Forum of Trajan, our next destination.

The particular guardian we had that day told us we could climb up to the temple to Mars Ultor, so of course we did so. This is me standing where the cult statue goes, trying to look vengeful.

Of all the fora, Trajan’s is the biggest. He built everything bigger. Trajan’s forum is part of a huge complex that includes two libraries on either side of his narrative column, in front of which was the Basilica Ulpia, in front of which was the forum proper, which had apse ends that interlocked with the markets of Trajan. This isn’t madness: this is Rome.

Anyway, the column of Trajan has a spiral staircase on the inside which leads to a platform at the top. There used to be a statue of Trajan on top of it all, but now it belongs to the Papacy, so I think it’s Paul who is up there.

Well ,we climbed it.

This is the view from the top! Or not really.

The top of that column is a pretty sweet vantage point. The markets are simultaneously well-preserved markets (or, maybe administrative offices, but we don’t know), a museum of stuff from the surrounding imperial fora, and a place to display modern art. It’s a pretty interesting combination.

One of the shops at ground level.. there are like four and a half levels

After Trajan died, Hadrian put his temple behind the column, so the entire package was complete. It’s also sort of set up like a military camp, which fits because Trajan was a military man.

Wednesday, we went back to Ostia, but stopped first at the nearby Portus (next to the port of Claudius), which was the additional port Trajan built, and Isola Sacra which had a lot of good examples of tombs. Portus is very utilitarian and well-designed, and as a town it eventually became more important than Ostia (in 350AD, Ostia was just a residential area, while Portus was the working port).

Claudius really liked rusticated columns!

The technology of the granaries there blows my mind, because we do something totally different today that I am not sure I understand.

Isola Sacra was like a tomb village in use from the second century BC until the fourth century AD., mostly places with niches for ash urns, but a few places for inhumation as well. Romans never buried people inside the city except in very special cases (a few emperors, for example). The tombs are non-monumental, so not as big and grandiose as the ones along the Appian Way, and they look mostly like little houses.

The Village.

Then we went back to Ostia, but we only had time to look at the Synagogue and Christian Basilica really quickly, and then go home.

Thursday, which was Thanksgiving, we went back to the Ara Pacis which had been closed before. It was less rainy and awful, and since Emily and I got there early, we also paid a visit to the Mausoleum of Augustus, which is in a lot worse shape than I would like for The Man himself, Augustus.. but you can’t have everything.

This is the entrance, taken from sticking my arm inside the gate. There’s a rose there, but I’m not sure if it’s for Augustus..

The Ara Pacis is absolutely dripping with propaganda, and it’s amazing and beautiful. I didn’t bring a notebook or take any notes on this day, but here’s me in front of the Tellus/Pax relief on the outer precinct wall.

OMG.

In the center with the thing over his head is my ancient boyfriend, Agrippa.

Then we went to the EUR, which was the museum of fake things, so nothing there was original, but it was so awesome to see mini models of so many things we’d actually walked through, and casts and models all next to each other so you could understand and compare. I feel like the EUR is the greatest museum for getting an all-in-one dose of Roman civilization and history.

A cast of part of the relief from Trajan’s column. I liked the scales.

Plastic model of Rome from the time of Constantine, which was huge

We didn’t have lunch that day since we were going to have the feast later on…!

!!!!

OMG feast!

I also went on the art history field trip that Friday and we saw some awesome stuff! (S. Luigi dei Francesi, S. Agostino, S. Maria Sopra Minerva—by my obelisk!)