Rome September 7, 2012

This is the first installment of the record of our September 2012 vacation.  The planning for this trip started with our daughter Clarice, who with her husband Jon, decided that they would take Jon's mother with them on a trip to the Mediterranean since she had not been able to visit them when they lived in Australia.  Clarice suggested to Karen that we should go along too.  I have learned over the years that you never suggest travel to Karen unless you mean it since she will travel any time and almost anywhere.  So for several months there were quiet meetings (so as to not bother Jon with the myriad details) to plan out every detail.  Dates were set, tickets were bought, options were weighed, alternatives considered and re-considered, details were checked and re-checked.  The final plan ended up as a 12 day cruise stopping at certain sites in Italy, Greece and Croatia.  There would also be a two day pre-cruise time in Rome and a one day post cruise in Venice.   I will apologize in advance for how long this post will be and how long it will take get it all done.  I took nearly 8000 pictures and unfortunately I like to tell the story of our trips, which takes time to assemble and edit.

We started out on Sept 6 from our place, to go on a two week Mediterranean cruise.  Clarice, Jon, Jon's mother (Renee), Karen and I flew out of Chicago in the early PM.  We changed panes in Newark and flew on to Rome landing in the morning of Sept 7.  We got our luggage pretty quickly and headed for ground transportation Clarice had made arrangements for a taxi to take us to the apartment that we were going to rent for a couple of days while in Rome.  It turned out that there were some changes in plans. The original apartment had gotten trashed by the previous renter so we had to drag our luggage to the second floor of the office that rented the apartment, photo below, and wait until another apartment could be made ready.  Note that the apparent is not in this building, but more on that later.
 

All was not lost we had planned to visit the Coliseum anyway so after stowing our luggage we headed out for a walking tour of Rome in the general direction of the Coliseum. We saw several really interesting buildings streets and plazas including several that were excavated ruins.  Since we had not eaten anything but airliner/airport food since leaving Chicago, we all had a goal of finding something to eat.

We found this sidewalk cafe and decided we should be able to find something Italian to eat.  The four at the table ordered pasta dishes, while I on the other hand, thought that a sea food salad sounded good.  The pasta orders came out like you would expect.  The seafood salad, put the emphasis on seafood and minimized the "salad" part.  A plate full of octopus and squid tentacles and unidentifiable shell fish parts, though delicious, it was not popular at the table.  There were a lots of "are you really going to eat that" statements.  To which I answered sure!

The view up the street was pretty cool anyway.

Streets in Rome and in almost of all of the cities we would ultimately visit were often very narrow. and sometimes seemed to almost look like there will be no way out at the end.

There were some major streets that did seem to be planned with a nice view at the end.

One thing Rome has a lot of is churches.  Almost everywhere you turn there is some church structure.  Some are very ornate on the exterior and others very plain, but almost all of them were well decorated on the inside.

It is interesting walking around in a city that is thousands of years old.  Everywhere you turn there is something interesting to see.  Often it is something very old adjacent to something relatively modern.

The photo above is a section of an ancient wall, brick on the inside and outside to form up the concrete that is in the middle of the wall.  Later on in the day while we were on a tour of the Coliseum we would see that this same method was used to construct the Coliseum.

The paving stones were very common in ancient Rome and anywhere the Roman empire seemed to go.

Once we walked down the steps between the two buildings above and passed the column beyond we could see the monumental building below.  This structure was built by Mussolini and is now a museum.  It was built north of  the north end of the Roman Forum and the Coliseum is at the south end.

The ruins in the foreground were 20 feet or so below the street level in a kind of a huge ditch relative to the rest of the modern, developed areas.  In plan view the site is a large rectangular area with a curved section at one end.  The column on the right is sort of the radius of the curved section.

Here we are on the other side of the ruins looking back from where we had just come. 

 

Karen and Renee' soon found out that people dressed strangely are there to make money to have your picture taken with them.  So, after we got by this tourist trap we did just fine.  No more goofy pictures.

On the other side of the street from the ruins are some structures that make up the edge of the Roman Forum which we would be visiting later in the day.

We got to the end of this particular ruin and started heading toward the Coliseum

 

Our first view of the Coliseum.

 

Here is the Jay and Karen in front of the Coliseum shot.

 

I borrowed this photo, above, from the web since the sunlight when we were there was not exactly ideal, but as you can see its the same structure.

 

The photo above is from the web as well and is an illustration of what the Coliseum might have looked like originally.  When the concept of a large arena for events was first conceived in ancient Rome it was built on a site that had been a lake, which had been drained.  The resulting landscape was a large shallow valley.  The Coliseum itself was originally built by a wealthy family as an entertainment venue.  The project was completed in about 10 years using a lot of slaves, which apparently were readily available.  Each of the arched gates were numbered entrances for the spectators to use.  The facility could accommodate 50,000 people.  As like modern arenas and stadiums there were special seating provisions for the VIP's and also the nose bleed section for us common folk in the cheap seats.  Eventually the entertainment turned more and more ruthless and cruel with gladiators fighting to the death, exotic wild animals in combat with each other and gladiators and finally the "feeding of Christians to the loins".  After 300 AD, with Constantine's edicts that Christianity was to be the religion of the land, the Coliseum's popularity declined and fell out of use.  After a few earth quakes, thieves and the Roman Catholic Church dismantled much of the structure and recycle much of the statues and nicer building materials like marble into the building of cathedrals only the structural components remained and only part of them. 

 

What exists today is what has been stabilized and reinforced like in the photos below with new bricks and mortar and concrete.
 

Though the outer ring wall had been partially destroyed you can see from this angle that there were several access concourses that the fans could use to get to their seats.  We didn't see any restrooms or hot dog stands but I suppose they had that figured out somehow.

Since our tour was going to be a little later in the day we decided to walk around the site on our own.

Even though the plaza surrounding the Coliseum has a more modern look and feel, it is probably not significantly different than what would have been there originally.  You obviously needed a large area to accommodate crowds and sell T-shirts.

North of the Coliseum were the ruins of other structures, on higher ground.  Many of these structures were temples and gathering areas for the crowds

The structure above is actually a gate entrance.  There were several of these in this general area.  Normally they were constructed to memorialize some event.

Here is a shot of the other end of the outer walls that has been reinforce and stabilized since the rest of the wall had collapsed.

 

 

Here is a tired old dude with aching feet, waiting for the tour guide to arrive.

 

When we got into the structure with the tour it was interesting to see the huge scale with which these structures were built.  This space was not unlike modern stadiums.

 

Stairs leading up to the next level were broad to accommodate the crowds as well.

 

I asked about the holes in the surface of the walls.  It looked like there were bullet holes over the entire structure.  The guide said that originally there were iron straps (like huge staples) that held the stones together, but once the Coliseum fell out of  use people chipped out the iron and used it to make tools and weapons.  I think I have a detail of one of the iron straps in a photo further below in this post.

Once inside it was interesting to find out that the original event surface was actually a wood floor built up over a complex system of columns and arches.  A small section of wood flooring (in the foreground of the photo above) has been built to illustrate what it might have been like, back then.
We were allowed to walk out onto the floor to get a look at the structure that supported the floor (photo below).

 

 

We could also get a feeling of what it would have been like to be on display with 50,000 spectators looking down at you.

 

The shot above is looking back at the gate though which we had come out on to the main floor (platform).  This was used for getting some thing out on the "game floor", but many of the "players" came up from the areas below the floor on lifts.

 

In the middle sections of the photo above is an area that has been stabilized with poured concrete to "cap" the original wall section, that still remains, as an inexpensive way to keep them from deteriorating further.

 

The white/gray stones above are remnants of marble that had originally clad all of the seating.

 

The biggest arch left of center in the picture above was one of the main entrances to the Coliseum.  That entrance was for the VIP's.  It was for the level just above the main "playing surface" perhaps 3-4 feet above where the combat would have occurred. There was some suggestion from the guide that those on the first row were often at risk when the wild animals became part of the entertainment.

 

The actual construction material for the structure was a combination of brick and mortar on both sides of the walls with poured concrete in between as the primary structural material.  The brick kind of worked as both forms for the concrete and the wall surface onto which the marble slabs or stucco plaster were attached.  The wing walls and arches above are all constructed like the detail below.

 

In the photo above is an example of original brick work, under the arch, and modern repaired brick to the left.

 

There are a combination of stone arches and masonry lintels that were placed above openings.

 

Here is an example of the iron strap or staple that was used to hold stone section together.  Most of them have been stolen centuries before.  This one which is actually on the way down into the lower level of the Coliseum may have been buried by debris which is why it is still there today.

 

When we got down to the lowest levels we could see that a lot of the base or foundation was done with large lime stone blocks. 

 

This arched opening has been blocked off, but it originally was the route through which the gladiators got from their training and living quarters through a tunnel to the Coliseum.  They obviously came in at the lowest level and then got to the event floor by either lifts or stairs.  Their training and living quarter have long since been destroyed and redeveloped for other uses.

 

On the floor in the tunnel above and in the photo below are square stone blocks with a round hole in the middle. These holes were pivot points for winches that would have been operated by slaves to cause the lifts to elevate the combatants to the event floor.  As the Roman empire matured and the lust for more and more exotic entertainment grew, wild animals from Asia Africa and Europe were transported to Rome and kept in stalls below the event floor, until they were delivered to the event floor to compete with gladiators, other wild beasts or Christians.  That area under the floor must have gotten pretty ripe after a while.

 

Here we are below the section of the reconstructed event floor where we had been standing earlier in the tour.  The wood columns are modern and would not have been there in the original construction.  There would have been stone or concrete columns and arches over which the floor would have been constructed.

 

You can still see evidence of the arches and walls that would have made up passage ways with rooms and/or stalls to house animals and slaves.

 

A lot of the flooring at least at this level was herring bone pattern brick.  The same substructure was used on the upper levels as well, but in many case those areas would have been covered with with marble or in some cases a terrazzo like material.

 

After getting out of the "dungeon" we headed for the upper levels of the Coliseum.  Below is a shot of one of the stairways with original marble tread and risers.  These were blocked off to keep the foot traffic, wear and tear to a minimum.

We went up through a stairway that had been refitted with modern brick pavers and had safety handrails.

From the upper levels we could see the event floor which is actually the shape of a football.  The Coliseum itself is an oval shape

The shot above shows a variety of the materials that would have been in place when the structure was new.  On the left was some kind of stucco material that would have been on the walls over the brick.  the terrazzo flooring is the pinkish material that was over the herring bone patterned brick.  some of the marble fragments with detailed carvings were displayed in the area as well.

The photo above and the ones below show what the view would have been from the medium priced seats.  you can see the partial floor replacement in the photo below.

The details in the constructing of arches and entry gates illustrate that there was a lot of labor involved in the building of this structure.  Labor in the form of thousands of slaves which is one thing the Romans had in large supply.

I liked the detail work in the brick and stone and only show a couple examples of the dozens of detail shots that I took.

We eventually got up to the cheap seats which is where it was fairly easy to see the floor and seating together.

From this level we had some nice views out to the west and north where the Arch of Constantine still sits.  This triumphal arch commemorates Constantine's victory at the battle of Mivian Bridge which lead to his conversion to Christianity.  The platform below is northwest of the Coliseum and was the site for the Temple of Venus and Rome.  Beyond this site and over the hill is the Roman Forum.

At the highest level, of which only a small area remains of the original, we could see evidence of a yet higher level above the arches on the left and the wall on the right in the photo above.  If you look closely in the photo below there is a bit of a stair that is on the wall that would have lead up to the next level.  beyond the fence in the second photo below is a small section of the concourse that supported the highest level.  There was no access to that section.

 

The view from up here was great.

When we got down to grade at the plaza level our guide pointed out the numbers in the stone above the arched entry gates, LII (Gate 52).  So the crowd would have known what gates lead to their seats.

All in all it was a pretty impressive building, but we needed to keep moving on to the next part of the tour.

We headed northeast past the elevated area where the temple of Venus had been built.  It is the area to the right in the photo below.

Just beyond the temple plateau we cut back to the west and ended up on this old Roman street, which was actually a main street of the Roman Forum

This area was once the heart of Roman government and culture.  Along the street were important commercial and governmental buildings.  The colonnade would have protected the pedestrians as they walked along beside the main road.

The temple of Atoninus and Faustina above was undergoing significant renovation.  behind the scaffolding is a very ornate entry with carved stone and columns.

The arch and the column(s) may have been reconstructed but they give a good representation of what it might have looked like walking down the main street.

Various building materials that remained in the area are on display so you can see the quality of the original construction.

The three columns in the middle of the photo above is what is left of the Temple of Vespasian.  another separate temple built for Saturn is on the left.

The central structure above is what's left of the Temple of Vesta dating back to the 4th century.  In the temple there was a sacred eternal flame that was the symbol of eternal life.  A group of virgins was selected to guard the flame.  The selected girls had to serve in this role for 30 years and remain virgins.  If they messed up they were buried alive.

 

The plain building on the right is the place where the Roman Senators met.  There had been several buildings built for this purpose starting in 80 BC but were destroyed by fire.  Eventually the facility that is there today was built by Diocetius in AD 283.  We will talk about this dude later on.  In the 7th century the building was converted to a church.



This row of statues leads to the house of the Vestal Virgins. 

Part of the Temple of Jupitor Sator 4th Century AD later converted to a church.

The photos above and below are of the Basilica of Masentius and Constantine 310 AD.  Originally housed a colossal statue of Constantine. Later used a church, the structure is of brick and the arched coffered ceiling is really impressive.  The scale and design of this building is said to have been studied by Michelangelo and used when he design churches later in life.

The photos are of the arch of Titus 81AD is just off center of the Forum main street and is kind of the rear entrance into the Forum.  The images depict the destruction, sacking and looting of Jerusalem by the Roman in 70 AD.

In the image above you can see the menorah being hauled off.

This structure built by Mussilini is now a museum.  We are generally heading back to the office that is holding our luggage and to make our way to the apartment.  I for one am a bit weary at this point (no sleep since getting up on Thursday morning) so I continue to take pictures of interesting buildings, not even caring what they are.

We end up at the apartment about dark-thirty after some interesting battles with luggage and a pesky elevator, which never did work, and went out for something to eat at a nearby cafe.