Walking in
History – the Forum and Palatine Hill
After the
Coliseum, we moved on to wander thru more history, down in the Forum just below
Palatine Hill.
Palatine Hill
There are
several myths as to how Palatine Hill got its name. What is consistent among all the myths is
that this was the center of ancient Rome.
The area below it, where we were walking, is the area now known as the
Forum. As you can see in the image, it is
possible to walk up to the top of Palatine Hill. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t have enough
time left in the day to do that, so we just had to admire it from below.
Tito’s Arch
One of the
first sights that we came to was Titus’ Arch, or Arco di Tito. Titus was a Roman emperor, and one of his
many victories was the seige of Jerusalem in 70AD. I took this image because I just liked the
organic type look of the cornerstone of this arch.
Top of Tito’s
Arch
Many arches
that we came across would have this sort of header on the front top of the
arch. I have no idea what this says, but
I just like the look of the lettering and marvel at the artistry of those who
did that.
Arch Texture
On the inside
of the arch, in the top portion of it, there was this incredible carving that
created such wonderful texture. Some of
the squares appear to have fallen out or otherwise become damaged, but I found
it amazing that so many are still intact almost 2,000 years after being
created.
Inside Arch
Art
Isn’t this an
amazing carving of procession, with the participants carrying a
menorah, some of the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem? It was further down Tito’s
arch, at just above eye level. The
amount of detail the artist achieved is amazing. Unfortunately, this arch was considered offensive
to many Jews as it was felt that it depicted the diaspora of the Jews, when
they were forced out of Israel. Many
Jews would not walk under the arch due to rabbinical prohibition until the
state of Israel was founded in 1948.
Ruins at the
Forum
There were
many ruins in the Forum that were not readily identifiable. These were some of them. However, I really like this image because of
the layers created by the many openings visible from this viewpoint, and the
texture created by the many ancient bricks used in the construction.
Temple of the
Seven Vestal Virgins
In ancient
Rome, vestal virgins were priestesses of Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. These are the remains of the temple. It is thought that there were first 2, then 4
and then 6 vestal virgins. Altho it is
thought a 7th was added (hence the name), apparently no
documentation of this was ever found.
Still, the name persists.
Walking Along
the Forum
The cathedral
on the right towered over the area where we walked. What was interesting about this cathedral was
that it depicted, by its very existence, the fact that the floor of the Forum
was constantly being built over and upon.
When this cathedral was built, the floor of the Forum was higher than
the area where we walked. The door to
the cathedral was easily 20- 30 feet above where we were standing, and needless
to say, we were not able to walk up to it!
If you look closely in the lower right corner of the image, you can see
the shadow of the doorway.
Funeral Pyre
of Caesar
The last thing
that we saw in the Forum was the funeral pyre of Caesar. It’s not really very impressive looking, as
you can tell by this image. I’m not
certain what exactly I was expecting, but I would have thought it would have
been more elaborate than this.
Enjoy!
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