Day 99...I have a friend in Rome called Bigus Dickus - 3rd October

Woke up early, and ate some fruit and museli bars in our room (which we had bought at the grocery store yesterday). Got dressed and walked nice and early to Palatine. We aimed to go to the Colosseum first to beat the crowds, but Palatine looked pretty tourist-free and it was the way. So we ducked in.

The Roman ruins are in two sections: the Forum, which was the commercial, religious and political center, and Palatine is the residential homes and palaces of the Emperors. We started in the Forum first. It’s hard to imagine that these ruins were from so long ago, sitting bang in the middle of a modern city. Some columns still stood, and you could trace your fingers over the writing carved on the scattered stone blocks. Up on the hill, were buildings that looked like unfinished apartment blocks, but were actually ruins – built onto the hill. We couldn’t believe the size and height this ancient culture achieved! We saw the arch of Septimus Severus (erected in AD203 in honour of the Emperor) and the Temple of Saturn (497BC) which was an important ancient Roman temple and used as a state treasury. Only 8 columns are all that remained of that one, but you could still see the foundations and get the idea of the size. The Temple of Julius Caesar was where his body was cremated.

We marveled at the stairs, the columns, and the engravings. The Forum was free to enter and we had a nice time imagining olden days, but you had to pay to go into Palatine. However, it could be bought as a combined ticket with the Colosseum and thereby gazump the crowds. So we entered Palatine via an underground arch fed by an underground stream. Then up through a tunnel used by the Romans in the old day, with small windows at ground level for light. It led to Livia’s house. She was the wife of Augustus, and her home is the best preserved building of Palatine – but it was closed for restorations! Next door were some ruins of Roman huts from 9BC – myth says that’s where Romulus and Remus were brought up by the shepherd Faustulus. (For those not bung up on myth, it is said that the twin brothers Romulus and Remus founded Rome. Well, mainly Romulus as he killed Remus.)

The rest of Palatine was largely scattered blocks, which required a lot of imagination, but we also gauged a perception of the number of people who lived at this site. It was a veritable, high-density living city! Some of the best houses had running water and whatnot, which shows how advanced they were. (And also made us wonder what happened for us to slip back into almost primitive living means after the empire collapsed? From what I gauge, the dark ages were a pretty dirty time). Many homes in Palatine were below ground, with buildings towering above them – combining 7 storeys at some points! We went into the museum which had some artwork and tools, and next door was the best spot of Palatine. Emperor Augustus house was at the back, and was practically a city in itself. I don’t know of any house for 1 person being this size. When you compare Casa dei Livia (his wifes house), man she got cheated! There were remains of fountains, garden courtyards etc. At some points you were at ground level looking several storeys down below, with walls looming up behind you. I got some good pictures of Nathan looking regal among the ruins, sitting under an olive tree. Hee hee.

Palatine led us toward the grand finale – the Colosseum. (On the way was the arch of Constantine – to honour his battle over Maxentius in AD312). The size and structure of the Colosseum astounded us. It seemed a statement to the size and brilliance of that Empire. From Hadrians wall in the UK north, down into Egypt – the Colosseum seemed like a big testament to it all. (I wonder if they will view the MCG in the same way, in the future? Haha) Despite the size of it all though, seeing it as a tourist sight with Americans clamoring all over it made me less entranced with it than say, the arena in Nimes. “Oh mah gaaawed. Look at this Colosseum Earl!”
Seeing the arena in Nimes in action, rather than just a husk like the Colosseum felt more amazing (despite the action being undertaken on the stage).

Outside, men dressed as Romans took pictures for money and we had a cheap feed overlooking the arena before heading into it (and bypassing the enormous long line with our combined ticket. We rule!)
Construction of the Colosseum was in Ad72 by Emperor Vespasian and was inaugurated by Titus in Ad80. The outer ring was added later. Only half of the outer ring remains, but makes a pretty cool photo. The Colosseum could seat 50,000 – and you could almost hear the ghostly roars of the crowd among the ruins, from when gladiators were locked in combat. We tooled around shouting the line in Gladiator “are you not entertained!!” and made right dorks of ourselves. The external walls of the Colosseum used to be covered in marble, and statues were in the niches on the 2nd and 3rd storeys. The stadium floor was wood covered in sand, with trapdoors leading down to the underground chambers and passageways you can see in the photos today. (Think of the scene with Russell Crowe when the tigers are let up out of the ground). The Colosseum was almost ‘AFL-ish’ with corporate boxes down the front for senators, the emperor, VIPS etc, and the plebs sat up the top. When the empire fell, the arena was abandoned and became overgrown with the seeds of the exotic plants stuck in the fur of the imported animals. It was damaged by earthquakes and at one point was used as a fortress and residence for a family (not a bad home eh?)

After going inside, we exited and undertook a fruitless hot walk to a church which ended up being closed for renovations. It had supposedly good frescoes of martyrs biting the dust in the most creatively gross ways. Darn! So we walked all the way back, via the Colosseum and through the Roman Forum (which was now packed with tourists scratching themselves as they got in the way of your photo shot). We headed up to the Capitoline Museums. The museum was not really clearly labeled or anything so we didn’t really know what we were looking at. We did see a few things we knew about though – the main one being the famous ‘Lupa Capitolina’ – the Etruscan bronze statue of a shewolf from 6BC, with Romulus and Remus suckling at her teats added in 1509. We also saw the head, hand and foot of a colossal statue of Constantine. He looked a pretty impressive dude, and the statue would have been awesome in its entirety. (The statue was found and unearthed in the Roman Forum in 1487). We also saw a 1BC statue of a boy removing a thorn from his foot, the ancient skeletal remains of a child, and the foundations of a massive temple – the museum was built over the foundations! There were some, shall I say – interesting, frescoes painted on some of the walls when the museum was used for conferences. One included a guy getting his head stomped on by a horse and his brains leaking out, and his eyes popping out of his head! Also there was one of Romulus and Remus being found, plus the capture of the Sabine women used to populate Rome.
We rested our weary legs on the stairs outside before setting of home (another long walk and Nate had an awesome pizza slice with pumpkin and bacon). On our street was a small block with some more ruins and columns, smack in the chaos of the city. Simply amazing! Heading back home, we showered and rested for a while. In the evening we headed out to a restaurant that was next door to our hotel. (It was so busy, we had to reserve a table yesterday). It was built into the ruins of the Pompey theatre where Julius Caesar was killed. We feasted on suckling pig (Nate) and risotto (me) enjoyed wine and gazed at the ruins. We also enjoyed kinda shitty service but that’s to be expected in Italy – especially Rome. A nice US couple had a chat with us, then we headed for bed as Nathan was feeling the effects of drinking that litre of wine yesterday. I warned him! He stomped all over the ruins in the heat today and now felt like crap. Haha.