Today, Ann (the wonderful) arranged a very nice tour of the Roman Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Forum. It was with an actual archaeologist named Nina. She is extremely enthusiastic about these old ruins. She splits her time between tours in the high season and actual archaeological digs in the off season. She said she is a dig director (not sure what that is but is seems impressive). She just finish her degree studying the earliest Benedictine Monastery and is trying to get her thesis published. She told us so many fun facts, jokes and stories. I will try to repeat a few.
Remember the movie Gladiator? Well, they got most of it right. All except for Russell Crowe. There was an Emperor Commodus and he was pretty much an all around bad guy. Lions, tigers and bears did pop out of trapped doors and elevators in the Colosseum. The shows were mostly a continuum of killing. One thing after another was butchered. Sand was used to manage the constant flow of blood. The games could go on for days - when the Colosseum (actually, the "Flavian Amphitheatre") was opened, the killing went on for 100 days straight. The morning shows were hunts with animals. Lunchtime entertainment? Prisoner executions. And this was consider Rated G, a "family friendly entertainment." Children were welcome to attend.
They used a lot of perfume to mask the many smells of the animals, blood and such. Another fun fact ... archeologists have no idea were the toilets were. In other digs they find remnants of toilets. Not here. 50,000 people for 8 hours of fun in the sun. Must've been privies SOMEWHERE.
The afternoon or main show was the gladiator fighting. The Russell Crowe character was completely made up. Including the muscles. You see Romans of that day were very short. The average man was about 4 foot 6 inches tall. Gladiators were fed diets of mostly grains, cereals and carbs. Nina said, "Think Danny Devito not Russell Crowe!"
Now, the Forum was interesting (just across the street from the Colosseum). It was the Times Square of the day. It contained stores, temples, the Senate, palace ... Things seem all jumbled up until you consider the Romans were doing remodeling every couple of hundred years. This place is huge. There were five forums and one extra market.
After the fall of Rome, both the Forum and the Colosseum became a source of supplies. People walked off with anything (nailed down or not). In fact, inside the travertine building blocks (3x3x3 ft of solid rock) were iron alignment pins. Over the centuries, people dug into the block to get those pins to melt down into something else. After all the pilfering, it is surprising to find a number of somewhat preserved temples. The Senate chamber, Temple to Romolo (son of the emperor at the time), Temple to Antonino and Faustina (Emperor and wife) and the Pantheon. These were converted to churches and preserved (with crosses and such added on). You also see that some of the popes would from time to time restore various parts of the area and leave their marks on plaques. In the 1930s Mussolini had a 4 lane road built right through the the center of the most important part of ancient Rome. Italy is very proud of their past. Italy is very strange.
Archeology must be very difficult here. You dig up an area to see how people lived. You have to deal with the various times people (for good or bad) have changed things around. It must be like working a crime scene after the maid has cleaned up, the room was redecorated and the building was torn down.
After the tour was over we found a nice cafe for peach ice tea and pizza. Purchased tickets for a night show. We tried to see the Baths of Caracalla (the second largest baths in Rome, smaller only than the Baths of Diocletian, which I wrote about last time). They were closed on Monday Afternoon. Oh well. We walked around the outside and still were able to get an idea of the scale and grandeur of it all. Tomorrow we leave Rome for the south of Italy.
Ciao
bill
