So I begin my reflections on the recent trip I took to Rome with my family over the Christmas holiday. With all the wonderful and ancient places in Rome that I visited, the question is: Where to begin?
Well, probably the heart of ancient Rome, the Roman Forum is the best place to start. One of the first things you notice when you enter this area is that the whole area is much lower than the modern city. This gives you a wonderful idea as to how the city has been built up over the past 2000 years. This whole area is located right in the middle of the Eternal City.
Wikipedia has a nice overall description of the the Forum: "The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum, although the Romans called it more often the Forum Magnum or just the Forum) was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place. Here the communal hearth was located. Sequences of remains of paving show that sediment eroded from the surrounding hills was already raising the level of the forum in early Republican times. Originally it had been marshy ground, which was drained by the Tarquins with the Cloaca Maxima. Its final travertine paving, still to be seen, dates from the reign of Augustus."
When you are walking around the Forum, you can't help but place yourself back into the Rome of the great Emperors. The beauty of the ancient remains are only matched by the fact that you are able to walk on the actual streets that Julius Caesar, Augustus, St. Peter, and St. Paul would have tred. In the distance, you can gance at the three major arches that are still standing, as well as the majestic Palatine Hill and the Collosseum. The area is relatively quiet, which masks the reality of a busy modern city all around you. History is wonderful!
An amazing fact is that this whole area was only fully excavated in the early 20th Century!
No comments:
Post a Comment