Rome - Colosseum and the Arch of Titus

Steven walking toward the Colosseum. 
Just another ancient monument along the streets of Rome. 

Interior of the Colosseum.

After a tour of the immense Colosseo (Colosseum), an architectural marvel, but also the scene of much brutality, we walked next door to the Roman Forum, the seat of the Roman Empire.   The entrance to the Forum is marked by the Arch of Titus, a 50-foot arch that has inspired triumphal arches the world over, including the Arc de Triiomphe in Paris.  It also clearly shows that Rome was financed and built on the backs of the people it conquered. 

The (nearly) two thousand year old Arch of Titus 

The Arch of Titus was constructed in c. AD 82 by the Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' sacking of Jerusalem  in AD 70.

Interior of Arch of Titus.  Note the Menorah being carted away.

Wikipedia informs me the Arch provides one of the few contemporary depictions of Temple period artifacts, including a huge seven-branched menorah. Wikipedia also tells me that until Israel was founded in 1948, Jews refused to walk under this arch and the arch was never mentioned in rabinnical sources.  However, the Israelis had the final triumph, as the menorah in this arch served as the model for the menorah used on the emblem of the State of Israel.  As explained in the Jewish Virtual Library, "the menorah is returned from the Arch of Titus, where it symbolizes defeat, humiliation and disgrace, and is installed in a place of honor on the emblem of the State [of Israel]..."

Pompeii in a day

Bridge entrance to Pompeii (it was once a water port), and the resident guard dog

We did Pompeii in a day.  With high speed trains from Rome, plus the local train from Naples, it’s now quite doable (see previous train post).  While we were too exhausted to see the Naples museum that contains all the looted treasures of Pompeii, we still put a few miles in exploring the ruins of Pompeii.

One of many main thoroughfares in Pompeii.  

Close up of the paving. 
The small white rocks were the Roman version of reflectors.

Unexpected impression?  Pompeii was a big town.  And while there are signs, it’s easy to get lost.  As per usual, we hired a guide. Authorized guides round up to eight people right at the entrance, and if you get all eight, the cost is reasonable.  Our guide’s tour was in English, but he had the heaviest Italian accent of any guide we employed in Italy.  So, I may have missed some important points during the tour.  Our guide avoided the brothels (lupanar), which still have pornographic frescoes on the walls, and took us to some of the more luxurious villas in the town. 

Our guide at a neighborhood watering hole.
Each neighborhood had its own well. 

Another secret of this town – some of the frescoes and mosaics are recreations. (Though the frescoes pictured below are original.)  Pompeii has been excavated since 1748, and much of the good stuff has been carted away.  And though I thought all inhabitants of Pompeii had perished in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, our guide told us most in town made it out in time.  (My official museum guide says otherwise.)

Frescoes in a gaming room.  Roman poker anyone? 

Fresco in a Pompeii mansion

For a gripping account of the eruption, read Robert Harris’ Pompeii.  Marcus Attilius, an aqueduct engineer, is the unlikely hero of this fictionalized, but thoroughly researched, thriller.     

  

Diamond style wall, illustrating one of many architectural styles in Pompeii

Beautiful mosaic sidwalk 

Bits and pieces on the edge of Pompeii, overlooking the Bay of Naples 

Vatican City - Gallery of Maps and other masterpieces

The ceilings are works of art in the Vatican Museums too.

In addition to the Michelangelo’s Pieta within St. Peter’s Basilica, there are corridors and corridors of priceless objects within Vatican City.  We booked a tour with LivItaly expecting to be part of a tour group that would walk through the Vatican Museums, but in fact, Steven had inadvertently booked us for a one-on-one tour.  So we had our tour guide, the very capable Maria, all to ourselves.  She gave us the grand tour of the highlights of Vatican City, not just the Vatican Museums, dating from 1503, but the world’s largest church (St. Peter’s Basilica) and the world’s most famous chapel (Sistine).  We started at 8 a.m., an hour before the general public is admitted, and circled through a relatively uncrowded Sistine Chapel.  There we bent our heads skyward to view the famous ceiling, which I found hard to fully appreciate with my neck bent backward (we may visit the touring “Sistine Chapel Up Close” exhibit, making its way to Westfield malls across America, to see life size reproductions at eye level).  We also duly admired Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, which requires less contortions of the head. Both appear almost 3-D in person, and require hours of study (perhaps a lifetime) to fully appreciate.

Roselli's Crossing of the Reed Sea.  The "pillar of fire" has been transformed into well, a pillar. 

However, what I hadn’t expected, and certainly gets less attention, are the twelve massive frescoes on either side of The Last Judgment.  These were painted between 1481 and 1483 and cover stories from both the Old and New Testaments.  My eyes were drawn to The Crossing of the Reed Sea, by Roselli.  Roselli is quite competent, but he’s no Michelangelo.  The sea itself is either mud brown or blood red and resembles a wide ditch. In fact, the “drowning” Egyptian soldiers look as if they could reach out and touch Moses, who looks a little bored.  The Egyptian city in the background looks distinctly Italian and the “pillar of fire” in the middle of the culvert resembles an actual Roman pillar.  Meanwhile Miriam kneels by Moses with an Italian stringed instrument, an agonized expression on her face.  I seem to recall that in the Torah she is dancing and rejoicing at this juncture, probably with a tambourine.

Betsy with our gudie Maria in the map room

The other unexpected, but entirely delightful, treasure at Vatican City is the Gallery of Maps. Most sprint through this football field length gallery on the way to the Sistine Chapel.  But they shouldn’t, because this gallery is spectacular.  It was created by Egnazio Danti, a famous Venetian cartographer.  Over the course of just 2 years, he painted the whole of Italy, without drones, planes or other modern map mapping devices.  And he got it mostly right.  The maps are about 80% accurate.  Quite a feat for the 1580s. Maria told us that Italians are delighted to find their small villages pictured.  I can certainly attest that Venice is accurate, as we flew over the city as we landed. 

 

Danti's 16th Century map of Venice is amazingly accurate.