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Providing A Forum
Nov. 26th, 2014 09:51 pmSunday was our final day in Italy but with our flight not until late in the day, we opted to go back to the Colosseum area to have another look around the Roman Forum. We did this primarily for two reasons - it was the easiest of the main sights to get to from our hotel as we needed to return mid-afternoon to pick up the bags before heading to the airport to catch our plane and due to the complex shutting early on Monday, we hadn't had ample opportunity to explore all of it.
Our traditional sandwich shop was unfortunately closed, meaning it was looking likely we would have to endure a McDonald's breakfast. However, this was closed too and we spied a takeaway pizza place called Alice Pizza which was fortuitously open at 11am. This was an interesting place, with a range of pizzas available. These were sliced like you would cut cheese at a delicatessen and you paid by the weight, with two slices making a pizza sandwich, which we nommed on our way to the metro. Wolfie got a potato pizza - which is an odd topping but very popular - while I opted for the traditional margarita. The crust was a little to crispy for my taste and the grease proof paper didn't aid cleaning up afterwards, but it was very delicious and a good way to start the day.
Another battered train later and we had arrived outside the Colosseum, greeted by throngs of tourists and locals who were enjoying the late autumn warmth. Spray paint artists were selling their wares on the street between the Colosseum and the main part of the city, while the area was replete with performers, particularly people of Indian descent pretending to levitate. The atmosphere was one of joy and relaxation. Thankfully the resultant queue for the forum wasn't particularly long and while we had to get another two day ticket for all of the Roman remains for what turned out to be a two and a half hour stay, it was so cheap (€12) as to be ultimately worth it. Sadly the bookshop next to the ticket office was closed and so I had to rely on my standard guidebook for information, but I did manage to purchase a guide from the tourist information shop on my way back to the hotel, which contains all of the details of everything we saw.
As we even walked up to the ticket office, let alone went past it, the giant Arco di Tito, the Arch of Titus, built in 70AD to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem. From here, you are afforded a fantastic view into the valley which formed the basis of the Forum, the civic, religious and cultural epicentre of Ancient Rome, particularly in the time of the emperors. Drained by an underground channel called the Cloaca Maxima, the biggest and most impressive irrigation project of the age (and probably not bettered until the nineteenth century), the area was resplendent in white marble buildings with gold top roofs. Only a handful of ruins remain, with much of the stonework re appropriated or plundered over the years, but the basic road layout still remains and indeed some of the Roman stones survive. In addition to this, at one of the far corners of the complex, you can see the medieval layer a full metre above the Roman, with some of the additions which were added to the site long after the fall of the Empire.
Due to all this, with a large leap of the imagination, it's possible to envisage what this ancient city was like and walking amongst the ruins, it was fascinating to discover the history of each building and its functionality. The Tempio di Saturno (Temple of Saturn) was arguably the most impressive, being perched on a hill with eight of its tall columns remaining intact. It was a treasury but also where the debauchery of Saturnalia occurred, the December festival of gluttony that pre-dated Christmas. There are many reasons why I liked this building, its history, of which I was already aware, being one. Another was the remaining roof supports on top of the columns which still displayed part of the original Latin inscriptions. Indeed the inscriptions connected to various monuments, for example the statues of the Vestal Virgins on what used to be the open portico of the Casa delle Vestali (House of the Vestal Virgins), added a greater level of immediacy for me as language is such an intrinsic part of a community that it highlighted the fact that this was an active, living society at one point. The fact that the inscriptions were in Latin, which gave us our alphabet, much of our grammar and so many of our words, showed how important this whole area was.
Other aspects of our current society can be traced back to the Romans too of course, and the brick remains of the Curia, the Senate, where senators argued about the affairs of state. This was also where the tenants of Roman law were struck, tenants which underpin most European legal systems to this day. Despite this area being little more than a few columns and a plot of land now, it was still awe-inspiring to see the places where all this history happened. The same was true for the alter of Julius Caesar, tucked behind the Tempio di Giulio Cesare, where the Emporer's body was burned spontaneously by the grieving crowds on 19 March 44BC after he was infamously murdered on the ides. Having studied the Shakespeare play at school, it was humbling to be in the same place where all this happened, not to mention fascinating of course.
The more we wandered around the Forum, the greater we became aware of just how grand this place would have been, particularly as many of the buildings were intentionally elevated to add an even greater air of pomp. Visualising what it must have been like as we followed in the footsteps of triumphant generals down the Via Sacra was spine-tingling while it was a sheer delight to be surrounded by so much important history, even if it was just a fraction of what the old Forum had been (as about two thirds of the original area has made way for modern Rome while what remains is largely in ruins). Wolfie and I had an interesting debate about preservation of these monuments and whether they should be reconstructed, as parts of some had been by archaeologists and conservationists in the nineteenth century. Considering the site is in its present state largely due to the plundering of previous generations, perhaps there is an argument to say that we should try and restore some of these buildings to their former state should we be sure we can match what is described in the contemporary sources. Perhaps that would mean the ruins would lack some authenticity but it would just be putting back what we previously removed and could actually make it more likely they will be preserved. Of course, we would have to be sure to get the details right and I'm aware this is probably a passionate argument already employed in the field of monument conservation but while it is remarkable that so much still remains from 2000 plus years ago, it is a shame that so much has been lost, particularly at the hands of those living in the intermediary times. And remember even the buildings in the Forum were enhanced, in some cases many times, throughout the ages meaning the original design and function was often superseded. Added to this is that the buildings that most survived - particularly the Tempio di Antonino e Faustina - did so because they were converted into churches once the Roman Empire had fallen.
Surprisingly, considering how busy it was outside the Colosseum, there weren't that many tourists inside the Forum and those that were were largely on guided tours and so were easy to navigate around. Sometimes I stood next to a guided tour to hear information from the guide - a useful way to glean knowledge when the bookshop selling guide books was closed. In doing this, we overheard one American lady stating the bleeding obvious: "Gee, we don't have anything like this back in the States". Classic face palm moment. It was around this time that we needed to head back to the hotel to pick up our bags, fortunately having just covered the entire Forum area after a leisurely stroll in the Sun, but that didn't make it any less of a wrench to leave. The crumbling columns, holes where fountains once stood and mosaics with weeds entwined around them all hinted at a fabulous culture that has largely been lost yet one whose legacy we still feel in so many aspects of our lives. The lack of complete buildings only added to the mysterious air of the place, the romance, and it was very sad that we had to turn our back on it and head home.
There is little to note about the journey back to the UK, suffice to say that a two and a half hour flight actually becomes an epic journey when you factor in security, customs and getting to and from the airport at either end. A kind lady I initially mistook for staff helped us purchase our tickets at the railway station for the train to the airport, rather accosting us as soon as we had appeared from the steps from the underground. It was only halfway through that I realised it was some chancer looking to help gullible tourists with train tickets at an automated machine that displayed all of the options in English. Still, she was friendly and conned us well, wanting payment for the services. I gave her €1.50, thus cleaning me out, in addition to the €2 change generated from the machine. We missed the train to the airport by two minutes so had to wait half an hour for the next, which was rammed, and yet we still had over an hour to kill at the airport, where we grabbed a bagel from the Bagel Factory and quaffed (ooh I hate that word) a few beers. At the railway station, the computer voice announcer lady kept saying Tren Italia as if it rhymed with genitalia. It sounded quite odd. It was around this time that Wolfie resurrected his own puppy song from the previous night - to House of Fun by Madness - which went Welcome to the house of pup, yap yap yap yap yap. It was quite annoying, perhaps highlighting how annoying I can be, but it was a good puppy song. I've taught him well.
Back in Manchester was where the fun began though, with a humongous queue waiting for us at immigration and the e-barriers not working yet again. Apparently flights had been delayed and five had landed simultaneously but this didn't stop middle class people from complaining, saying they should have predicted the influx. To be fair, the custom officers got us through as quickly as they could. However, this made us miss our train so we had an hour to wait at the Airport or chance it by going into Piccadilly and seeing if we could get out earlier. Not fancying waiting at the Airport's tiny halt on a Sunday evening for that length of time, we went into the city centre where we saw a bald headed bearded twat chase after someone else effing and Jeffing wanting a fight. There was an earlier train back to Leeds but this was delayed and when we finally got on - another three-carriage TransPennine Express service - it was so busy we had to sit in that vestibule area, getting up to let people on and off at every station we called at. We finally got home at 11pm when I needed to do my laundry as a matter of urgency and we saw we had two insurance letters and a water bill. Welcome home indeed!
Our traditional sandwich shop was unfortunately closed, meaning it was looking likely we would have to endure a McDonald's breakfast. However, this was closed too and we spied a takeaway pizza place called Alice Pizza which was fortuitously open at 11am. This was an interesting place, with a range of pizzas available. These were sliced like you would cut cheese at a delicatessen and you paid by the weight, with two slices making a pizza sandwich, which we nommed on our way to the metro. Wolfie got a potato pizza - which is an odd topping but very popular - while I opted for the traditional margarita. The crust was a little to crispy for my taste and the grease proof paper didn't aid cleaning up afterwards, but it was very delicious and a good way to start the day.
Another battered train later and we had arrived outside the Colosseum, greeted by throngs of tourists and locals who were enjoying the late autumn warmth. Spray paint artists were selling their wares on the street between the Colosseum and the main part of the city, while the area was replete with performers, particularly people of Indian descent pretending to levitate. The atmosphere was one of joy and relaxation. Thankfully the resultant queue for the forum wasn't particularly long and while we had to get another two day ticket for all of the Roman remains for what turned out to be a two and a half hour stay, it was so cheap (€12) as to be ultimately worth it. Sadly the bookshop next to the ticket office was closed and so I had to rely on my standard guidebook for information, but I did manage to purchase a guide from the tourist information shop on my way back to the hotel, which contains all of the details of everything we saw.
As we even walked up to the ticket office, let alone went past it, the giant Arco di Tito, the Arch of Titus, built in 70AD to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem. From here, you are afforded a fantastic view into the valley which formed the basis of the Forum, the civic, religious and cultural epicentre of Ancient Rome, particularly in the time of the emperors. Drained by an underground channel called the Cloaca Maxima, the biggest and most impressive irrigation project of the age (and probably not bettered until the nineteenth century), the area was resplendent in white marble buildings with gold top roofs. Only a handful of ruins remain, with much of the stonework re appropriated or plundered over the years, but the basic road layout still remains and indeed some of the Roman stones survive. In addition to this, at one of the far corners of the complex, you can see the medieval layer a full metre above the Roman, with some of the additions which were added to the site long after the fall of the Empire.
Due to all this, with a large leap of the imagination, it's possible to envisage what this ancient city was like and walking amongst the ruins, it was fascinating to discover the history of each building and its functionality. The Tempio di Saturno (Temple of Saturn) was arguably the most impressive, being perched on a hill with eight of its tall columns remaining intact. It was a treasury but also where the debauchery of Saturnalia occurred, the December festival of gluttony that pre-dated Christmas. There are many reasons why I liked this building, its history, of which I was already aware, being one. Another was the remaining roof supports on top of the columns which still displayed part of the original Latin inscriptions. Indeed the inscriptions connected to various monuments, for example the statues of the Vestal Virgins on what used to be the open portico of the Casa delle Vestali (House of the Vestal Virgins), added a greater level of immediacy for me as language is such an intrinsic part of a community that it highlighted the fact that this was an active, living society at one point. The fact that the inscriptions were in Latin, which gave us our alphabet, much of our grammar and so many of our words, showed how important this whole area was.
Other aspects of our current society can be traced back to the Romans too of course, and the brick remains of the Curia, the Senate, where senators argued about the affairs of state. This was also where the tenants of Roman law were struck, tenants which underpin most European legal systems to this day. Despite this area being little more than a few columns and a plot of land now, it was still awe-inspiring to see the places where all this history happened. The same was true for the alter of Julius Caesar, tucked behind the Tempio di Giulio Cesare, where the Emporer's body was burned spontaneously by the grieving crowds on 19 March 44BC after he was infamously murdered on the ides. Having studied the Shakespeare play at school, it was humbling to be in the same place where all this happened, not to mention fascinating of course.
The more we wandered around the Forum, the greater we became aware of just how grand this place would have been, particularly as many of the buildings were intentionally elevated to add an even greater air of pomp. Visualising what it must have been like as we followed in the footsteps of triumphant generals down the Via Sacra was spine-tingling while it was a sheer delight to be surrounded by so much important history, even if it was just a fraction of what the old Forum had been (as about two thirds of the original area has made way for modern Rome while what remains is largely in ruins). Wolfie and I had an interesting debate about preservation of these monuments and whether they should be reconstructed, as parts of some had been by archaeologists and conservationists in the nineteenth century. Considering the site is in its present state largely due to the plundering of previous generations, perhaps there is an argument to say that we should try and restore some of these buildings to their former state should we be sure we can match what is described in the contemporary sources. Perhaps that would mean the ruins would lack some authenticity but it would just be putting back what we previously removed and could actually make it more likely they will be preserved. Of course, we would have to be sure to get the details right and I'm aware this is probably a passionate argument already employed in the field of monument conservation but while it is remarkable that so much still remains from 2000 plus years ago, it is a shame that so much has been lost, particularly at the hands of those living in the intermediary times. And remember even the buildings in the Forum were enhanced, in some cases many times, throughout the ages meaning the original design and function was often superseded. Added to this is that the buildings that most survived - particularly the Tempio di Antonino e Faustina - did so because they were converted into churches once the Roman Empire had fallen.
Surprisingly, considering how busy it was outside the Colosseum, there weren't that many tourists inside the Forum and those that were were largely on guided tours and so were easy to navigate around. Sometimes I stood next to a guided tour to hear information from the guide - a useful way to glean knowledge when the bookshop selling guide books was closed. In doing this, we overheard one American lady stating the bleeding obvious: "Gee, we don't have anything like this back in the States". Classic face palm moment. It was around this time that we needed to head back to the hotel to pick up our bags, fortunately having just covered the entire Forum area after a leisurely stroll in the Sun, but that didn't make it any less of a wrench to leave. The crumbling columns, holes where fountains once stood and mosaics with weeds entwined around them all hinted at a fabulous culture that has largely been lost yet one whose legacy we still feel in so many aspects of our lives. The lack of complete buildings only added to the mysterious air of the place, the romance, and it was very sad that we had to turn our back on it and head home.
There is little to note about the journey back to the UK, suffice to say that a two and a half hour flight actually becomes an epic journey when you factor in security, customs and getting to and from the airport at either end. A kind lady I initially mistook for staff helped us purchase our tickets at the railway station for the train to the airport, rather accosting us as soon as we had appeared from the steps from the underground. It was only halfway through that I realised it was some chancer looking to help gullible tourists with train tickets at an automated machine that displayed all of the options in English. Still, she was friendly and conned us well, wanting payment for the services. I gave her €1.50, thus cleaning me out, in addition to the €2 change generated from the machine. We missed the train to the airport by two minutes so had to wait half an hour for the next, which was rammed, and yet we still had over an hour to kill at the airport, where we grabbed a bagel from the Bagel Factory and quaffed (ooh I hate that word) a few beers. At the railway station, the computer voice announcer lady kept saying Tren Italia as if it rhymed with genitalia. It sounded quite odd. It was around this time that Wolfie resurrected his own puppy song from the previous night - to House of Fun by Madness - which went Welcome to the house of pup, yap yap yap yap yap. It was quite annoying, perhaps highlighting how annoying I can be, but it was a good puppy song. I've taught him well.
Back in Manchester was where the fun began though, with a humongous queue waiting for us at immigration and the e-barriers not working yet again. Apparently flights had been delayed and five had landed simultaneously but this didn't stop middle class people from complaining, saying they should have predicted the influx. To be fair, the custom officers got us through as quickly as they could. However, this made us miss our train so we had an hour to wait at the Airport or chance it by going into Piccadilly and seeing if we could get out earlier. Not fancying waiting at the Airport's tiny halt on a Sunday evening for that length of time, we went into the city centre where we saw a bald headed bearded twat chase after someone else effing and Jeffing wanting a fight. There was an earlier train back to Leeds but this was delayed and when we finally got on - another three-carriage TransPennine Express service - it was so busy we had to sit in that vestibule area, getting up to let people on and off at every station we called at. We finally got home at 11pm when I needed to do my laundry as a matter of urgency and we saw we had two insurance letters and a water bill. Welcome home indeed!
