The Long Walk Through Antiquity- Jenna Madeja

The idea of our outing today was to walk though various sites that were important during ancient times. We began at the Palazzo Pio- which is also the site of the ancient Theatre of Pompeii. From there our first stop was at the current College of American Studies which is housed in the Palazzo Mattei in the Jewish Ghetto. What was particularly interesting about this stop were the statues placed along the courtyard that juxtaposed idealized athletic bodies with the clearly out-of-place heads of first and second century emperors such as Nero and Trajan.

courtyard of Palazzo Mattei

From here we cut through the ruins surrounding the Theatre of Marcellus, which is also accompanied by the ruins of two temples that stood in the area. The most complete temple is called the Porta de Octavia, and served for a long time as one of the few gates to the Jewish Ghetto, hence the name of Porta. The other temple was the Temple of Apollo. From here we turned our attention to the Theatre of Marcellus which was begun by Caesar but completed by Augustus in 13 CE.

Theatre of Marcellus (left) with reconstructed Temple of Apollo (right)

There are many interesting facts associated with this site - it was dedicated to Marcellus who was once the heir to Augustus, but Augustus outlived him. Moreover, the styling is interesting in that it differs from Greek stadiums- which were typically built into a hillside, while the Theatre of Marcellus is completely freestanding - making it a model for the Coliseum which was built less than a century after. In modern times, the Theatre of Marcelius has been converted to upscale apartments for a select few lucky Romans. From here we carried on to a site that was formerly the site of three ancient temples but currently houses the church of San Niccolo en Carciere. From the side of the building one can see the ruins of the temples, showing how when early Chrisitan churches were built they often incorporated the old foundations of ancient builings into their new constructions. From this site we attempted to immerse ourselves in the ancient geography as Lisa explained that the side of the church that faced the Tiber served as the main port on the river while the other side was home to the Forum Holitarium, aka the vegetable market. We also learned that most of the excavations in the area can be credited to Mussolini and his program of repristination that attempted to tie the destiny of Facist Rome to the greatness of Ancient Rome. We then carried on to the temples of Portunus(god of the port) and Hercules (god of cattle) - adajcent to the former site of the Forum Borarium, or cattle market. From here we crossed the street to the church of Santa Maria en Cosmedin - the site of the Boca Della Verita, the famous carving that is rumored to cut of the fingers of anyone who puts his hand inside the mouth and tells a lie.

Cami and Shannon braving the Boca Della Verita

It is also rumored that in the Middle Ages someone was placed behind the carving and would occasionally cut off an unlucky believer's fingers simply to keep the myth alive. Truly a tourist trap if there ever was one! Besides the Boca, Santa Maria also boasts an intact 13th century tower - a site rare to see in Rome today. We continued our walk as we scaled the Aventine hill - Remus's chosen founding site of the city- where we vistied the Church of Santa Sabina which was built in the fifth century and houses a set of wooden doors that supposedly depict one of the first representations of the crucifixion. We then visted the orange grove nextdoor that has an amazing view of the city, including St. Peter's, the Synagogue, and the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

views from Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill-Top: Tiber and Synagogue Bottom: St. Peter's

We completed our walk by dropping down from the Aventine to the neighborhood of Testacchio which is home to a large market with a great selection of produce, as well as various local treats.