Art History Blog #1:

Rome is one of those cities that manage to be both ancient and thoroughly modern simultaneously. Mopeds and taxies jet quickly (and dangerously, I might add) around ruins and monuments of the ancient past. And yet, this state of modernity had existed throughout the ages. Once, the homes, businesses ne administrations of the Capitoline were abuzz with activity. Today, they remain so, filled with tourists from all around the world.

We began today’s journeys at the ruins on Capitoline hill. One of the Seven Hills of Rome, the remaining ruins was once examples of the grandiosity of Roman innovations and Greek aesthetics. Thanks to the invention of concrete, Roman architecture was able to reach soaring new heights unobtainable by Greeks and their use of solid marble in constructions. Rather, the Romans used concrete to create the strong foundations and soaring arches in combination with marble decoration. While the marble has been stripped away for use in Renaissance architecture or lost over time, what remain are the solid concrete brick structures that contributed so greatly to the majesty of Rome.

Following Capitoline hill, we traveled the in infamous Colosseum. The Colosseum remains one of the most iconic and busy places in Rome since its construction in the first century AD. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, construction was begun during the rule of Vespasian on the site of Nero’s lake within his private gardens at his estate. As a way of returning the area to the people after the violent reign of Nero, the structure was nearly compete at the time of Vespasian’s death and was then completed shortly after by his son, Titus. The site offered entertainment to the people of Rome in the form of gladiator battles, animal hunts and more. There, the people of Rome gathered to see the shows.

We completed our tour of ancient Rome at the Forum, the literal and mythological center of both ancient and modern Rome. The Forum contains some of the earliest temples as well as monuments to the leaders of Rome including the Triumphal Arch of Constantine and the Arch of Severus. During the Republic and beyond, this site was the location of all major political and judicial decision-making. The site even includes a reconstruction of the home of the Vestal Virgins, the women vetted with the duty of maintaining the hearth (that is, the philosophized balance of Rome based on political and religious harmony).

Today, these locations are swarming with tourists while the rest of modern Rome buzzes all around them. Although all that remains of ancient Rome are dilapidated ruins, they have not lost their purpose as the center of Rome. However, their contexts have changed. Rather than serving to monumentalize the late greats of Rome, they are overtaken by hordes of tourists many of whom have no context for the monuments except that they have seen them in movies and on postcards. Weak, dirty looking men pose as Roman soldiers for tourists outside the massive arches and engaged columns of the Colosseum. Children in school groups snap pictures of the pillars and piles of rubble at the forum in a lackluster fashion. Visitors dressed clothing more appropriate for clubbing lean against the dusty, ancient walls as if it was just one more stop on the way to a more interesting venture. This is not to say that the ruins of ancient Rome go unappreciated, but simply that somewhere along the way the veneration of ancient works of art has been lost or muddled amongst the cheap souvenirs and hollering salesmen.