Il Primo Giorno

Although many of us thought it would never come, today was our actual first day of class. The main points on the agenda for today were an introduction to the Roman Imperial families, a visit to the Roman Forum, and presentations of the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum, but before we could get to any of that, our first stop was at the courtyard of an academic center for Italians studying English. The courtyard, although relatively small, was filled to the brim with statues and sculptures attached to the walls of the surrounding buildings. Lisa pointed out to us not only the heads of emperors and Roman officials that were attached to idealized athletic bodies (apparently Roman officials could only work out in the afterlife), but also examples of freedmen's tombs. A freedman was someone who had once been a slave, but then was freed from servitude and allowed to become a Roman citizen.

The weather today was cool and overcast, but thankfully not cold, and after our visit to the courtyard we walked up a set of very long, low steps to find a giant bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius on a horse. Although there are more than enough giant statues of important people in Rome, this statue is particularly important because it has been preserved in its original bronze format. Most bronze statues from ancient Rome were copied into marble and then melted down so that the valuable metal could be used for something else, but this one has managed to stay completely intact. Lisa pointed out the interesting fact that because bronze is much stronger that marble, many statues that have been copied from marble to bronze need added marble supports, in the form of a tree stump for example. A bronze statue such as that Marcus Aurelius on a horse though, is made of such a strong material that the horse can stand with only one of its hooves fully touching the ground, and the statue is still completely stable.

After our visit with Marcus Aurelius and

a quick stop by one of the only ancient Roman apartment buildings left, we proceeded to the outskirts of the Roman Forum for a brief discussion about early Roman myths, including the one concerning the brothers Romulus and Remus, Romulus being the ultimate founder of Rome after killing his brother. The ancient Romans used these myths as justification for creating an empire that deserved respect and was worthy of conquering others. This discussion was then followed by an introduction to the Imperial Roman families given by Shurui, Christine, Catherine, David, Kristin, and Yuting. We then went through the actual entrance of the Forum and began to explore several of the sites present. The first thing Lisa taught us was how the center of the forum was also the lowest relative point in terms of ground level, and therefore was a place of gathering for events such as gladiator matches. We took a look at the Basilica Aemilia and the Basilica Julia, basilica in this case referring to a law court rather than a church as the term is commonly connected to now, as well as the place of meeting for the Senate. The remains of the temple and palace of the vestal virgins was our next stop, and we learned that the vestal virgins were the ones responsible for keeping the flame of the city alive at all times. Our last brief stop as we walked through the forum was a basilica built by Constantine. Of all the basilica's we saw, this one was by the far the largest and most well intact. While looking at the massive archways of the basilica I couldn't help but imagine how much work went into building such a structure, and how amazing it must have looked in its prime.

Of all the structures present in the Roman Forum,

I was most impressed with and drawn to the columns.

Once we had taken at a look at the majority of the lower part of the Roman Forum, we had a seat on some rocks next to the Arch of Titus as David gave us his presentation on the arch. David gave a very well rounded and interesting presentation, and informed us that, among other things, the arch was built to commemorate Titus' victory in the Jewish War, but unfortunately Titus died before the arch was ever complete. He also discussed the sculpted panels within the arch, including the one which depicts the Romans coming back from the war with Jewish spoils such as a menorah. After David's presentation, we climbed to the top of Palatine Hill and found a place to sit down and have lunch, which we had all packed so that our visit the Forum would be as smooth as possible.

After lunch we looked down upon

the Circus Maximus from the top of Palatine Hill and then headed over to the Colosseum, outside of which Christine gave us her presentation. Christine also gave a very well informed and interesting presentation, and among the many facts she told us, I thought the most interesting was that even though the Colosseum could hold many thousands of people, it was built in such an efficient manner that after an event it could be cleared out of people in five minutes flat. Once Christine had finished, we took a tour through the Colosseum and finished our first day of class with a brief open discussion about the reality of the Colosseum, what it stood for in ancient times, and what it stands for today. In particular, Lisa asked us how we can reconcile the beauty of the Colosseum with the ugliness of the activities that once filled it, such as feeding people to lions.

The rest of the day and night were filled with casual activities, as the majority of the group either went back to their apartments to rest and study, or went out to buy groceries so they could make dinner later on. All in all, I would say that today was a very fun and informative first day of class, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the art history project presentations from everyone else in future days to come.