Rome Is Where the Heart Is: Ancient Rome at its Finest

I'm going to start with, going to school in Rome is so much more FUN than going to school in Fayetteville. Don't get me wrong, I love Fayetteville but I am really enjoying my small classes that are really specialized and applicable. I have finally had both my classes separately and have learned a ton in each. I am going to combine two days into one post so there will be a lot of information and pictures (so sad I know) :).

Yesterday I had World Civ 1 with Professor McCoy and we stayed in class and caught up on lots of Ancient Roman history. I felt like Hermione Granger because I was asking a lot of questions and answering a lot of his questions. But it was so fun being in a group of six and listening to Professor McCoy lecture on all the things he knows about Ancient Rome. We talked about the major powers in the Mediterranean and how they changed, as well as how Rome gained power. We learned that grain = money back in the BCE times and that even though we think of Rome as being wealthy, they were actually always poorer than the Eastern countries such as Greece. However, once Rome took over those lands it gained that wealth. We also talked about Ancient Roman social structure such as women's virtues and father power. I won't say too much more but we also talked about Rome's changes in politics. They were first ruled by kings, then they began the Republic and created a Senate. Around 31 BCE Augustus took over as Emperor and began the 300 years of the Roman Empire.

After three hours in class I grabbed lunch at this sandwich place right by campus. I go every day at the same time and the owner knows my name now :). I'd like to note that tomatoes are SO good here, and I don't even like tomatoes!

I sat in on Italian again and then that afternoon we all met up with Professor McCoy and Professor Jacobs at the Arch of Constantine and they took us on a tour of the Roman Forum. Professor McCoy informed us that Palatine Hill is said to be the area where Rome was founded and we walked the ruins of the ancient palace. The Forum was a place where there would have been markets, administrative offices, as well as speeches. It was the central meeting place and all that is left are ruins. It was really amazing to walk around in an area that was so old. Another fun fact that Professor McCoy told us was that the reason that all the buildings in Washington D.C. are white is because the Founding Fathers came to Ancient Rome and saw the ruins and wanted to copy the buildings of the first Republican government...except they didn't take into account that all the structures would have been painted haha. We also saw the house of Emperor Augustus and the original stone where the first Romans lived around 800 BCE!

Later we all went to Nick, Davis, and Akash's apartment and we brought lettuce and drinks and they cooked dinner for all of us! It was so fun. We had salad, tortellini with spinach, cheese, and ham, french fries, and bread and olive oil. Italian food is the BEST.

"Allora," on to today! I had my art lecture class this morning and we listened to Professor Jacobs talk about Roman sculpture and paintings. I listened to her talk about the extreme realism that Roman sculpture exemplified in their portrait busts and their reliefs. We talked about how the Romans really tried to develop depth and space in their sculptures as well. The main difference between Roman art and Greek art was their subjects. Romans did a lot of narrative art that was of real people and historic events, while the Greeks created lots of art that displayed mythic stories. After lecture, we went to the museum that contained Augustus's Ara Pacis or Altar of Peace. It's a massive altar that was used for sacrifices and is finely decorated with reliefs of the procession that occurred when it was built and also of images that portray fertility. Augustus really wanted to put a positive image on his reign. Then we went to the Pantheon and examined all of its geometry with the triangular roof, the rectangular entrance, and the circular attachment on the back. The manipulation of light through the oculus and the way the building wraps around you makes you feel controlled. The floor even has a drain for when water and snow fall through the hole in the top.

So that's all that happened in the last two days. I think we have seen most of the tourist hotspots in Rome now. To give you an idea of how much we walk, we walk a total of 3 miles to and from campus every day and then I don't even know how much we walk around the city each day. We are all getting calves of steel (and ankles of steel on the cobblestones)!

Enjoy all the photos!
Ciao!

Arch of Constantine

Ruins of the palace on Palatine Hill

Anne!

Enjoying the lovely weather! (so much better in the shade)

Basilica in the background

We were pretty high up

So high up that this is the top of the Colosseum

This is one of the water fountains of Rome. The water is delicious!

The first settlements of Rome from 800 BCE.

Relief on the inside of Arch of Titus. The there is lots of depth in this sculpture and it's hard to tell but it's supposed to look like the horses are coming out and then curving back to their right.

Our group examining the reliefs.

There were lots of free standing columns in the Roman Forum. They are all that's left of some buildings. Professor Jacobs's husband compared it to if all that was left of the Lincoln Memorial was a few of the surrounding columns.