The Capitoline Hill and Roman Forum
As we excitedly made our way as a class to our first session in Rome, we blindly followed Professor Tronchin and Professor Fletcher to arrive on one of many sides of the Capitoline Hill. There we stood looking up to the hill, most dominant was Michelangelo’s ramp that stole the attention from what was waiting above. Richard eagerly started teaching and we soon learned that this was not the only way to ascend to the top of the hill, but there were many different approaches that we would be taking. Michelangelo’s ramp was but one of many options. I found the history of this ramp to be quite interesting, since it was a way of sealing off the ancient city and changing the direction of the focus of the hill towards the Vatican, done by Michelangelo in 1560. Another approach that we were immediately able to see was a more ancient stair case, sadly just to the right of the grand ramp. As we made our way up the ramp we soon realized it was not quite a ramp, more like a series of very long and wide steps that happened to slope slightly upward. At the top of the steps were statues of Castor and Pollux and the Piazza del Campidoglio between two separate buildings which were both part of the Capitoline Museum and a third senate building which was where the Tabularium would have been. In the middle of this courtyard was a statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback, a reproduction that was placed there in 1999, and we learned that the original bronze statue from 1538 was kept inside the museum. From here we made our way to the left side of the hill and gained our first glance of the Roman Forum, which I was eager to get to. There were two other approaches to the hill, one winding road on the opposite side of Michelangelo’s steps that led up past the tarpean cliffs and the “Pantheon in the sky” aka Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The last approach was from the side of the hill on which would have been the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus led us back to the Piazza.
At the base of the hill we were also able to see ruins of shops and apartments. I thought this was interesting because it allowed us to see the different ground levels throughout history. People would just build on top of older buildings, and like cities now we saw that they had apartments built over shops.
Then we entered the Capitoline Museum. The first thing to catch everybody’s attention was the colossal statue of Constantine. Immediately we all started taking pictures of this. We were let loose and allowed to explore the museum on our own, and I was able to find some things of personal interest. Perhaps my favorite work of art that I found was the statue of Love and Psyche embracing and about to kiss. I think this statue is beautiful and was really able to capture how romantic Rome is as a city. This statue took me back to the night before when we had gone through a courtyard of trees and benches with lovers embracing with a view of the city over the river. The statue took my thoughts to love and to my boyfriend back in Ohio and inspired me to find more works of art that affected me the way that one did.
After lunch we went into the Roman Forum. First things first, we learned about what a forum was. It was a place for religious functions and temples, for court held in the basilicas, and for commerce since there had been no offices in ancient Rome. Of course it was not thought of as a forum at first, buildings were added as needed and it evolved into a forum. We found an approximate spot for the black stone which had an inscription stating that it was a burial place and it was sacred space. We also found the lacus curtius, which is significant in Roman history because Marcus Curtius, on the back of his horse, went into the hole in order to save Rome after an oracle said that Rome could only overcome the peril it faced if the city threw into the Chasm that which it held most dear, which Marcus Curtius understood to be a brave Roman youth. Another exciting mythological place was where stood a fig tree, grape vine, and olive tree, this is said to be the place where the wolf nursed Romulus and Remus. We discussed the shrine of Janus, the entry to the forum that symbolized doors of peace which were closed under Augustus to symbolize that Rome was in a time of peace.
The temples in the Roman Forum were amazing, although we could only see the ruins we could imagine how large they would have been. The Temple of Concord had political significance, seeing that it was vowed because of an agreement between patricians and plebs to Concordia. At the time the plebs were threatening to start their own town in response to harsh rule. It was continually the focus for fostering harmony in Rome, and was even sometimes used for senate meetings. Over the years it was destroyed and rebuilt many times until about 10 CE, and does not stand any longer. The remains of the Temple of Saturn were amazing, perhaps my favorite part of the Forum, and that is saying something. On the front of the temple we could still see the Latin that said it was built by SPQR in the 5th century BCE. This temple expressed the support that Rome had from the gods, and also was where the treasury was kept. Aicher gives us accounts from Lucan and Pliny the Elder about Julius Caesar taking the wealth of the Roman people from the treasury.
Close to the Temple of Saturn, on axis with the Arch of Augustus, was the Arch of Septimius Severus, which was linked to the Arch of Augustus, and Augustus himself with Septimius Severus, in that they were both celebrating victories over the Parthians. On the Arch of Septimius Severus there are personified victories with trophies made of tree trunks in the spandrels. On the bases of the columns are captive barbarians, and battle scenes on the square panels. Professor Tronchin also told us about the five column monument that was built under Diocletian to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the tetrarch. The reliefs we looked at showed the sacrifice of three animals during decanalia, a trophy being carried by barbarians, and four emperors in procession. There were five columns, four with portraits of each emperor and the fifth with a portrait of Jupiter. The Roman forum was probably my favorite part, to see how much history has happened there and to think of all the people, famous or not, who have walked there, worshiped there, and done business there. The forum was a great place and I can tell that just from looking at the ruins.
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