Daily Updates
Week Seven: Nov. 4
04 November. Matt reporting: My roommate keeps all of her clothes in separate plastic bags inside a large suitcase, which lies at the foot of her bed. Each morning at an obnoxious hour, if I manage to sleep through her alarm, I am duly awakened by the crinkle-crackle of furtive hands searching, searching, searching. This morning I was grateful for the early start, as our rendezvous was to be about 30 minutes away, at the Baths of Caracalla. We had to walk south, following the tortuous Tiber before turning inland, skirting around the Palatine. The whole hillside sang softly in the sun, and modern competitors displayed their horsepower as they flew around the ruins of the Circus Maximus in its shadow. My words, just like the pictures you’ll see, cannot adequately portray the size of the bath complex. Suffice to say that I haven’t been in many modern buildings (if any) that can compete with that scale. After Ariel’s presentation of that ruin, we continued along the old Via Appia south of the city, passing through the 3rd century walls of the city and on to a park conspicuous for its greenery, Christian catacombs, sheep flocks (how a propos), and lack of cars and scooters. Over half a million burials took place in these subterranean crypts of San Callisto, and graffiti from medieval pilgrims remains on the walls. Tonight (yes, I write this in the early evening), most of the group is going to a European Cup soccer match between Lazio (a Roma team) and Chelsea (England). The pubs are filled with the English faithful who have made the voyage, and in the streets can be heard choruses of Italian fight songs. Somewhere, in the middle, lies a group of students from New Hampshire, eager, nervous, and in wont of a cultural experience.
04 November. Ariel presents the Baths of Caracalla
04 November. The main East-West axis of the baths
04 November. A black and white mosaic from the bath complex
04 November. The group stands in one of the palestra
04 November. Ariel presents the apodyterium, or changing room
04 November. A staircase against the back wall which would have led to a second floor
04 November. The group dons hard hats for the visit to the Mithraeum...
04 November. ...and look pretty funny doing so!
04 November. Looking into the fossa sanguinis, or blood pit, in the Mithraeum
04 November. The Mithraeum
04 November. Tiles left on the vaulted ceiling
04 November. Maya
04 November. Katherine
04 November. Matt and Sophia
04 November. One of the towers from Rome's fortification walls, converted into a museum
04 November. The view down to an arch which would have supported an aqueduct, from the museum
04 November. The walls as seen from the museum
04 November. The view looking out towards the Via Appia Antica
04 November. The tomb of Caecilia Metella on the Via Appia Antica
04 November. A detail from the frieze of the tomb
04 November. The Via Appia Antica: you'd never know you were three miles from downtown Rome