Itinerary 3 – From Chariots to Theatres
Walking in Rome is magical. Only in Rome can you walk on less touristy streets and see Ancient Roman hippodromes, temples and theatres then end up in the Renaissance Jewish Ghetto. This the third of three walks primarily about Ancient Rome. Enjoy!
Circo Massimo – Circus Maximus
Get off at the Circo Massimo Metro and head northwest. You will definitely appreciate just how long the hippodrome really is. Hippodrome is derived from the Greek words hippos (“horse”) and dromos (“course”). The shape is all that is left lying below the ruins of the Palatine Palace. The course was divided by a central barrier, the spina, which is now just a slight mound. The two obelisks that marked the two ends of the spina were relocated to the Piazza del Populo (1589) and the Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano.
Everyone dressed up to make an impression. The emperor would have worn purple robes and have been seated in the Imperial Box with his family on the Palatine Hill. Shops and bars would have surrounded the outside of the stadium.
The great events held here could go on for 15 days with as many as 24 chariot and horse races per day. Between races there was other entertainment such as athletic contests and wild animal fights. Imagine 200,000 fanatics sitting in the stands! The Hippodrome in Constantinople held 100,000 fans.
The first races were held in 326 BC and the last were sponsored by the Ostrogoths in AD 549. Later, it was turned into a medieval fortress by the powerful Frangipane family.
Genealogy
While only imagination is left, there is an important connection to history and heritage. The Ancient Romans and Greeks are descendants of the Proto-Indo-European tribes who were a horse riding culture from the Caucasus. The PIE invented the chariot and it was the primary war technology that enabled the PIE tribes to invade India (where they became the Vedic people), Turkey (Hittites and Lycians) and Europe (Romans, Greeks, et al). So it is not surprising that the ancients loved chariot racing. Does this explain our fascination with horse racing today?
Chiesa Santa Maria in Cosmedin
This 12th C. church has a Cosmatesque pavement and a campanile (bell tower), a unique feature of Italian churches. It is called cosmatesque because this mosaic art form was a speciality of the Cosma family! One of the few medieval churches in Rome, it was built on the site of a Roman food distribution centre. Some of the columns of the ancient building can be seen in the church.
Bocca della Verità
But the real reason tourists come here is the “sculpture” Bocca della Verità, standing on its side showing a man’s face with an open mouth. However, it is actually an ancient drain cover from the Cloaca Maxima, or Greatest Sewer. In fact, the sewer emptied into the Tiber near the Ponte Rotto, which is very close to this church. This sewer system was built by the Etruscans who invented the arch – essential for building sewers, aqueducts and coliseums. Having running water and sewers is critical to enable so many people to live in Ancient Rome.
Superstitious Rome
Bocca della Verità (mouth of truth) was used in the Middle Ages as a “lie detector” – people would put their fingers in the mouth and the mouth would close and sever their fingers if they lied!! It was particularly used for wives suspected of unfaithfulness. The only known case of someone claiming it worked was when Gregory Peck put his hand in the mouth while Audrey Hepburn watched. No, nothing happened but the 1953 movie Roman Holiday did drive tourists here like lemmings.
The Ancient Romans were very superstitious. For instance it was bad luck to get out of your bed on the left or sinistra side. That is why the word sinister originates from the Latin word for left (side).
Medieval Italians (well all Europeans) viewed cats as demons. They killed so many cats that they could not control the rat population. This contributed to the death of 60% of the population of Europe between 1346 and 1353, well known as the Black Plague.
So superstition helped change the course of history. This traumatic event damaged the authority of the Church and destroyed feudalism, which enabled the rise of city-states and led to the rise of the bourgeoisie, both of whom funded secular art and architecture to glorify themselves, which led to the Renaissance.
Forget what you were taught in school, that the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 led to the Renaissance. The Renaissance started earliest in Italy, with Massacio’s painting above of The Expulsion (Brancacci Chapel, Florence) in 1427. Static, two-dimensional Gothic art was replaced by implied movement and Humanism. This fresco was studied by every great painter of the Renaissance.
Brunelleschi rediscovered Vitruvius’ master work on Ancient Roman architecture. Brunelleschi and his friend Donatello came to Rome in 1404 to study the ancient ruins of the Fori Imperiali. As a result, Brunelleschi built the first dome (1446+) to be raised since Ancient Rome. In fact, the main church in Florence is now popularly known as “the Dome” or Duomo.
Forum Boarium
Interestingly, the piazza was the scene for public executions in Rome. The Forum Boarium was one of the most ancient sites and was a cattle (boarium) market. It became an important commercial centre for the port on the Tiber River. Thanks to this walk you will get to see two small temples that are still intact — the circular Hercules Victor and the rectangular Portunus.
The Temple of Hercules Victor (Tempio di Ercole Vincitore) is a circular temple with a concentric ring of twenty Corinthian columns. It dates from 2nd century BC. Why was this temple so well preserved? It was made a church in AD 1132.
First some history. In the early days of Ancient Rome, all the southern provinces (Sicily, Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata) were part of Magna Graecia, which the Greeks colonized starting in the 7th century BC. As Sicily was in between Carthage and Rome, the Greeks decided to side with the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars. At the end of the Punic Wars, the Romans decided to take over all of Greece in 146 BC as punishment.
Temple of Portunus — Tempio di Portuno
The Temple of Portunus is one of the best preserved of all Roman temples. Who knew there was a god for doors and keys? The same god later also protected ports (both doors and ports are related to the word porta). The temple’s Ionic columns and entablature (horizontal beams above the columns) reflect the wave of Greek influence after the conquest of Greece. However, it is not a Greek copy. Unlike the Parthenon, note how the cella (inner sanctum) extends until it touches the peristyle — this is an Etruscan influence. But the three-room cella of the Etruscans were changed to a single room because the Romans needed space to store their war trophies! The temple was rebuilt in 120 to 80 BC. Why was this temple so well preserved? It was made a church in AD 472.
Ponte Rotto
The Pons Aemilius (Ponte Emilio), built in 179 BC, is the oldest Roman stone bridge in the city. It was built by Aemilius Lepidus, the architect of massive Basilica Aemilia with the fused coins in the Amazing Forum Walk 1. Today the bridge is called Ponte Rotto, or “broken bridge”, as only one arch remains near Tiber Island.
Teatro Marcello — Theatre of Marcellus
During the conservative Republic of Rome, theatres were seen as endangering morality and were only built in wood. The second theatre to be built in stone (travertine) was completed in AD 13 by Augustus and named after his nephew, Marcellus, who had died too young. It was located next to the Temple of Apollo, of which only three corner columns remain.
The Theatre of Marcellus was the model for the Colosseum since each storey has a different order of columns Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. However the upper levels were redone when the theatre was converted into a fortress. The destruction of the theatre actually began in AD 370 when it was used as a quarry to repair the nearby Bridge of Cestius connecting Tiber Island. In the 16th century, the theatre was converted into a Renaissance palace. Palazzo Orsini had plenty of space. As one of the largest theatres in the Empire, it sat 20,000 people!
Portico d’Octavia
It was common practice to place a portico and sculptures in front of a temple. Augustus rebuilt this one in AD 23 and named it after his sister Octavia. It used to enclose the Temples of Jupiter and Juno, 300 columns, libraries and the foyer for the theatre. It was decorated with Greek sculpture masterpieces including the famous Medici Venus (now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence). The Medici Venus was found under the rubbish from the medieval fish market! All that remains of one of the most elaborate monuments is the entrance porch to the Portico.
Jewish Ghetto
The Renaissance street Via Portico d’Octavia leads to the Jewish ghetto. The narrow Via della Reginella is the only street remaining from the old Jewish Ghetto. The main synagogue is next to the Tiber River near the Teatro Marcello. The latter had controlled entry even when we lived there.
Piazza Mattei
This square is surrounded by the Palazzi of the rich and powerful Mattei family during the 16th and 17th centuries. Palazzo Mattei di Giove (Jupiter) and Fontana delle Tartarughe (turtle) are the gems to find. The architecture is Florentine.
The Mattei family were highly involved in banking and politics as well as prolific collectors of art. They produced eight cardinals. Why would the wealthy go into the Church? Think of the Pope more as the king of Central Italy, which the Church ruled over as their fiefdom. The Mattei had to protect their interests.
Trastevere
As this walk should take less time than the first two walks, at the end you can either proceed to the Piazza Navona walk or cross the river to visit Trastevere. There is a nice old bridge to Isola Tiberina (Tiber Island), which provides good views. The Ponte Fabricio is the oldest bridge crossing the Tiber that is still in use. The bridge in the photo dates from 62 BC.
Trastevere means across the Tevere or Tiber River. On the Trastevere side there are many piazze, restaurants and churches to see. For instance there is Santa Cecilia, an aristocrat who converted to Christianity and was martyred at her home located beneath the church.
After Chiesa Santa Maria in Trastevere, take a walk along the narrow Vicolo (alley) del Piedi (feet) filled with ristorante.
The Roman Empire was Cosmopolitan
The Roman Empire was a cosmopolitan society where regional peoples, their skills and ideas were absorbed. The major influences of the Etruscans were already discussed in Ancient Rome Walk 1. Roman art and architecture incorporated Egyptian, Etruscan and Greek traditions. The Silk Trade Routes brought in products and ideas from the Far East.
The Romans even offered citizenship and tolerated foreign religions as long as the conquered nation respected the Empire and the State Religion. This was an open society. If it wasn’t there would have been continual rebellion and revolution instead of Pax Romana.
Ethnic & Linguistic Heritage
The science of linguistics started with research into a common root Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language. PIE diverged into multiple languages starting around 3400 BC. The two oldest (i.e. first) branches of the Indo-European language group were Anatolian and Indo-Iranian (Sanskrit and Iranian-based languages including Kurdish, a major ethnic group in East Turkey). Not only does language link Europeans to all the Vedic and Iranian people, but this is now backed by DNA research with a particular shared genetic pattern (R1a1a).
Religious Heritage
What is even more interesting is the similarity between the Vedic (Hinduism), Persian, Greek and Roman religions. The Indo-Iranian pantheon described in the Dalyan and the Lycian Tombs post was the basis for the Ancient Greek, Roman and Hindu gods. That is because all these people are descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans (formerly called Aryans).
In fact, Iran means land of the Aryans. One major Zoroastrian (Persian) concept is that man had free will to choose his own path between good and evil, heaven and hell. This is the basis of all Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Some religions were imported by Roman soldiers and gained huge following in Rome. Mithraism was the major competitor for early Christianity. Mithraism originated in Persia from Zoroastrianism and spread through Roman Empire from about the 1st to the 4th century.
There are some very interesting similarities between the god Mithras and Jesus. For instance, they both had a virgin birth on December 25th, the winter solstice.
The Roman Empire Did NOT Fall
Plagues Decimated Rome
Long before the Goths actually sacked Rome, it was in decline. At its peak in AD 200, it is estimated that Rome had 1,000,000 or more people. This decreased dramatically due to various plagues brought in via the Silk Routes.
The Fall of Rome, the City
Rome (the city) by that time was mainly protected by mercenaries rather than Romans. Rome fell in AD 476 because it could no longer pay its mercenaries. The Western Roman Empire had no industry and no wealth. They had relied on slavery and the spoils of conquest.
Rome was No Longer the Capital of Rome
Prosperous Constantinople (now Istanbul) was the financial and educational centre of the Roman Empire because Turkey was the terminus of the Silk Trade Routes. In the year AD 330, the Emperor Constantine decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople. In other words, Constantinople became the political centre of the Roman Empire. Important things to know are that when Rome the city fell:
- People of that time still called the East the Roman Empire;
- The empire was still large; only Northern Europe and Spain were lost, and parts of Italy were regained for a little while;
- The principle language of this empire was Greek not Latin;
- The term Byzantine Empire was only coined in the 16th century – it never existed!
The eastern and southern half of the Roman Empire along with Pax Romana continued to exist for another thousand years. Ancient Roman architecture, such as the very famous Aya Sofia (Constantinople), whose dome was based on the Pantheon, continued to be built
