Forum & Titus Arch
Beautiful sunny day in Rome , and less wind to complicate the video footage! All went well and no further drone disasters!
We spent the morning at the Roman Forum (ancient town center and location of the senate and other important political/ business building). Paul would certainly have walked these streets while in Rome as would Peter. Next to the forum is Palatine Hill with remains of palaces and palatial homes for the ancient rich and famous.
The forum contains the Titus Arch, fully intact. The decorations of the arch depict Titus’s triumphal return to Rome after completing the squashing of the Jewish rebellion and destruction of the temple in Jerusalem approximately 70 AD. One of the reliefs on the arch shows the Romans carrying off temple treasures including a large Menorah. It is strange to see this piece of history portrayed by the victors as a triumph after having seen the ancient and lasting effects of it as a tragedy in Israel.
The Forum also contains a triumphal arch to Constantine and his victory at the battle of the Milvian bridge approx 321 AD. Constantine claimed to see a sign of the cross before the battle in the sky and he converted to Christianity and thus changed the history of the world.
We also toured the colosseum. Constructed under emperor Vespasian AD 69 /70 and completed by Titus and Domitian. It could hold 80,000 spectators and has a horrific history of gruesome killing of animals/ gladiators/ prisoners of war and at times Christians.
In the afternoon we took an elevator to the top of the Victor Emmanuel monument (this is new, 1865, a dedication to the first king of Italy LOL). A grand view of the entire old city and all of the places we’ve seen so far.
We took a walk through the Jewish quarter and toured the largest synagogue in Rome whose dome is second only to St. Peter’s Basilica. The Synagogue is near the Tiber River and so we followed the river to view several 1st century bridges.
Purely for our daughter Emily’s love of the movie “Roman Holiday” with Audrey Hepburn, we found the famous Bocca Della Verita (mouth of truth) sculpture. It’s located in the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, which is very interesting itself and has St Valentine’s skull in a glass reliquary… other places claim to have the same, so who knows?! This site was a temple to Hadrian in the second century before being converted to a church in Christian times.
Tomorrow morning we head for Naples via the bullet train. Paul landed at Puteoli, a port near Naples, on his way to Roman imprisonment. We will spend 3 days there and then back to our little hotel here in Rome.
