Rome's beginnings date back to 753 B.C. Romulus and Remus, noble twin brothers, had been sent down the Tiber River as babies by their rival and great-uncle Amulius. They were nursed by a wolf, and eventually learned of their noble birth and returned to their village. After disposing of Amulius, they took control. The family strife continued as Romulus later murdered Remus, naming the growing settlement after himself. This sculpture shows how it all began...
One of the museums we visited after first arriving in Rome was Musei Capitolini, where the remains of a massive statue of Constantine are displayed.
The Roman Forum, whose ruins are seen here, was the political, religious, and social center of the Roman world. Then, after the fall of the Roman Empire, it became a social area for cows, as the land was used for pastures and grazing.
Nothing quite like hanging out with a couple old time philosophers. Granted, they're both Socrates in this case, which gets kind of annoying because they always agree, but in the hundreds and hundreds of carved busts, it's always nice to see a familiar face.
A preview of more Roman highlights to come! (We took a rather large souvenir. The other corner of the Colosseum should be arriving at someone's doorstep any day now...)
5 comments:
i was thinking it would be interesting to remove a block from the forum's ruins, kinda like that game that i can't remember the name of...
seriously, the forum's ruins are so tall and slender, it doesn't look like it would take much for a chunk to fall off the top and bop someone on the head. is there anything(like chicken wire :)) to hold it all together? can one walk right up under it? just curious; sure i'll never get close enough to rome to worry about it!
All that cool scaffolding in the background and all you can talk about are ancient ruins?
i was not talking about you, craig!
hahaheeheehoho
i did notice after i posted the question, that the columns seem to have iron 'bandaids'. yes?
Many of the ruins have chicken wire around them, while others you aren't even allowed to walk very near. We think that it's probably both for our safety and also because they don't want people touching the monuments or climbing on them.
And the game you're thinking of Merry is probably Jenga. Justin's a Jenga master.
so, jenga master justin, did you pull out a stone or two?
they have chicken wire? seriously? i'd a thunk there might be some way more engineerical kind of thing and the chicken wire was meant to be a joke.
very interesting.
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