As rainy and terrible as the weather was on Saturday, Sunday turned out to be just the opposite. Warm breezes, temperatures in the low 70's, bright, bright sunshine - all in all, perfect weather for an October Sunday.
We began the day with another Context Travel walking tour, this one titled "Of Cows and Commerce." The purpose of the tour was to explain how the location of the cattle market and other commerce along the Tiber River influenced early Rome. Our guide, Phillip, was originally from England and had a Ph.D. in archaeology. He really gave us an understanding of how commerce and bankers were integral to the building of pagan temples, which later were converted to other uses, most often to churches. He also explained the concept of "spolia." As early structures were knocked down or fell down, there was a plethora of building materials lying around. Most of it was repurposed in the building of new structures. Thus a pagan temple that is repurposed as a church might not be recognizable unless you can identify early materials and spolia.
We began our walk at the pagan Temple to Portunas, built around 200 BCE. It was later turned into a church. The original structure is where you see brownish-gray tufa building blocks and white limestone columns.
Next we examined a Medieval tower house built around 1200 CE. The structure was used as a fortress for fighting with crossbows. Only about 30 of these towers of fortification are left.
The final building we studied in this one-block area was a round temple thought to be dedicated to Hercules and built around 200 BCE. It became the Church of St. Stevens of the Carriages. Its construction was probably paid for by a wealthy merchant.
Our next stop was across the street where a church was built on top of building used for grain distribution in ancient times.
The original structure had an open porch area used for distributing allotments of grain thatwas later enclosed in building the church. Phillip showed us how to discover the original columns inside the structure, as well as how to identify the interior church columns in the nave as spolia. The columns were made from different materials, had different decorative tops, and had bases of all different sizes to even out the columns of differing heights.
This church also housed the "Mouth of Truth." This is basically a hole in a slab of granite. Tourists lined up in the hundreds to stick their hand inside and see if they were righteous. Legend has it your hand will be chopped off if you are not worthy. The tiled floor of the church included many interesting patterns with stones from different regions. The purple circular stone in the floor is porphyry and is very valuable.
Our next stop on the walking tour was a neighborhood beneath the Palatine Hill. Here we saw the Arch of Janus built in the early 4th century CE. It was turned into a fortress in the Middle Ages.
Nearby is a Byzantine church that dates to the 11th century. The Mafia blew it up in 1993 as a show of power against the government. Attached to its side is a smaller arch called the Arch of the Argentari (bankers). The outside wall of the church has pieces imbedded in the wall that were found on the site during its construction. Its archway is created fro ancient spolia. Inside one can see that the roof is not rectangular but more rhomboid showing it was really constructed from two adjacent older buildings. This area had hundreds of cattle roaming in it and all the inscriptions and decorative marks start at a height above the horns of the cattle.
We made a quick stop at the Church of the Guild of the Blacksmiths, founded in the 1800's, as we made out was to the final stop on the tour, the Church of St. Nicholas of the Prisons built some time between 550-750 CE. This church was built on the site of three pagan temples. The poster below shows how the construction utilized the side walls of the two outer temples and built over the middle temple.
We toured the church from the rooftop belltower to the prisons chambers in the cellar. Fascinating to see which ancient parts remained and how spolia was used throughout the church construction.
Notice the original temple columns incorporated into the left side of the church.
Eric climbing to the top of the bell tower.
Prison cell in basement
At the conclusion of the tour we walked to the Jewish Ghetto, or Jewish Quarter which is line with shops and restaurants. We chose a Kosher restaurant and had a relaxing lunch, this time without wine so we would not go back to the hotel and nap!!! Instead we decided on a self-guided tour of the Palatine Hill. As we sat there eating we "people watched" as hundreds of Sunday afternoon strollers came by. Some stopped at the many restaurants and cafes, but most were just out for a stroll. It had a real festival feel, although frequent Carbineri or police drove by, sometimes in convoys of three or four cars.
The Palatine Hill was a great choice, but we had the cab driver drop us at the wrong hill. which we all dutifully climbed to the top of an interesting park. After making our way back down to street level, it took four map and google readers to figure out what we had done wrong and another 15 minute walk to reach the Palatine. We passed the Colleseum on our way.
The Palatine is the centermost of Rome's seven hills and overlooks the Roman Forum on one side and the Circus Maximus on the other. It is supposedly where Romulus founded the city of Rome in 753 BCE after killing his twin brother Remus in a fit of anger. Emperor Augustus built his palace here. He and subsequent emporers lived here in opulent luxury. The palace of the Vestal Virgins was also here. The most disturbing structure there is the Arch of Titus, commemorating the desctruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD and the subsequent enslavement of the Jewish people. Although I've seen pictures in many books, its still very disturbing to see the images on the arch. Below are various photos from our afternoon on the Palatine and views from its many overlooks.
Frieze on the Arch of Titus showing Roman soldiers carrying off booty from The Temple in Jerusalem.
View from one overlook
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