Day 5, Tuesday, Rome

Today was the first full day of the Seminar and our minds and bodies were active throughout the day.  The roads are so narrow and congested with traffic that frequently we are walking fairly long distances between settings since our bus cannot get through, or when it does transport us, it has to drop us blocks from our true destination.  By the end of the session Tuesday (an 8 AM to 6 PM day) Victor's Apple Health App recorded that he had walked 12,000+ steps.  Since he is over 6 feet tall and I'm under 5 feet, I can only imagine how many steps I had taken.  The walking is on uneven and broken cobblestones, so my knees and back are really feeling it!  Thank goodness for Aleve.

Colosseum

The day began with a tour of the Colosseum, along with thousands of our "closest friends." 

The crowds are just incredible!  The buidling is extremely large and could seat 60,000 people.  Here the gladiators clashed and Christians were fed to the lions.  Our Melton discussions centered on the differences between pagan and Christian values. 

Vigna Randanini Catacombs

Our second stop was the underground catacombs at Vigna Randanini built in the 2nd Century CE.  These were originally pagan catacombs but later were used to bury Jews.  It is an underground warren of twisting, turning passages in complete darkness, except for the flashlights we carried.  About half of our flashlights failed within 5 minutes, including mine, so I had to walk close to a "lit" person to see where I was going.  It was fascinating, but also terrifying to be in the catacombs because if you didn't keep up you were totally lost.  I photographed a number of tomb markers that we could identify as Jewish due to the symbols on the markers.  The most common is a menorah, but we also saw a torah, lulav, etrog, and shofar.  

                                               Menorah

                                                    Torah symbol

                       Symbols include shofar, Kiddush cup, Menorah, etrog, and lulav

A few of the tombs were actual chambers, rather than niches in the wall and several retained their original frescoes.

        

       

Pantheon

After a quick bite of lunch, we went to the Pantheon.  After sufficient time to explore the building, we had a study session on Hadrian and Jewish thought.  

        

About this time the rain (that had been threatening all day) started in earnest.

Piazza Navona

Despite the rain, which had now turned into a drenching downpour, we continued on to Piazza Navona.  Since we could not do our scheduled study session on "The Church Fathers and the Jews" in the open Piazza, we commandeered a restaurant and, fortified with gelatto, we had our study session indoors.  

Campo di Fiori 

The weather cleared by the time the gelatto was finished so we walked quickly to Campo di Fiori where Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake by the Inquisition.  The small plaque in the center of the Campo tells of the bonfires there that engulfed both people and books in flame.  

                                   

During our very moving study session, Haim read a poem to us by Czeslaw Milosz that talked of the terrible deeds that occured here, which people came to watch and then returned to their vegetable and flower stands as if nothing had happened.  We had first hand knowledge of this clash of trajedy and normalcy as a rowdy group of Italian soccer fans sang bawdy drinking songs in the taverna as we discussed these issues. 

The entire day had been one of contrasts - Jewish values in ancient Rome and pagan Roman values, Jewish tombs in a pagan catacomb, sun and rain, laughter and tears.