I found the below video interesting, it describes the details around the assassination of Julius Caesar and what happened exactly leading up to his cremation in the Forum. Something I didn't know, the crowd started throwing their jewellery and personal belongings onto the funeral pyre, then their clothing, furniture from neighbouring businesses, you name it. When I visited the Forum I saw the location of Caesar's cremation and found that people threw coins onto the spot. At the time I tried to get an answer as to why people did this but got no sensible reply. Well, now I know. That's what I call famous.
Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts
December 08, 2020
November 29, 2020
Roman Boots
This video has all you need to know about Caligae, the Roman military boot. Also contains good pronunciation of Latin.
February 06, 2019
Rome II
We sampled McDonald's in Italy while in Rome. It wasn't that good, bought from the McDonald's next to the central train station (not the outlet inside the station itself), must avoid McDonald's while in Italy in the future:
Yes we checked out the Coliseum in case I haven't mentioned that before, this pic shows how it sits alongside Constantine's arch:
Then a nice view of the Coliseum coming down from the hill Nero's golden home sits on:
Inside the structure, my daughter dryly noted the use of 2,000 year old scaffolding (not), oh and a modern concrete batching plant outside as well. In other words constant work is ongoing to keep the structure from falling down - suggestion: throw the cars out from the vicinity, that might help:
We checked out the place it is said Julius Caesar was cremated in the Forum, people place coins and other offerings there, no idea why they do that:
We took in other sights, such as the Trevi Fountain, and noted the large volume of souvenirs connecting the fountain with Audrey Hepburn's film, Roman Holiday. No surprises guessing the age of the visitors:
A short walk then to the Pantheon, the absolute highlight of our whole trip:
The famous ceiling:
And the drain holes in the floor to take away the water that falls through that hole at the top:
People seem to forget to walk around the outside of the building, just to see how old the structure is:
We then visited Vatican City, walking there from the Pantheon, and the next day for a second time by taking the hop on/hop off bus which commenced its journey right outside our hotel. By using the bus we had a lot of time to see the Vatican Museum:
Walking back from Vatican City we came upon the Largo di Torre Argentina and its Roman Republican temples. Many believe this is the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar. This is not well promoted by the Italians and the sign explaining the site is very poor:
Then heading in the general direction of the hotel, came up close and personal with the Circus Maximus:
Then on the next day we get off the hop on/hop off bus at their stop on the hill to the right, to get a view of the Circus Maximus from that vantage point and head to the Bocca della Verita or Mouth of Truth, as my daughter is obsessed with the thing. Initially we couldn't find it and that was because guide books put us badly wrong. The simple explanation to find this; from the hop on/hop off bus-stop at the Circus Maximus, head down the hill in the direction the traffic is travelling. Go over the first street, then keep going straight, the Mouth of Truth is on the next corner inside the building on the corner, the entrance just around the corner on your right shoulder.
That was fun, daughter didn't lose her hand. Then back on the bus and off to the Vatican Museum. Interesting, learnt that Raphael is much better than Michelangelo and that the Sistine Chapel ceiling is totally overrated. Another tourist trap. Though on one of the displays I did read that there is no proof at all that Christians were fed to the lions by the Romans. Thank you Vatican, I knew that, and finally comes confirmation from people with a vested interest in saying the opposite.
The Vatican Museum has a lot of really old stuff, such as Egyptian pieces 5,000 years BC:
5,000 BC are those little pieces in the middle of the pic. That's old. The Vatican Museum is better laid out but English did evaporate at times, though not as often as with Italian Museums. The museum can be beautiful:
But the exit staircase is treacherous, watch out:
Outside, the Vatican was having some festival for agriculture:
Yes we checked out the Coliseum in case I haven't mentioned that before, this pic shows how it sits alongside Constantine's arch:
Then a nice view of the Coliseum coming down from the hill Nero's golden home sits on:
Inside the structure, my daughter dryly noted the use of 2,000 year old scaffolding (not), oh and a modern concrete batching plant outside as well. In other words constant work is ongoing to keep the structure from falling down - suggestion: throw the cars out from the vicinity, that might help:
We checked out the place it is said Julius Caesar was cremated in the Forum, people place coins and other offerings there, no idea why they do that:
We took in other sights, such as the Trevi Fountain, and noted the large volume of souvenirs connecting the fountain with Audrey Hepburn's film, Roman Holiday. No surprises guessing the age of the visitors:
A short walk then to the Pantheon, the absolute highlight of our whole trip:
The famous ceiling:
And the drain holes in the floor to take away the water that falls through that hole at the top:
People seem to forget to walk around the outside of the building, just to see how old the structure is:
We then visited Vatican City, walking there from the Pantheon, and the next day for a second time by taking the hop on/hop off bus which commenced its journey right outside our hotel. By using the bus we had a lot of time to see the Vatican Museum:
Walking back from Vatican City we came upon the Largo di Torre Argentina and its Roman Republican temples. Many believe this is the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar. This is not well promoted by the Italians and the sign explaining the site is very poor:
Then heading in the general direction of the hotel, came up close and personal with the Circus Maximus:
Then on the next day we get off the hop on/hop off bus at their stop on the hill to the right, to get a view of the Circus Maximus from that vantage point and head to the Bocca della Verita or Mouth of Truth, as my daughter is obsessed with the thing. Initially we couldn't find it and that was because guide books put us badly wrong. The simple explanation to find this; from the hop on/hop off bus-stop at the Circus Maximus, head down the hill in the direction the traffic is travelling. Go over the first street, then keep going straight, the Mouth of Truth is on the next corner inside the building on the corner, the entrance just around the corner on your right shoulder.
That was fun, daughter didn't lose her hand. Then back on the bus and off to the Vatican Museum. Interesting, learnt that Raphael is much better than Michelangelo and that the Sistine Chapel ceiling is totally overrated. Another tourist trap. Though on one of the displays I did read that there is no proof at all that Christians were fed to the lions by the Romans. Thank you Vatican, I knew that, and finally comes confirmation from people with a vested interest in saying the opposite.
The Vatican Museum has a lot of really old stuff, such as Egyptian pieces 5,000 years BC:
5,000 BC are those little pieces in the middle of the pic. That's old. The Vatican Museum is better laid out but English did evaporate at times, though not as often as with Italian Museums. The museum can be beautiful:
But the exit staircase is treacherous, watch out:
Outside, the Vatican was having some festival for agriculture:
February 05, 2019
Rome
Our travels in Italy ended in Rome. I also give it top spot due to the layout of the streets which are logical and well signposted, and considering that most of the main sights are in Rome as well. My personal favourite place is Florence but I have to admit it is much smaller. If heading to Italy, you have to visit Rome.
We spent a week in Rome, the first few days just walking around, then another day using a hop on/hop off bus, then our last full day we devoted to shopping.
On our first walk around we stumbled upon the Coliseum:
It's an imposing structure and you can see how it was constructed, rather like an onion with the outer layers going higher and reaching over the lower inner layer.
But while impressive, it's still only a sports complex. For me the Forum and Palatine Hill are more interesting. The Italians get complicated with their ticketing, there is something called a Super Ticket which I'm not sure about as the place advertising it was not selling it. Italians are idiots like that. In the end we bought a ticket for the Coliseum and Palatine, which gave one entry to each, valid for two days. We visited both over one day, which was hard work, we wore our legs out.
Without needing a ticket you can get a good view of Constantine's arch,
and the gladiator school that sat right next to the Coliseum (gladiators went into the stadium underground):
Plus, aqueducts which brought in water are clearly visible as are what is left of 2,000 year old apartment blocks.
Using your ticket to gain entrance to the Palatine, you can get a good view of the Circus Maximus, still an impressive structure today. Do they still race horses on this track and if not, why not (look out Ben-Hur)?
At the other end of the Palatine you can get a good view of the Forum:
Tomorrow I'll continue describing our Rome experiences, including the awesome Pantheon which was the highlight of the whole trip. But before I go I'll leave you with a pic of the hop on/hop off bus we used.
The advantage this afforded was the ability to quickly get to the main things, but also in having the upper deck we got a really good idea of how things looked 2,000 years ago. Take out the cars, and it would have been stunning having Trajan's column at one end and Titus and Constantine's arch at the other, to one side the Palatine, and the other side the hill with Nero's golden house on it. The Coliseum standing between the two. You can get this from up top on the bus, but while walking around on the ground down below you can't see the layout all that well.
We spent a week in Rome, the first few days just walking around, then another day using a hop on/hop off bus, then our last full day we devoted to shopping.
On our first walk around we stumbled upon the Coliseum:
It's an imposing structure and you can see how it was constructed, rather like an onion with the outer layers going higher and reaching over the lower inner layer.
But while impressive, it's still only a sports complex. For me the Forum and Palatine Hill are more interesting. The Italians get complicated with their ticketing, there is something called a Super Ticket which I'm not sure about as the place advertising it was not selling it. Italians are idiots like that. In the end we bought a ticket for the Coliseum and Palatine, which gave one entry to each, valid for two days. We visited both over one day, which was hard work, we wore our legs out.
Without needing a ticket you can get a good view of Constantine's arch,
and the gladiator school that sat right next to the Coliseum (gladiators went into the stadium underground):
Plus, aqueducts which brought in water are clearly visible as are what is left of 2,000 year old apartment blocks.
Using your ticket to gain entrance to the Palatine, you can get a good view of the Circus Maximus, still an impressive structure today. Do they still race horses on this track and if not, why not (look out Ben-Hur)?
At the other end of the Palatine you can get a good view of the Forum:
Tomorrow I'll continue describing our Rome experiences, including the awesome Pantheon which was the highlight of the whole trip. But before I go I'll leave you with a pic of the hop on/hop off bus we used.
The advantage this afforded was the ability to quickly get to the main things, but also in having the upper deck we got a really good idea of how things looked 2,000 years ago. Take out the cars, and it would have been stunning having Trajan's column at one end and Titus and Constantine's arch at the other, to one side the Palatine, and the other side the hill with Nero's golden house on it. The Coliseum standing between the two. You can get this from up top on the bus, but while walking around on the ground down below you can't see the layout all that well.
January 30, 2019
Naples
On our trip to Italy we had decided to stay in Naples and make a day trip to Pompeii. A bit of a mistake that as it turns out we should have done things the other way around - stay near Pompeii and take a day trip to Naples.
Why? Naples is a dirty, grubby city, full of crime. It's not a nice place. We took a taxi ride once, from the outside the car looked like a taxi, but inside the cab it was just managing to hang together. The seatbelts didn't work and literally every surface was bashed, dinged, completely worn out. I've never seen any car like it and certainly no taxi. The driver was a happy enough chap, like most Italians he'd learned to accept his fate.
We didn't get to see Herculaneum. A decision had to be made as we ran out of time and I read somewhere that Herculaneum had been stripped of anything interesting. That must be right as our visit to the National Archaeological Museum in Naples seemed to confirm it. What we could read in English often provided the note 'from Herculaneum' or some such. And that English is sporadic at best, at some point all English just evaporated. Everywhere was like that in Italy, they make a half-baked attempt to explain things (and please don't email me saying I should learn Italian, I'm quite happy to learn some, but I'll make a concerted effort when Italy start winning wars <insert sound of crickets chirping>).
The museum in Naples is really the only place worth visiting. We saw the Alexander Mosaic. Kind of Yay, it's not that impressive really. The Numismatics room was closed so we couldn't see the Augustus gold coin or medallion. I believe that these random shut-downs occur all the time and so be warned, the very thing you went to see may be unavailable on that day. Good luck trying to find out if it is (available that is).
Verdict on Naples: it is hard to believe this place is the third largest city in Italy. Its much vaunted pizza is worse than all other pizza in Italy. The world heritage inner city is a dark featureless place and presents an ideal location for muggings. I'm sure you'll be mugged at some point if you stay there too long as criminality appears widespread. And I'm not talking about refugees and migrants. They're mostly well behaved and clean, they're too concentrated on surviving to be worried about committing crime. No, the lowlifes will be locals I'm sure.
Some areas of Naples are complete no-goes after dark. You wade almost ankle deep in blood, vomit, broken teeth, and animal and human faeces (intentional exaggeration to make the point). These places are really bad and they're everywhere. The best thing that could happen to Naples is it gets bulldozed quick smart and then rebuilt modern and fresh.
Naples has a sort-of Chinatown, but they serve up spaghetti as noodle. So that wonton noodle soup is wonton spaghetti soup. Just so you know, you know?
Why? Naples is a dirty, grubby city, full of crime. It's not a nice place. We took a taxi ride once, from the outside the car looked like a taxi, but inside the cab it was just managing to hang together. The seatbelts didn't work and literally every surface was bashed, dinged, completely worn out. I've never seen any car like it and certainly no taxi. The driver was a happy enough chap, like most Italians he'd learned to accept his fate.
We didn't get to see Herculaneum. A decision had to be made as we ran out of time and I read somewhere that Herculaneum had been stripped of anything interesting. That must be right as our visit to the National Archaeological Museum in Naples seemed to confirm it. What we could read in English often provided the note 'from Herculaneum' or some such. And that English is sporadic at best, at some point all English just evaporated. Everywhere was like that in Italy, they make a half-baked attempt to explain things (and please don't email me saying I should learn Italian, I'm quite happy to learn some, but I'll make a concerted effort when Italy start winning wars <insert sound of crickets chirping>).
The museum in Naples is really the only place worth visiting. We saw the Alexander Mosaic. Kind of Yay, it's not that impressive really. The Numismatics room was closed so we couldn't see the Augustus gold coin or medallion. I believe that these random shut-downs occur all the time and so be warned, the very thing you went to see may be unavailable on that day. Good luck trying to find out if it is (available that is).
Verdict on Naples: it is hard to believe this place is the third largest city in Italy. Its much vaunted pizza is worse than all other pizza in Italy. The world heritage inner city is a dark featureless place and presents an ideal location for muggings. I'm sure you'll be mugged at some point if you stay there too long as criminality appears widespread. And I'm not talking about refugees and migrants. They're mostly well behaved and clean, they're too concentrated on surviving to be worried about committing crime. No, the lowlifes will be locals I'm sure.
Some areas of Naples are complete no-goes after dark. You wade almost ankle deep in blood, vomit, broken teeth, and animal and human faeces (intentional exaggeration to make the point). These places are really bad and they're everywhere. The best thing that could happen to Naples is it gets bulldozed quick smart and then rebuilt modern and fresh.
Naples has a sort-of Chinatown, but they serve up spaghetti as noodle. So that wonton noodle soup is wonton spaghetti soup. Just so you know, you know?
December 19, 2018
Merry Saturnalia
It's December and that time of year again folks.
Saturnalia >>> https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/saturnalia
"Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas."
That's right, Christmas is actually Saturnalia. Face it, we don't actually know when Jesus Christ was born.
Giving gifts, feasting, lighting candles, singing of songs, looking after the poor are all Saturnalia. When you wear that crown at the Christmas meal, blow a whistle, tell jokes, that's also Saturnalia. In Rome, within each household a slave would be appointed king for the day, and he would issue orders, the owner waiting on him and the household family would provide food for the other slaves as well. Boxing Day, the day after Christmas may also trace its origins to the latter practise.
Saturnalia >>> https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/saturnalia
"Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas."
That's right, Christmas is actually Saturnalia. Face it, we don't actually know when Jesus Christ was born.
Giving gifts, feasting, lighting candles, singing of songs, looking after the poor are all Saturnalia. When you wear that crown at the Christmas meal, blow a whistle, tell jokes, that's also Saturnalia. In Rome, within each household a slave would be appointed king for the day, and he would issue orders, the owner waiting on him and the household family would provide food for the other slaves as well. Boxing Day, the day after Christmas may also trace its origins to the latter practise.
September 09, 2018
Slavery: Roman Empire
Something I feel is often overlooked about the institution of slavery during the Roman Empire, is that it worked as a social filter. More recent slavery failed as it worked the opposite way, keeping people in slavery generation after generation.
What do I mean by social filter? The institution funnelled people from the outside, into becoming civilised. Now I'm grossly exaggerating of course, see a Wikipedia article below for a more detailed description. However I think my generalisation still holds.
I use an example, the instance is Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. When a region is conquered he takes a certain number as slaves. Wholesalers followed the army and they would take the slaves and sell them. This would have had two effects, the first being the conquered get to rid themselves of their troublemakers and underclass (that's because they had a say in who got enslaved). It also kept everyone left that wasn't enslaved behaving nicely.
Then the slaves once taken supported the Roman economy by conducting mostly menial tasks (though some were highly skilled and others were treated brutally in the mines, they are the exception not the rule) and they then had the chance to become free and a Roman citizen of low rank. This wasn't just a rare occurrence, laws had to be passed stopping the rapid freeing of slaves, it became so commonplace. And slaves were generally looked after with laws evolving to protect them from mistreatment. Some were expelled from Rome for being too dangerous, but most led productive lives after being freed, including those expelled.
The social filter remained effective for longer than the period of enslavement as freed slaves were connected to their former owners who became the freed slaves patron. They had obligations to one another. And critically, the children of freed slaves became Roman citizens without restriction.
For a good intro to Roman slavery see the following Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Rome
And a plug for my novel Dana Point, which has the Herculean society biochemically ranked. Status is determined by blood test at birth but individuals can rise by achievement. If they commit a crime they're busted back to the rank they were born with. It's the way I see a fully advanced Roman society evolving if it was allowed to.
August 03, 2018
Spartacus and other Roman Stuff
As a form of light relief I'm going to start talking about ancient Rome from time to time. I read a lot of rubbish about Rome and at times wonder why no-one questions the conventional wisdom. Hence my current rant about Spartacus.
No doubt you've all seen the movie. If you haven't there is a good chance you've seen the TV series. Spartacus is generally depicted as a noble freedom fighter, a man of principle fighting injustice, inequality and all things terrible imposed by the dastardly Romans. Right, lose that idea as no such thing is true.
Spartacus was possibly a Thracian gladiator who likely had some military training as a Roman auxiliary or some such. How he came to be a gladiator is unknown, he may have volunteered as this was not uncommon, or he'd fallen foul of the law. By the time of the Third Servile War he was a Murmillo, a heavyweight gladiator with face covering helmet, shield and gladius.
That's about all that can be said of him with any certainty. He does not appear to have been political. So who was Spartacus and what was he about? I maintain that it is pretty obvious he was a criminal. He did not like his surroundings and left, overthrowing the guards at the gladiator school and along with his fellow conspirators, seizing useful weapons along the way.
Instead of leaving and turning left to return to Thrace, and travelling by night and using the moon and stars to navigate with, he turned right and headed farther down the peninsula. Somehow we are expected to believe that Spartacus is some tactical genius, then why this fundamental mistake? He was bound to get trapped. Right?
He was bound to get trapped and he knew it. This, after all, was about loot and getting away, not about freedom. After a suitable period plundering the landscape and going up against a half-hearted Roman response, things came to a head. Rome had tired of these antics and decided to put a stop to Spartacus once and for all.
This is where it gets interesting and forms the key part of my argument. He duped his stupid followers and slipped away, leaving them in the lurch. That's the truth behind the story of the fleet of pirate vessels that were supposed to save them. Spartacus is meant to have paid them but they betrayed him by failing to turn up. Okay, think about that, how the hell are a ragtag band of 70,000 going to fit into a few pirate vessels?
I've got a better idea. How about there was only ever one pirate vessel, that Spartacus spun his followers a line then promptly did a runner on that one waiting vessel. The force that he had once commanded promptly collapsed and 6,000 of their number were crucified. The body of Spartacus was never found. Work it out people, why is this so obvious but never pointed out?
That leads me to examine the historical context. At the time the Romans needed a bogeyman, a nice scary story to tell people. This reminded everyone of the importance of Rome. Then in the modern era the Soviet Union used Spartacus as a propaganda tool with ballets like Spartacus and the fine music by Khachaturian (The Onedin Line TV series theme). Hollywood jumped onto the bandwagon and it all just gained a life of its own, devoid of any truth.
Spartacus was a criminal who gained a bit of loot and got away scot free. Maybe he died later when Pompey cleaned the seas of pirates.
No doubt you've all seen the movie. If you haven't there is a good chance you've seen the TV series. Spartacus is generally depicted as a noble freedom fighter, a man of principle fighting injustice, inequality and all things terrible imposed by the dastardly Romans. Right, lose that idea as no such thing is true.
Spartacus was possibly a Thracian gladiator who likely had some military training as a Roman auxiliary or some such. How he came to be a gladiator is unknown, he may have volunteered as this was not uncommon, or he'd fallen foul of the law. By the time of the Third Servile War he was a Murmillo, a heavyweight gladiator with face covering helmet, shield and gladius.
That's about all that can be said of him with any certainty. He does not appear to have been political. So who was Spartacus and what was he about? I maintain that it is pretty obvious he was a criminal. He did not like his surroundings and left, overthrowing the guards at the gladiator school and along with his fellow conspirators, seizing useful weapons along the way.
Instead of leaving and turning left to return to Thrace, and travelling by night and using the moon and stars to navigate with, he turned right and headed farther down the peninsula. Somehow we are expected to believe that Spartacus is some tactical genius, then why this fundamental mistake? He was bound to get trapped. Right?
He was bound to get trapped and he knew it. This, after all, was about loot and getting away, not about freedom. After a suitable period plundering the landscape and going up against a half-hearted Roman response, things came to a head. Rome had tired of these antics and decided to put a stop to Spartacus once and for all.
This is where it gets interesting and forms the key part of my argument. He duped his stupid followers and slipped away, leaving them in the lurch. That's the truth behind the story of the fleet of pirate vessels that were supposed to save them. Spartacus is meant to have paid them but they betrayed him by failing to turn up. Okay, think about that, how the hell are a ragtag band of 70,000 going to fit into a few pirate vessels?
I've got a better idea. How about there was only ever one pirate vessel, that Spartacus spun his followers a line then promptly did a runner on that one waiting vessel. The force that he had once commanded promptly collapsed and 6,000 of their number were crucified. The body of Spartacus was never found. Work it out people, why is this so obvious but never pointed out?
That leads me to examine the historical context. At the time the Romans needed a bogeyman, a nice scary story to tell people. This reminded everyone of the importance of Rome. Then in the modern era the Soviet Union used Spartacus as a propaganda tool with ballets like Spartacus and the fine music by Khachaturian (The Onedin Line TV series theme). Hollywood jumped onto the bandwagon and it all just gained a life of its own, devoid of any truth.
Spartacus was a criminal who gained a bit of loot and got away scot free. Maybe he died later when Pompey cleaned the seas of pirates.