URBEM FECISTI - COLOSSEUM

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

I haven't written too much about the Colosseum till now, even if it is the symbol of Rome, one of the most famous landmarks in the world and one of the New Seven Wonders.

Indeed, it is too famous amd there are plenti of ariticles and books about it, so I can't add too much

I decided to write something after one of my last posts, URBEM FECISTI - REFOUNDING THE EMPIRE, somehow to complete it, because the Colosseum marks a turning point of the empire.

URBEM FECISTI - REFOUNDING THE EMPIRE

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

In a previous post we discussed about to founding myth of the Roman Empire. It was connecting the founders of Rme to the refugees from Troy and, even more important, it was connecting tehm, and their leader Aeneas, to the gens Julia, the one to which Octavianus August was belonging.
The Julia-Claudia dinastty ended with Nero. Nero was the last emperor belonging to the old Roman aristocracy. After him, the emperor had mostly Italic origins or from the provinces.
At the same time the Senate, still having a great power in the I century AD (Nero was deposed by the Senate and then committed suicide), progressively lost power and, at the time of Septimius Severus at the beginning of the III century AD, its power became only symbolic.

Constantine

When the son of Septimius Severus, Anoninus Severus better know as Caracalla, extended the Roman citizenship to all the people living in the empire, the switch of power was completed. It went in the hands of the army. For over 70 years military anarchy reigned over the empire. No emperor after Septimius Severus died naturally till the advent of Diocletian.
To reestablish the orde in the empire Diocletian started sharing the power instituting the tetrarchy.
Diocletian resigned in the year 305 AD to spend his last years in his magnificent palace in Split in the modern Croatia. After his resignetion the tetrarchy survived for a very short period.
The one the emerged after the civil war that followed, was Constantine. First, after the battle at the Milvian Bridge in the year 312 AD, he took the control of the western part of the empire. In 324 AD he succeeded to become the only emperor.
Constantine understood that the empire had to be refounded.

A New Myth

The new foundation needed a new myth and Constantine found that in the christian religion. That occurred also with the suggestion of his Mother, Helen, that was christian and that is now celebrated as Saint Helen. The chistina community was relatively small, more or less 10 % of all the inhabitants of the empire,  but it was cohesive and transversal to social classes.

According to the ancient tradition, before the battle at the Milvian Bridge, Constantine had a vision, In hoc signo vinces (In this sign you will conquer) that convinced him to paint the cross on the shields of his soldiers.

In Hoc Signo Vinces

In  the year 313 AD the christian religion, that was persecuted under Diocletian, was fully legalized with the Edict of Milan.
Constantine donated the area formerly known as Horti Laterani to the bishop of Rome, i.e. to the Pope. At that time the area was know as Domus Faustae, because it belonged to the wife of Constantine, Fausta.
The palace became the residence of the Pope and a church, the first in Rome, was erected. That church is St. John Lateran, Holy See, cathedral of Rome and mother of all the churches of the world.
Two of the other maiin basilicas of Rome were erected under Constantine, St. Paul and St. Peter.

St. John Lateran

It may sound strange that the main and first basilica of Rome is dedicated to St. John (by the way, which one? Baptist or Evangelist?). Actually speaking is dedicated to both of them but mainly to Christ, the Most Holy Savior, and its official name is something extremely long - Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World. Because of that, its name, over the centuries, has been semplified to St. John Lateram.

Rather obvioulsy the christian community strongly supported Constantine. Anyhow Constantine, after getting the full control of the empire, reaffirmed its imperial role with the organization of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, that was presided by him, and which purpose was to settle all theological issues in the church and to define a unique guideline.

Aftermath

Indeed Constantine succeded in its purpose to refound the empire that, before him, looked close to collapse. In the western side the empire survived for other 150 years, in the eastern side for over 11 centuries till the Ottoman conquer of Constantinopole (Istanbul). 

Nevertheless his actions had, and still have, several consequences. 

Since the foundation of the empire, the emperor was considered a semi-divine figure. That was obvioulsy in contrast with the figure of the Pope, vicar of Chist God.

To avoid any contrast with the emerging power of the Church, Constantine moved the capital city of the empire to Constantinople, the New Rome. 

After the death of Constantine, the empire was divided again into Western and Eatern. Only Theodosius, at the end of the IV century, reigned over both parts and made the christian religion the official religion of the empire. After Theodosius the separation became definitive and, along with the barbarian invasions, the progressive influence of the ecclesiastical hierarchy weakened the position of the emperor till the final collapse in 476 AD.

The Church and the Pope increased their power over the centuries, The new empire, initially created by Charlemagne, took officially the name of Holy Roman Empire in 962 AD. 

Their influence is evident also nowadays, both beacause of the strong Roman imprint on the western civilization and because of the hidden power made up of financial power and intelligence.
A clear evidence of that is the fact that the Catholic Church is the world's largest non-governmental provider of education and healthcare services
Even because of that Rome is named the Eternal City. There is nothing eternal among the human things but for sure the legacy of Rome is what closer to eternal you might find in history.
Every person who wants to be well aware of what is happening in the world and wants to use the critical spirit, should know this piece of history.
Even the centuries-long disputes among Turks and Russians find their origin in the Roman legacy.
A recent book by Massimo Franco, Parallel Empires (Imperi Paralleli in
Italian) describes the often conflictual relationship among USA and the Vatican. It is worth reading it.

We, at San Lorenzo Gu,est House, Villa Borghese Guest House and St. John Villa, take care of this blog to help our guests to enjoy at the best their stay in Rome.

Vincenzo

ANCIENT ROME LIVE

 

The spring and summer appointment with the ancient Rome of Ceasar and Augustus is back. Go back at the birth of the Roman Empire.

URBEM FECISTI - ENGINEERING AND EMPIRE (1)

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

Why comparing Egytian pyramids and the Colosseum?
They are the symbols of ancient civilizations, both important but deeply different. The Egyptian civilation, although stable and long lasting, reamined local while the Roman one has been global
What was absolutely new with Rome, at least in part of the world, was the ability to create a very large empire with a modern conception of the state that is still alive and that remained stable over several centuries, 15 if we consider the Eastern Roman Empire.  How was that possible?
The Roman Empire was essentially a confederation of cities, each with a high degree of local self-government. Each city, and the countryside that was controlled by it, had the obligation to recognize the general authority of Rome, to send to Rome a certain amount of taxes but it was free to keep the local traditions if they were not in contrast with the authority of Rome. In that way local elites became part of the Roman power system. Eventually, most of the emperors were not born in Rome but their origins were in the provinces.
Promoting urbanization was a key to develop that model of government. In that way local elites were concentrated in a unique place rather than being dispersed here and there and control was easier.
In addition, people living in the cities were privileged over those living in the countryside.
The foundation of new cities and  the growth of existing ones proceeded all along the existence of the Western Empire. Rome was the first megalopolis of the human history, surpassing 1 million of inhabitants between I and II century AD and remaining close to 1 million till the first half of the V century AD. Several other cities had more than one hundred thousands inhabitants and many between 20 a 100 thousands.

Ancient Rome

In the IV century AD about 30 % of the population of the empire lived in a city. That was an enormous number considering that the economy was based essentially on agriculture.
After the fall of the Western Empire, no European city reached the size of Rome before the XVIII century.
Civil engineering played an essential role in that because it allowed cities to grow and to be good places where to live.
The Egyptian pyramids are absolutely impressive, especially when we consider the available technologies, but they were simply the burial place of one person, the pharaoh. There is a pyramid in Rome too, but it was built by a private citizen, Caius Cestius.
The Colosseum, the symbol of Rome, was instead a place that was thought to be used everyday by thousands of normal people attending to the shows.
And most of what we see today was built for general use.

Via Aurelia Antica

Porta Maggiore

Via di San Gregorio

Via Turati

Walking in Rome it is possible, for example, to see the remains of ancient aqueducts (by the way, one is still in use, the Aqua Virgo), or to cross the Tiber over bridges built two thousands years ago. Other examples of great engineering are the baths, such as those of Caracalla.


(to be continued)
Vincenzo

URBEM FECISTI - THE FOUNDING MYTH

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

It was just few days ago that, sitting on the sofa and jumping from a TV channel to another, I saw two different movies with ancient Roman characters and set in Britain, King Arthur (2004) and The Eagle (2011). Both are a production from USA.

It is also interesting to observe that the best historians that have written about the ancient Rome are British, or American, starting from Edward Gibbon, whose The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was published in 1776, curiously the same year of the USA Declaration of Independence. 

So my question was why British and Americans are so much interested in the history of ancient Rome? 

And my answer, my personal opinion, is that everything has to do with the concept of imperial power. Imperial power is something that goes beyond the political and military domination, is the cultural influence on the peoples that are part of the empire and not only on them. 

URBEM FECISTI - JOURNALISM AND CAESAR

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

What do Julius Caesar and journalism have in common?

Caesar is, by many, considered the most important person in the history of the western world. He was the man that gave an empire to Rome and that marked a turning point in the political life of Western Europe and Middle East. Julius Caesar is celebrated as  one of the most, if not the most, capable generals in the military history. His victories are countless and they were almost all obtained with a very limited number of losses among his troops. At Pharsalus, the place where he defeated his rival Pompeius Magnus, the losses of the army of Pompeius were approximately 15000 soldiers; on the other side Caesar lost just 200 people despite having an army that was half of that of Pompeius.
Anyhow there other things for which Julius Caesar may be considered a person thta has left a legacy to the modern world, something that is part of our daily life.
One of those is the reform of the calendar. The Gregorian calendar that we are using nowadays is just a refinement of the Julian calendar.
But Caesar can be considered also the first newspaper publisher and war reporter of the history.

The ancient Romans were already used to keep track of the most important events of the life of the city that were reported in the Annales (yearly facts). That is the reason why the Roman history is so well documented. The historians that lived in that period had a precise source of information.
In the year 59 BC Caesar, during his consulate, officialized and properly organized the publication of the Acta Diurna (daily news) to report not only important events of the public life but also city news such as births, weddings and so on. The very first Acta Diurna had already appeared in 131 BC, but it was only after the decree of Ceasar that they started to be published and kept in a regular way. Acta Diurna were written on lime bleached wood tables or carved on stones that, after being exposed for some time, were removed and kept in the public archives.
The publication of the Acta Diurna, went on at least till 331 AD, when the capital of the empire was moved to Costantinopole. Unfortunately none of the tables has survived till the present times. Anyhow, again, they were a great source of information for the historians of that time.

Commentarii de Bello Gallico, or simply De Bello Gallico (Gallic War) is not only the most important text of the Latin prose, but also the first example of war reporting.
Other people had already written about war facts, the best example being probably the Anabasis of the Greek Xenophon. But all of those text were written well later of the facts.
Caesar started to report the facts more or less on real time. When the Senate began to oppose his campaign, he started sending to Rome the reports of his victories immediately after writing them to gain popular support. It was also the first example of propaganda.
coming back to the Acta Diurna, it is interesting to observe that is was normal for powerful or rich people living in the provinces, far away from Rome, to pay scribes to copy the Acta Diurna, and to send to them. Thanks to the efficient road system the were able to receive the copies in few days after the publication.
What has made Rome so different from other ancient civilation, and so present in our daily life, has been the fact that the Romans had a different way of thinking, for sure more pragmatic but, more importantly, open to changes.

URBEM FECISTI - ROMAN ROADS

Appian Way

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

The modern civilization, especially the West, is in credit with the ancient Greeks for everything related to the development of philosophy, literature, geometry and more. It was instead the ancient Romans who created social infrastructure and legislation on which still underlie our society. Already in the I century AD Strabo and Pliny the Elder, observed that the Greeks missed to work on three essential pillars of the society: water supply, sewers and roads.
Water supply and sewers are essential for the growth of a town, roads are essential for the development of an organized state and for the growth of trades and of the economy and therefore of the propsperity of the populations.

The network of main roads, the consular ones, named after the consul that had taken care or the construction, was approximately 100000 km long. For comparison, it has to be considered that it is more than the network of main roads in the USA today, Interstate Highway System, although the extension of th Roman empire was approximately 60 % of the size of the USA and the population only 20 %.

Urbem fecisti - Roman bridges

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

Some years ago, in 1992, a huge flooding occurred in the small town of Vaison la Romaine in Provence, southern France, making also several victims. The modern part of the town, close to the river Ouzere, was seriously damaged. The roman bridge that, since almost 2000 years, is crossing the river, had only limited damages, essentially the parapets.
By the way, probably the most famous roman bridge is also located in Provence, Pont du Gard.

The story of the bridge of Vaison la Romaine tells a lot about the ability of ancient Romans when building bridges.
In the city of Rome there are several ancient bridges that are still used  so demonstating how reliable was their construction technique.

Pons Fabricius

The one that has had less modifications is Ponte Fabricio (Pons Fabricius), built in 62 BC and still in its original status. It connects the east bank of the Tiber to the Tiber Island. The inscriptions celebrating Lucius Fabricius the curator of the roads that commissioned the bridge, are still perfectly visible.

On the other side of the Tiber Island, going to the west bank, there is Ponte Cestio (Pons Cestius). It was built some year after Pons Fabricius. The two side arches have buin rebuilt at the end of the XIX century when the walls on the river embenkment were constructed.
 

  Pons Cestius in the XIX century                         Pons Cestius today              

Ponte Sant'Angelo (or Pons Aelius) was bulit in 134 AD by Emperor Hadrian to connect the city center to his mausoleum. The bridge has five arches. Origninally it had three arches, the central ones, while on the two sides there were ramps. At the end of the XIX century the ramps were replaced by new arches.

Ponte Sant'angelo (Pons Aelius)

Probaly the most famous of the Roman bridges is Ponte Milvio (Pons Milvius). It was originally a wooden bridge that, in the late II century BC, was replaced by one made of stones. It was the main entrance to the city from the north side so it had a critical strategic and economic importance. In 312 AD, in the area between it and Saxa Rubra, Constantine I defeated Maxentius in the battel of the Milvian Bridge so becoming the sole emperor. That battle marked the beginning of a new era in the relations between politics and religion and its consequences are still present today.

Ponte Milvio

Because of its strategic importance Ponte Milvio has been seriously damaged several times because of war facts. Nowadays only the three central arches, that in any case have required deep maintenance, are the original ones. The tower on the north side has been built by architect Valadier in the early XiX century. 

Ponte Milvio has remained open to car traffic till 1978. Since then it is only for pedestrian use.

In the early years of this millenium Ponte Milvio has become the starting place of a ritual that, since then, has spread in other Italian and European cities. The ritual consist in placing a love padlock to a lamppost by young couples. The ritual was invented by the writer Federico Moccia in his novel "I want you". Due to the collapse of a lamppost in 2007, the placement of the padlocks has been forbidden and, in 2012. the existing padlocks have been removed. Nowadays padlocks may be found in the area around Ponte Milvio as well as in other parts of the city that are commonly visited by lovers.

The last ancient bridge is Ponte Nomentano, also located on the noth side of the city but crossing the Aniene river. The central arcj is of the late republican period. The other parts were recontructed in the VI century AD after being damaged during the invasion of the Ostrogoths led by their king Totila. The tower over the bridge was originally built in the VIII century and reconstructed in the XV century. Another main recontruction occurred in XIX centrury after that, in 1849, the French troops cutted it for a lenght of 7 meters.

Ponte Nomentano

 The strengh of the construction is reflected in the fact that, until 1997, the bridge has been used for normal car traffic. Also I crossed it almost every day by car.

Vincenzo - San Lorenzo Guest House

URBEM FECISTI

Urbem fecisti, quod prius orbis erat.

 

The articles of the series Urbem Fecisti are dedicated to the way Rome has shaped the modern world, to its modernity. It's a fact that Roman Empire is still living inside each of us in the western world and not only.

You (Rome) made one city what was once wild world

These words, written in the early V century AD by Claudius Rutilius Namatianus are likely the best ones to explain why Rome is such a unique city. 

Western and Southern Europe, Nothern Africa and Middle East are full of memories of the Roman civilization  that has shaped our way of life with a such depth that very often is even not recognized.

The influence ho Rome did not finish with the fall of the empire. 

Being the seat of the Catholic Church, Rome continues to exert a strong influence on our everyday's life.

The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, St. Peter are only a starting point to fully understand the soul of Rome and therefore its influence is such a great part of the world.  

We wish to bring you to discover places, moments, behaviors that make Rome the most unique city among all.

Follow us  in our next posts to discover more

San Lorenzo Guest House Staff