Circus Maximus

As you walk past the Colosseum and around the Paletine hill, you come to one of my favorite places in Rome, the Circus Maximus. This enormous ovular field was once the sight of ancient Chariot races. Today you can still see the "track" that was used and at one end ancient bleachers are still intact. Unlike the Colosseum which had a fixed capacity, Circus Maximus could be filled with over 100,000 people at a given race. This was due to the ability the people had to view the races from a distance and from atop the surrounding hills.
Standing in the bottom of this track you can feel the size of it and it made me wonder, "how fast could I run around this track if i was being chased with a man in a Chariot throwing spears at me."

Colosseum from a distance

From the corner of Fiori Impaeriale standing to the left of the capitol, you can get an incredible view of the Colosseum. As you walk down this street toward the ancient arena you can really sense what it was like for tens of thousands of people to walk the same path on their way to watch a bloodbath. This road reminds me of Curtin Road or Park Ave at school. During a football weekend these streets are completely filled with people wearing hats and t-shirts supporting their team. People would walk down the street and pass monuments like East halls on the left and the BJC on the right. This scene is a little different than walking with an ancient Roman market on the left and the Forum on your right. I'm not sure which I prefer.

Colosseum Russian Ritual

So after the first time that I ever went inside the Colosseum I am choosing to blog about what happened outside of it instead. As my friends and I exited the Colosseum we saw some women dressed in strange costumes. As we neared we noticed that they were no older than 17 and they had two young boys near them dressed in even more extravagant attire. The next thing I knew people began to clap and shout. This was some sort of signal for the young boy who jumped out into the middle of this human made circle and began to “dance.” This dancing was more of a rigid jumping and stomping, paired with sharp precise movements of his hands and arms. One girl joined him but her dance was a slow majestic movement, the exact opposite of the boy’s. I labeled these people as Russian but I honestly don’t know where they could have been from. The dancing lasted about 10 minutes with several partners taking part. I want to assume that this was a wedding, a communion, a confirmation, or something else but to do that would be an insult to a culture that I know nothing about. Maybe it was just a formal way of picking up girls. If that was the case, I have a lot to learn.

Italians at the Colosseum

Having written about some of my experiences at the Colosseum, the appearance of some other "tourists," and the presence of the Roman soldiers, I thought it would be interesting to observe native Italians react to the structure. The most obvious reaction to the Architectural masterpiece from an Italian is no reaction at all. As I looked to try and pin a person as Italian, much as I have been pinned as an American from first glance, I was able to key in on their actions. Italians at the Colosseum are one of three things, annoyed at people trying to cross the busy Via Dei Fori Imperiali, struggling to navigate the hoards of people on their way to lunch or work, or ignoring the building and completely focusing on the tourists as they tried to sell products or services.
There was one notable exception to this and that was a father with his son. The boy looked to be about 8 years old and the father no older than 40. The boy was wearing a Totti jersey which was my first tip-off that they might be Italian. I wanted to make sure that they were Italian and walked by them to see what language they were speaking. Sure enough in thick Italian accents the Father spoke to his son pointing and gesturing. They were obviously from a different part of Italy and it looked like this was the first time the boy had seen the Colosseum in person. I could relate to this much more than the surprise I got when I saw how indifferent most Romans are to the building. It made me think of how in the US when I visit a new city or monument I am just as much of a tourist as the Japanese family standing next to me. It was interesting to see that Italians do appreciate the monuments that dot the city just as much maybe even more than i do.

Colosseum's Roman Soldiers

At any historical monument in Rome you are likely going to see at least one man dressed as a Roman Soldier. At the Colosseum, though, you will find dozens. These men will do anything that you please, in a photographic sense, to get a tip. Whether it is balancing a woman on a knee, flexing with some adolescents, or poking fun at people in wheelchairs, there are no boundaries.

The best part about these characters is their attitude. Every "Roman Soldier" I have seen looks like they are having the time of their life. They entertain tourists all day long and make some money doing it. Ironically, the men they represent would have been more likely to kill the tourists than to let them "paint" a picture of them. But hey, it's 2008 and Roman Soldiers are "in" again, where do I sign up?

Colosseum during Rush Hour

Today, Tuesday, we walked by the Colosseum on the way to a tour of two incredible churches, San Clemente and San Giovanni in Laterano. As we made our way back to the classroom from these churches at around 12:30 p.m. I got to witness one of the more entertaining aspects of the day, the swarming of the Colosseum by the stereotypical tourist. Disclaimer: before I start making fun of these people, please realize that I completely understand how incredible the Colosseum is and how worthy it is of the amount of attention it is given, and this is a generalization. With that said, some people/groups are hilarious. The typical tour group consists of about 20-40 slightly overweight middle-aged white people. Each group is led by a person holding a metal stick that has a handkerchief at the end of it and all are listening to portable headsets so they can hear the tour guide over the sound of vendors, traffic, and Polizia yelling at them to get the hell out of the street. As they walk the streets near the Colosseum they all have the most blank stares on their face as they listen to the ramblings on of a by the hour tour guide who realizes that the slower they walk the more money they will make. As the guides point at the incredible arches of the Colosseum, the group turns their back to the traffic they are blocking and everyone acts surprised when a motorbike scoots by nearly taking a fanny pack out in the process. Finally the group gets in front of the colossal structure and being so relieved to not have to worry about traffic begin chatting with each other in whatever their native language is completely ignoring the history directly behind them.

Mark Twain's Colosseum

A lot of my inspiration for choosing the Colosseum as a destination to blog about came from the movie Gladiator. This film depicts Rome and the Colosseum as it would have appeared in the first century A.D. It shows the actual event of going to the Colosseum to be entertained by blood and death. After reading Mark Twain's description of the Colosseum and the reviews that he thinks would have been commonplace, I got the sense that he could have inspired the creation of Gladiator. Using words Twain was able to give me the sense that I was actually there and had seen the event that he was criticizing. This experience will be complete when I go back to the Colosseum and get to explore the space inside for myself.

Colosseum at Night

On Friday two roommates and I visited several famous places in Rome at night. The most notable place we went was the Colosseum. This was the first time I had seen the structure at all let alone at night. It was incredible. There were very few people in sight but every arch of the building was well lit as if it was the place to be at night. I was able to appreciate the structure in silence without the ambiance of tour guides and ugly American tourists (hypocritical? maybe). As we walked around we speculated as to the general routine of a "fight day." We wondered if the ancient romans had similar game day routines as we did at Penn State. Was there tailgating with jugs of wine instead of kegs of beer? Did people sport different colored togas for their favorite warriors? Did they cheer for the lion as much as we do? It was cool to think that maybe these people weren't all that different from us. I wonder what an ancient roman would think if they saw Beaver stadium. I'm sure that if they attended a football game they would be bored out of their minds and wonder when the tiger would leap out from a trap door in the field to eat one of the players, or better yet one of those bias big ten ref's.

Ancient mall

I knew a fair amount about ancient Roman history before coming to Rome, and i knew that they were an incredibly advanced culture, but i never thought about their material necessities. Across the street from the forum is an ancient market place that the guide book says is the equivalent of a present day shopping mall. Looking at the structure you can imagine what it would be like to be a Roman walking from store front to store front buying whatever it is Romans bought. What did they buy? Lets speculate: Statues of favorite gladiators for kids, fresh vegetables, fish, togas, leather sandals, Egyptian cotton, goods from other parts of the empire...makes you wonder.

The Forum/Colossium

The ancient romans had a sophisticated hierarchy of politics, social life, and a well developed judicial system. These aspects of human culture all convened on one area in ancient Rome, the Forum. The space known as the forum was a cultural mecca. It combined business with political life and was the epicenter of all things Roman. Today the forum does not look much like a place to do anything but climb on rocks and maybe kick a ball around the grass that used to be a marble floor. But, if you put yourself in the shoes of an ancient Roman the space becomes the home of the Marc Antony speech and formation of a system of politics that inspired our own forefathers. Either way it is much more impressive than the forum I am used to in State College.