Once upon a Rome

Once upon a time, a she-wolf found two very ambitious twins Romulus and Remus stuck in a cave on Capitoline Hill. She nursed them for a while before a shepherd took them in. After killing their great uncle, the twins decided to build a city on the banks of river Tiber but disagreed on what to call it. They settled it the only way they knew how, fighting. History was written on 21st April 753BC when Romulus who went as far as killing his twin brother for fortune and fame.

The Capitlone Wolf

 Life on the hill proceeded gracefully (generally), leading to the Roman Republic. The Romans of this time left traces such as the Circus Maximus constructed in 600BC and the ruins of the Tabularium and temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill and the Roman Forum where untitled citizens hanged out.

The Roman Forum by night

From the nearby Palatine Hill, Kings ruled and died but the course of history was changed by one Julius Ceasar whose death marked the end of the Republic. He is remembered for his military conquests, the Forum of Ceasar, Temple of Ceasar where his remains were laid and of course his dramatic relationship with Cleopatra.

Ruins of the Palatine Hill

A few years (27 to be exact) before Christ, one brave Augustus became the first emperor of the Roman Empire. He left behind many traces such as the Palatine house where he was born in 63BC, the forum of Augustus that commemorates his victory over Caesar’s enemies, the Mausoleum of Augustus which he built to bury his family’s ashes, the residence of his wife Livia, the Baths of Agrippa and of course thousands of statues in the Palatine Museum.

Ruins of the baths of Agrippa

Somewhere along the line came Emperor Nero, who in spite of receiving counsel from the great philosopher Seneca, never made it to people’s hearts. He made compulsive irrational decisions like raping small boys and killing his mother that Karma brought the Great Fire to Rome. It comes as no surprise that he is believed to be one who ordered the persecution of apostles Peter and Paul.

Emperors on the hill

Better days came with Flavian trio dynasty of Vespasian, Titus and Domitian who ruled between 69 to 96 AD. Among the good things they left behind are the Forum of Vespasian, the Arch of Titus and the Flavian Amphitheatre, commonly known as the Colosseum. At the Colosseum, gladiators fought for their lives while 50,000 spectators, mostly lower class citizens, cheered. The magnificent stadium also served a secondary purpose of being source of material for rebuilding Rome.

Looking up the arch of Titus

The Stadium is hard to resist

Memorable rulers followed; Emperor Nerva added the Forum of Nerva to the Imperial Fora. His heir Trajan was an unquestionably good emperor, his moral character and military conquests are immortalized with the Trajan’s column and the Forum of Trajan among other monuments countrywide. 

View from the Palatine hill

Remains of the temple of Saturn

His successor Hadrian left his mark by rebuilding the Pantheon, a Roman Temple that is now a church, Hadrian’s wall and the Mausoleum of Hadrian that is now Castel del St. Angelo. 

The Roman Pantheon

In the Pantheon

Marcus Aurelius ruled further down the line, leading a successful campaign against Samaritans and Germans. He is remembered through the 40m column of Marcus Aurelius and by mistake his equestrian statue at the center of Capitoline Hill since his statue was mistaken for Constantine's.

Marcus Aurelius statue mistaken for Constantine

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 Several emperors after Aurelis came Septimius Severus, an adventurous character who was the first to reside permanently out of the Palatine Hill. He earned his arch from the war against the Parthians among his many other victories. 

Arch of Severus

Constantine who ruled in the first half of the 4^th century was even more adventurous. In addition to moving the capital of the empire to Byzantium, he became the first Christian emperor having been baptized at his death bed. He earned himself the biggest triumphal arch between the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. 

Arch of Constantine

While emperors enjoyed feasted, the citizens found various ways to entertain themselves. In addition to sporting events, entertainment came in the form of post-work baths in the afternoon. Like modern day gyms people went to baths to socialize, workout and clean themselves at no fee. They did this following a sequence starting from the changing room to the gymnasium, cold bath, warm bath then back in the opposite sequence. Gleaning from the ruins of the baths of Caracalla, bathing was an event to look forward to. 

Rome saw the Renaissance ages under the papal authority. This was the time for Renaissance artists like Micheloanglelo and Bernini to shine. Piazza Navona holds the majority of the them. Built on the Roman times Stadium of Domitian, Piazza Navona embraces Baroque through its 3 fountains, the Palazzo Pamphill and the nearby church of St. Agnese.

Fountain of the four rivers

Stadium of Domitian underground

 These are Bernini’s fountain of the four great rivers of the continents (1651) ; Nile for Africa, Danube for Europe, Ganges for Asia  and Rio de la Plata for the Americas, the fountain of Neptune (1574) and Fontana del Moro (1673).

 In addition to the Capitoline Hill, Micheloangelo left his footprints of St. Peter’s Basilica(1626) , the façade of Vatican.

St Peter's Basilica and all its glory

Vatican guard

The Basilica

The Angel's bridge

Vatican ...

An angel on the bridge

Fontana del Pantheon(1575) infront of the Pantheon is another eye-catching piece, but only before seeing the Trevi Fountain. Leaning on Palazzo Poli, the fountain commemorates finding of water source by a virgin then acqueduct and it has every reason to join the Spanish steps as a tourist spot. 

Trevi Fountain

Tourists doing touristy things

The tradition of throwing coins with right hand over left shoulder to guarantee return has been religiously observed that 3000 Euros are collected daily. Spanish steps in 1730

You would expect better from religious leadership but like all leadership, the papal leadership had its drawbacks. An obvious one was the opposition to science. Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, was burned at the stake for standing up for his cosmological theories. His statue stands at Campo de Friori where he was executed in 1600.

With the martyr of science 

 Not far from the Campo, is the Jewish Ghetto, dating back as far as back as 1550. Although it now hosts mouth-watering Jewish restaurants, the original ghetto was crowded and straight up undesirable. 

Rome as we know it today became the capital of Italy only in 1870 after the Italian Reunification. The country name may have changed but the tradition of preserving history didn’t. The National Monument to King Victor Emmanuel was completed in 1925 to honor the first King of United Italy. It also contains the tomb of the unknown soldier under the goddess Roma to honor the fallen soldiers of World War I.

The Monument of King Victor Emmanuel

It’s amazing how much you can learn by just roaming in Rome. Rome doesn’t just preserve history, it is history. Every statue represents something, whether a hero, or martyr or a whole ancient civilization. As if the hundreds of monuments is not enough; It is the city with no subway simply because construction always leads to discovery of a new archeological site. It is natural to want to be immortal or at least to be remembered beyond our short life’s span, it is why we try to impress our superiors and loved ones. Romans may have exuded an extreme version of this but they do make us think about of one question, “What would you like to be remembered for?”