What a week! I've been averaging 20,000 steps per day on my Fitbit, and my feet hurt. Bigtime.
But it's all been worth it, because we spent this week on a whirlwind tour of early Roman remains. On Tuesday, we got an inside look at the Area Sacra di Sant'Omobono. It is now dominated by a modern church building, but Sant'Omobono is the site of two of Rome's early temples, dedicated to the goddesses Fortuna and Mater Matuta. Back when early Rome was trading with a bunch of foreign merchants, including the Etruscans, they did a lot of business in this area. Shops were crammed together between and around these ancient temples. The acknowledgement of common gods (and perhaps the threat of divine punishment for liars and cheats) seems to have aided the process of doing business in the ancient world.
We also toured neighboring temples just down the street. All of them, interestingly, have been preserved because of their association with modern churches. In some cases, temples were converted into churches wholesale, like this one:
In other cases, churches were built on top of and used material from ancient temples. Today, we got to go traipsing around in the basement of a very lovely church that happens to be built on top of the sites of three temples, and is using some parts of them in the foundation!
On Wednesday, we went tomb hopping in Etruscan necropolises. The Etruscans are a mysterious people known mostly by their tombs, but they are crucial to the history of Rome. The first necropolis we visited was made up of painted tombs that were quite beautiful. (And sometimes a bit naughty.) This one shows some revelers engaged in a wild Dionysian dance:
After a visit to the Etruscan museum in Tarquinia, a very cute town not too far from Rome, we went to Cerveteri, which was full of tombs carved into rock. The final result was a collection of visually striking mounds. There are so many that you truly are walking through a city of the dead:
The tombs at Cerveteri weren't painted for the most part, but we encountered a bird nest in one, and an "interactive surprise" in another. I pulled back a curtain in one of the tombs and laughed until I cried:
I think coming across the strange "Etruscan nun" with a shrouded "corpse" was the best moment of my week!
Next week, we'll be going on a lot more field trips, but we'll also be spending time reading Latin and talking about Latin pedagogy. As the schedule settles, I expect to post more regularly on this blog. I also expect to spend some time in the AAR library. (I am unreasonably excited about this.)
I'll leave you with a high five for a good week!
But it's all been worth it, because we spent this week on a whirlwind tour of early Roman remains. On Tuesday, we got an inside look at the Area Sacra di Sant'Omobono. It is now dominated by a modern church building, but Sant'Omobono is the site of two of Rome's early temples, dedicated to the goddesses Fortuna and Mater Matuta. Back when early Rome was trading with a bunch of foreign merchants, including the Etruscans, they did a lot of business in this area. Shops were crammed together between and around these ancient temples. The acknowledgement of common gods (and perhaps the threat of divine punishment for liars and cheats) seems to have aided the process of doing business in the ancient world.
We also toured neighboring temples just down the street. All of them, interestingly, have been preserved because of their association with modern churches. In some cases, temples were converted into churches wholesale, like this one:
In other cases, churches were built on top of and used material from ancient temples. Today, we got to go traipsing around in the basement of a very lovely church that happens to be built on top of the sites of three temples, and is using some parts of them in the foundation!
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| SO MANY LAYERS. |
On Wednesday, we went tomb hopping in Etruscan necropolises. The Etruscans are a mysterious people known mostly by their tombs, but they are crucial to the history of Rome. The first necropolis we visited was made up of painted tombs that were quite beautiful. (And sometimes a bit naughty.) This one shows some revelers engaged in a wild Dionysian dance:
After a visit to the Etruscan museum in Tarquinia, a very cute town not too far from Rome, we went to Cerveteri, which was full of tombs carved into rock. The final result was a collection of visually striking mounds. There are so many that you truly are walking through a city of the dead:
The tombs at Cerveteri weren't painted for the most part, but we encountered a bird nest in one, and an "interactive surprise" in another. I pulled back a curtain in one of the tombs and laughed until I cried:
I think coming across the strange "Etruscan nun" with a shrouded "corpse" was the best moment of my week!
Next week, we'll be going on a lot more field trips, but we'll also be spending time reading Latin and talking about Latin pedagogy. As the schedule settles, I expect to post more regularly on this blog. I also expect to spend some time in the AAR library. (I am unreasonably excited about this.)
I'll leave you with a high five for a good week!
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| Actually, they're dancing. |
2 comments:
Looks like great fun. I'm jealous.
I'm jealous too. Love, Mom.
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