20. History Can be Outside Too?

After spending the last week touring museums and churches, it was a welcome change to spend the entire day outside. We saw Trajan's column - the big one in the picture below - which was built in 113 AD and depicts all of Emperor Trajan's victories in battle. 

We made our way to the Colosseum and found the secret ticket booth that allowed us to skip the entire line for the more public ticket booth. Mother was very proud of this finding. Before starting on the tour we stopped for a quick drink of water. Apparently someone forgot to teach Brody how to drink out of a fountain... 

Our first stop was this archway called the Arch of Titus. It was built to commemorate the Roman victory over Judea and was built by the 50,000 Jewish slaves brought to Rome after this war.

I thought it was interesting to see what parts of it were original, and which had been recreated. You can tell from this picture that the smooth part of the column on top is obviously a recreation.

This is the Via Sacra, the oldest street. It is as uneven and hard to walk on as it looks.

Roman emperors were treated as Gods, and these are the remains of the Basilica of Constantine. They are actually only a third of the original size. The main hall was even higher than these arches.

The use of some parts of the ruins are not as obvious. For example these rooms that are found just off Via Sacra were either slave cells, a cellar, or a brothel. Who knows? 

This picture overlooks the Forums main square.

We saw where Julius Caesar was cremated, and the temple that was later built in his name at that spot.

These three columns are all that is left of a temple where the senate used to meet and the front steps served as a soap box for free speech. 

Here is the story behind these statues. They are the leading Vestal Virgins. The Vestals were chosen from noble families before reaching the age of 10. They were to take a vow of chastity for thirty years when they would then receive a nice dowry and husband. They were treated as royalty and lived in a luxurious two story building surrounding a courtyard. On the other hand, if they failed to carry out their 30 year term they were strapped to a funeral car, paraded through the Forum, taken to the crypt, and buried alive.

We spent the rest of the day at the Colosseum! It was built by the same Jewish slaves that were forced to build the Arch of Titus.

The first level was for the most important people. Apparently all the blood and other stuff that would find its way to the floors of this place and smell so bad that their slaves would go spread flour on the planks to lessen the stench. 

This shows the floor of the Colosseum as well as the ruins of the basement.

As Dad pointed out, all of this was built thousands of years before we thought tipi's were the best thing ever.