Greece & Italy Day 9: The Colosseum. Umm… wow.

We began our day in Rome by leaving it – heading to the ancient port city of Ostia where you can basically see the ruins of the entire city. Crazy. An ancient theatre, baths, toilets, condos, inns, the works. And it was layer upon layer – in one inn you could see three layers of mosaics on top of each other — apparently the building went through two renovations. The most exciting was an ancient synagogue built in the 1st century A.D. and renovated in the 4th century A.D., making it one of the earliest archaeological testimonials to Diaspora Judaism. Most likely Paul would have come to Rome (as a prisoner) through this port.  You can still see the mosaics from the various shipping offices identifying their functions since it was an international hub with many sailors who spoke different languages.  They also imported the animals for the gladiatorial games through here.

Ostia Theatre - you know us and theatres...

Ostia Toilets - fortunately there were others for us to use

Ostia Synagogue - 1st century A.D.

Ostia Mosaics - oldest in center; next to left; most recent to right

Of course, one of the best parts was when we had lunch and were able to finally get gelato! I got strawberry and Heather got blueberry – delicious!

After Ostia, we got back on the bus and headed back into town to see…. everything. Okay, maybe not really, but that’s what it felt like. We visited the Arch of Constantine and then the Colosseum, which was amazing. I’d seen it from the outside when I visited Rome 14 years ago(!!!), but this time we got to go inside, which was pretty incredible. Our guide informed us that no Christians were martyred at the Colosseum — in those times the Colosseum was filled with water and used for reenacting naval battles.

Outside the Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum - Emperor's seat straight across; platform on right would have extended all the way across; corridors at bottom were under-floor entrance for gladiators and animals

We then headed up Palatine hill to see all the various ruins of forums (fora?) and what-not. Amazing stuff, including some building remains from the 9 centuries before Christ – the oldest place they’ve found from the beginning of Rome.

We visited the Arch of Titus, which was incredible. It commemorates his victory over the Jews in 71 A.D. and depicts a golden menorah that was taken from the Second Temple, which he destroyed. The menorah went missing following an attack by the Visigoths way back then, but apparently in recent history Israel sent a letter to the Vatican requesting it back, just in case it was hidden in the Vatican vaults. Over Christmas I read a fiction novel about how the Temple treasures were hidden by Titus on some Mediterranean island (Crete?) and not brought to Rome – fun stuff!

Arch of Titus (menorah over my shoulder)

We also saw the Trajan Column (now topped by St. Peter instead of Trajan), their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (a bit more ornate than the one at Arlington Cemetery), and numerous other temples and such. We glimpsed Mamertine Prison, which we’re supposed to visit Thursday.

Trajan's Column

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (also a monument to Italy's first king or something like that)

Lots of crazy stuff – much of which passed in a blur.

Crazy factoid: Our guide asked us if we could identify the “third Rome” (Constantinople was the second), but none of us could. He said it’s Moscow – Ivan married the daughter of the last emperor or some such. Apparently tsar = caesar, which seems blatantly obvious once you think about it but I never had.

Well, that’s it for now, I suppose. Tomorrow we’re off to Pompeii, Naples, and Puetoli.