Day 3 - Roman Catacombs, Tombs, Fountains, and Churches: Kaylin and Brandon

Day 3 -  Catacombs, Tombs, Fountains, and Churches: Kaylin and Brandon

Climbing up the Spanish Steps from the Piazza di Spagna

Kaylin: We started off the day with a brief bus ride along the Appian Way to the catacombs just outside of the city of Rome.  When I first heard about this trip, I was expecting to see macabre piles of bones and ominous tunnels lit by torchlight like in the horror movies.  Instead, the catacombs were a labyrinth of fairly well lit tunnels with tombs and ancient carvings exposed. We learned that the catacombs were a way for Christians to bury and pray for their dead until Emperor Constantine finally legalized Christianity.  Before Christianity, the Romans also buried their dead outside of the city walls (something that would have been really helpful for me to have known a month ago for the AP Latin exam).  

The church on top of the catacombs was dedicated to the early Christian martyr Saint Sebastian and was covered with carvings of his attempted execution by means of arrows.  Although he survived this, it is the most popular way of identifying him. The buried tombs themselves were my favorite part of the church and catacombs.  The tombs of the more wealthy were covered in beautiful painted frescos preserved underground.  Some tombs even had a symbol representing the dead's occupation carved into the walls.  In the one of the large antechambers, inscriptions praying to Saint Paul and Saint Peter were also written on the walls.  

After we visited the catacombs, we visited the tomb of Caecilia Metella.  Her husband, Crassus (not the First Triumvirate Crassus but his son), built the tomb to honor her (but mainly as an ostentatious display of wealth).  This was interesting to me because I could connect the Crassus family's influence and wealth to the politician Crassus of the First Triumvirate who I learned about in Latin class.  Caecilia Metella herself was buried in a mausoleum (stone walls fashioned into a cylindrical shape opened to the daylight), which was a stark contrast to the underground, haunting ruins of the catacombs we saw previously.  

Looking up at the Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella

Then, we briefly visited the "Circus Minimus"which is a so called "tiny" racetrack for racing chariots and horses.  In reality, the racetrack was massive, but it is called "minimus"as it is smaller than the Circus of Maxentius (which we have not seen yet).  Unlike the Circus Maximus, the Circus Minimus was a private racetrack, so there were not that many seats and watching the games was not free.  Today, we could see the once elegant racetrack covered with weeds and tall grass with only a small, foot-trodden path around the edge in leu of an actual racecourse.  Even though some of us tried to convince the track and field runners to race around the track, none of us actually ended up running because of the sweltering heat.  

Heading towards the ruins of the Circus of Maxentius

All and all, it was a very exciting and learning filled morning.  While I will always say that my favorite part of any day is definitely gelato, I think that the catacombs were a close second.  I found them extremely eerie and interesting.  It was fascinating for me to think about the hundreds of thousands of bodies hidden from sight in the walls and stacked many meters below the surface.  I was in awe of the huge necropolis (city of dead) with a high ceiling made of tufa holding some of the wealthier, more decorated rooms.  It was truly amazing that the room managed to survive for so long without caving in and that it was in such amazing condition.

The Trevi Fountain

Brandon: My favorite part of the day today was visiting the Trevi Fountain within the Campus Martius. The fountain, which was designed by Nichola Salvi, draws water from the Acqua Vergina aqueduct. The astounding size, architecture, and beauty of the Trevi Fountain was an incredible testament to Salvi and took my breath away. 

Afterwards, we then visited the Church of the Virgin Mary, which was built over two temples: the Roman goddess Minerva and the Egyptian Goddess Isis. It’s fascinating how the Virgin Mary’s virginity, wisdom, and motherhood correlates with Minerva and Isis (Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and virginity while Isis was the goddess of motherhood). In front of the church stood an obelisk from Egypt depicting a female elephant, which also was a reference towards the Virgin Mary.

Once our quick visit to the church was over, we headed towards the Pantheon. Once entering the Pantheon, the main feature that stood out was the roof. Considered one of the largest free-standing domes, it was mind-boggling to see how it remained undamaged for such a long period of time.

Under the Pantheon's 2,000 year old dome