Pompeii - Temple of Apollo

Sacred enclosure of the Temple of Apollo, altar

There has been a temple of Apollo here since the beginning of time. Literally. Well at least since the 5^th or 6^th century BC.  The current one dates from somewhere in the middle of the 2^nd century BC, putting it around the same time period as the temples at the ForumBoararium in Rome.

This one was in the Doric manner with columns all the way around, while being set on a raised platform in the more Roman fashion.  The temple is set in the center of a good sized peristyle of fluted columns. These along with the temple itself were damaged in the earthquake in 62 AD and were still undergoing restoration at the time of the great cataclysm seventeen years later. 

The ancient restoration efforts are still very visible and it reminds me of modern times; in that they were replacing the plain, solid and sturdy  volcanic rock columns with flimsy columns made out of brick covered in stucco and topped off with highly elaborate Corinthian capitals. These would have all been painted in garish colours with a taste reminiscent of a 19^th century western bordello.

Statue of Apollo

Apollo and peristyle

The statue of Apollo the archer is a copy (the real one is in Naples) but still very dramatic.He is missing his bow, which I am sure must make him very self conscious. The statue of Diana I wrote about briefly in an earlier post is also in the sacred enclosure.

The remains of a spectacular marble altar are standing in front of the temple near the steps. It has survived well and looks like it is screaming to be smothered in animal entrails! It's possibly for this reason that the central part of the enclosure is fenced off.

The other item of great interest is a tall freestanding ionic column of white marble that supports a sundial. Standing to the left of the stairs leading into the temple proper this gloriously preserved sundial was donated by the same gentlemen that donated the semi-circular bench by the temple in the triangular forum. Now they would have a hospital wing named after them. In the first century AD it was benches and sundials.

Super duper sundial in the sacred enclosure of the Temple of Apollo

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Around the Forum Boarium

Santa Maria en Cosmedin

Across the Piazza della Bocca della Verita is the church of Santa Maria en Cosmedin. We didn't go inside, but admired from afar or at least gawked at the huge group of giggling tourists entering the basilica. I took a photograph thinking that I had seen it in one of my books on architecture.

What I didn't know (or remember) was that this is the location of teh Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth) which supposedly bites off your hand if you are not telling the truth. Well, while you have your hand in its mouth at least. I mean it doesn't come round to your house and spontaneously bite your hand off for lying to your wife about being fat. 

I was right. Completed in the 11th century with a fine tall bell tower. Apparently i was baroqued up in the 18th century and then restored in the 1890's so really the facade is about as old as some of the lovely Romanesque churches that grace my own dear Portland.

See the columns? Awesome. San Nicola en Carcere

Just north of the forum Boarium and just south of the Theatre of Marcellus is the rather odd San Nicola in Carcere. No, it's not built on a prison, but an old temple. Some one misinterpreted something a while back and the name has stuck.

Dedicated to Saint Nicolas, patron saint of Greece, children, prisoners and pawnbrokers it incorporates a great deal of the old temple structures. Funnily enough I had almost missed the columns filled with rubble (to make the outer walls) until I turned around to sneeze.

A fortuitous sneeze indeed. This is where the Madonna of Pompeii is worshiped, we'll be going to Pompeii soon. Foreshadowing? Perhaps not.

San Nicola en Carcere from the south. More temple columns incorporated into the brick structure.

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Ponte Rotto/Pons Aemilius

Ponte Rotto - Pons Aemilius

Walking just a couple of minutes west of the forum Boarium (and making a mad dash across a busy road seeming used by only over caffeinated drivers). We came to the Ponte Rotto (rotten bridge).

Originally the Pons Aemelius it like the buildings in the forum Boarium was built in the second century BCE. The details, the engineering, the winged creatures in the …all just amazing, I am reeling with shock at how beautiful this little bridge segment really is.

This little sought out section of Rome so close to the major sights is a truly a hidden gem (there is more to come!). 

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Coliseum

Coliseum and traffic

The Coliseum, (originally the Flavian Amphitheater) what wonder, what death, what amazing spectacles this place has beheld: hand to hand combat, lions. elephants and the occasional tiger all the way from India. The Christians and other political prisoners being torn apart by wild animals! Wild animals! It’s just like any game show on Fox! The Arena covered in Sand over the wooden boards.

The arches are magnificent and above each of the entrances there is a number that relates to the seating area. I still can’t believe that I actually got to hang out in here.

You can almost smell the death reeking from the stinking sands of the arena, though that might just be a burst sewer pipe….ok, I lie we’re not in Naples yet!

Leonardo landscape from Coliseum

Funnily enough the place did not get its name from the fact that it is large, but from a statue that used to stand nearby. The statue was originally erected by Nero in the atrium of his giant palace the Domus Aurea. After Nero was forced to commit suicide (“Qualis artifex pereo” bwahaahaa! What an egotistical pr!ck!) the oval pond of his pleasure garden was turned into the foundation of the amphitheater and eventually the statue was moved here, given a halo and renamed Apollo. Apparently this became the landmark for the area, not the great hulking stone amphitheater but some ruddy great gilded statue of Apollo.

While waiting to get in (there was an extensive and somewhat horrific line that seemed to move not) just like at the Vatican people were constantly approaching us to join their tour group, get a private guide, etc ad naseum. Eventually one of the guys came up and was speaking with an Italian accent about getting us in to the Coliseum with some tour, I was about to respond when he saw that we each had the "Roma Pass" in our hands. He dropped the Italian accent and said in a fine East End voice: "Oh, you’ve got the Roma Pass, just go through the middle queue no waiting.”

Temple of Venus and Rome
from Coliseum

Coliseum arch

We migrated over to the middle queue and we did move much faster than the others on either side, but then we hit a stop...We waited for a few minutes, then a few more and then and we were catapulted into a fast track line. Roma Pass goes in the turnstile, pops out at the top… Boom! Coliseum baby, we're in! Roma Pass! It pays.

Seeing this great building where so much gladiatorial combat took place was sort of the main course, being followed by dessert in the form of the forum Boaraium where the first gladiatorial combat took place in the 2nd century BCE.

The interior of the Coliseum