Rome - December 28, 2011 - Santa Anastasia & Arch of Janus

Santa Anastasia

We serendipitously came upon the church of Santa Anastasia (who just wouldn’t die; first they tried to starve her in prison, then they tried to starve her again, then she was stuck on a boat and her persecutors scuttled it, still she survived and so they did the most logical thing and set fire to her in a public place…at least that is one St. Anastasia there is another who was martyred, by beheading, in Rome with St. Cyril in the third century, there is another that was supposed to be the lady in waiting to Empress Theodora in the 6th Century. This one is the most interesting of our collection of Anastasias as she eventually took to dressing like a monk and became a hermit (only men were allowed to be hermits, women who lived alone were burned for being witches) and is recognized as a transgender saint, which is pretty cool) while trying to see if we could get closer to the Arch of Janus. While this may be possible at some times, there was a large contingent of police and firemen about the area. So after trying a few streets to no avail we returned to the Via della Bocca della Verita and took a photo from as close as I could get. Why do I feel like Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside?

This church is so plain and uniform compared to the riotous facades (products of bent minds and perhaps bent tools) that seemed to abound in the 17th century. I like the little bell towers they remind me of a church in Malta.

The Arch of Janus: named for the God with two faces. It stands across a crossroads and was dedicated in the 4th Century CE. It is believed that it was originally dedicated to Constantine and that it had a pyramidal roof. Each of the niches once held a statue. Now forlorn and alone wedged between a few buildings off the Via San Giovanni Decollato. After 1600 years it sort of looks like a giant dovecote.  I keep wanting to look for huge soiled pigeons to come soaring out of smothering the land with giant pigeon poops.

Arch of Janus, and parking lot.

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 - Forum Boarium

Temple of Portunus

Back in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE the forum Boarium was one of the main food markets of Rome. Strangely it was also the site of the first gladiatorial contest in 264 B.C.E. A fight that was arranged a s a funerary gift for some rich tosser. How did they come up with that? I think it went something like this:

Deceased senators son: "Gosh, Dad's dead, what shall we do in his honor? How about we get a bunch of oiled up muscle men in loincloths to fight to the death in a public square?"

Deceased senators son II: "Well he was a senator...don't you think that's a little tame?"

I suppose it beats a couple of white lilies and a sandwich buffet...anyway arriving at the forum we are greeted with two best preserved republican building in Rome.

Built in 7 BCE the temple of Portunus, god of keys, doors and livestock also associated with ports, interesting. This was Portunus' main temple in Rome and is pretty darn fab. Classically Ionic with a perfectly proportioned pediment, the sides have engaged columns. One of the very visible differences between Roman and Greek architecture was that in Greece columns always had a purpose, in Rome they could be used as raised decorations as here. The Maison Carree in Nimes is very similar (though bigger) and in a similar state of preservation. Quite possibly because they were both converted into churches in the middle ages.

The Temple of Hercules Victor is right behind the temple of Portunus is the round temple of Hercules Victor.
20 Corinthian columns surround this delightful building built sometime between 200 and 100 B.C.E. Once upon a time it surmounted by an architrave and probably a low pitched conical roof. There are carved depictions of the temple of Vesta that show what this must have looked like once.

Just south of this petite rotunda is another fountain with a freaking Triton in it. Really? In the 18th centery some plonker, inspired by Bernini,tossed off this sculpture in their garden shed and then plonked it down here next to the river for lack of something better like a McDonald's or a Starbucks.

Temple of Hercules Victor (the back end of the Temple of Portunus is in the background)

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Circus Maximus

People strolling up and down the old Circus Maximus

Turning right onto the Via dei Cerchi we found the Circus Maximus.

To be honest there really isn't much left of the actual structure, but you can still get an idea of the sheer size of the place from the shape of the land and the remains of the spina.

From a place that once held 150,000 spectators (I have seen books that say closer to 250,000) to a rather empty waterlogged ruin.

Interestingly most of the people there appeared to be Italians utilizing the space as a city park, and quite a nice relief it was after the coliseum. 

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Palatine

Palatine Palace, bit...

The Palatine hill had been the residence of the wealthy and well to do of Rome since the earliest days of the republic (about 500 B.C.E), however it was when Augustus became Romes first emperor that it really came into its own.

The house of Augustus became the Palace of Tiberius, which became the much enlarged Flavian Palace, and then the massive Palace of Septimius Severus. By which time the palace had grown so large that the hill had to be extended on great supporting arches.

Much of the supporting arches are visible and rather well preserved as well as a section of aqueduct that ran across the sidewalk on the Via di San Gregorio. I like arches, and I don't care what Freud had to say about it.

Aqueduct...why was I staring into the sun?

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Arch of Constantine

Our first stop after escaping the clutches of the hawkers of unwanted trinkets was the Arch of Constantine.

It is darn well preserved though the statues of the captured Gaulish warriors on top of the engaged columns have none of the movement and vitality of the sculptures on the column of Trajan or Marcus Aurelius for example. In fact they are almost Gotham art deco in their brutal sadness, downcast eyes and the striking vertical folds of their clothing.

The resignation on the faces of these massive Gauls somehow cries out a deep dark pain of loss, betrayal and hopelessness. This massive triumphal arch sits on the Piazza del Colosseo right outside of the ancient amphitheater. The arch was dedicated to Constantine in 315 A.D. to commemorate his victory over co-emperor Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D. 

Personally I like this one a little better than the arch of Titus over but the forum which leaves me cold and unfeeling, much like my mothers love. Ha, I kid...well maybe not.