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SPQR - News Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
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The Complete Guide To: Hadrian's Empire With a domain stretching from the Sahara to Cumbria, this Roman emperor was always on the move – and he left a legacy that remains to this day.
Rare Statue of Roman Emperor Found ROME (AP) — Italian police have recovered a rare statue of a Roman emperor who co-ruled alongside Marcus Aurelius and was known for his reluctance to sit for portraits.
Subway Dig Unearths Rome's Ancient Past It's been centuries since archaeologists excavated Rome's central Piazza Venezia, but just a few hundred yards from the Roman Forum, skeletons of the city's past are surfacing.
Ancient Love Stars at Rome's Eros Exhibit An exhibit in Rome aims to explain the role of Eros, the most powerful and most elusive of the ancient gods. The show at the Colosseum seeks to illustrate the huge gap between contemporary attitudes to erotic love and how the subject was treated in antiquity.
Wife-beating in Ancient Rome For all the glory and glamour of its art and literature, classical antiquity produces household statistics that make the heart sink. Greek and Roman girls were normally married in their mid-teens to men twice their age.
Bound to repeat it: The late American empire? If a present-day American suddenly warped backwards in time, he would likely find the streets of ancient Rome, during the city's cosmopolitan zenith, a comfortable enough place to visit.
Light Beams to Color Rome Column April 10, 2008 -- The Trajan Column, one of Rome's most famous monuments, will be shown next year under a totally new light.
Ancient statue discovered in Rome Rome, 9 April (AKI) - A fragment of an ancient Roman equestrian statue that once adorned the Colosseum has been found during excavations near the world famous Italian landmark.
Lifestyles of the Rich and Imperious in Rome April 10, 2008 · Lovers of ancient Rome have another treasure to behold as the home where future Roman Emperor Augustus lived in about 30 BC is now open to the public.
Limit the number of tourists to Pompeii, says expert 17 March (AKI) - Pompeii, one of Italy's most popular ancient attractions, should limit the number of visitors and be used for special events, according to a proposal from a leading tourism official.
Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. changed the world Washington, March 31: The Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. between Mark Antony and Cleopatra against spurned former ally Octavian, led to the eventual end of the Roman Republic, thus changing the world.
Houston museum shows latest Pompeii relics - Thursday, March 20, 2008 "The worst disaster of the ancient world preserved such amazing art." So says Frances Marzio, strolling among remains from one of history's most famous volcanic eruptions.
After 1,500 years as a ruin,Circus Maximus to be restored It still bears its thrilling ancient name, and the antique ruins on the Palatine Hill, the heart of ancient Rome and home of the Caesars, still gaze down upon it.
Ancient Roman Emperor Augustus first house opens in Rome Italian experts believe the rooms, found in the 1970s below the ruins of Augustus's sprawling imperial palace, were part of a smaller house where he lived when he was still just Julius Caesar's adoptive son Octavian and not Rome's first emperor.
Ancient Roman Temple Reconstructed Experts have digitally reconstructed one of Rome's earliest major temples, the Temple of Apollo, built by the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The temple dates to 28 B.C., and its ruins stand adjacent to the emperor's imperial palaces on the city's famous Palatine Hill.
The overlooked wonders of Italy's Ostia Antica Sitting on the top row of the ancient arena, I scan the ruins of Ostia Antica, letting my imagination take me back 2,000 years to the days when this was ancient Rome's seaport, a thriving commercial center of 60,00 people.
Appian Way blighted by voracious property developers It was the first modern road in the world, shooting like an arrow from the Porta Capena in Rome's city walls all the way to Brindisi on the Adriatic coast, more than 500km away.
Tourists 'stripping ancient Rome bare' Archaeologists said that Trajan's Forum, in the heart of the city's classical ruins, had been stripped of all the fragments of statues and shards of amphorae that adorned the site until recently.
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SPQR News
Archaeology news on Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire _______________
New findings around the Colosseum
The work to repave the area around the base of the Colosseum on its western side has brought to light new archaeological findings. At the beginning of April a marble piece measuring a metre and a half of an equestrian statue was found and then two days later the head of a male statue was discovered, both of which had been only 50cm below the surface. According to archaeologists the piece of the equestrian statue suggests one of an emperor due to its size and most likely adorned the arch over the imperial entrance. The head is too small to be that of the rider of the horse in the equestrian statue.
The goal of the repaving of the area around the Colosseum is to bring it back to its original height by lowering the cobblestones by 80cm. Soon work will also begin on redoing the ramp that leads from Via Capo Africa to the amphitheatre, while work has already begun for the metro line C on the side of the Fori Imperiali. The digging that these projects require is expected to uncover further archaeological findings. The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was constructed between AD 72 and AD 80, under emperors Vespasian and Titus, and then modified under Domitian. It is the largest amphitheatre built in the Roman Empire and had a seating capacity of around 50, 000. Statues once embellished its arches on all three levels. |
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Ostia Antica is a ruin, but it once buzzed with commercial activity
By GREGORY BRYANT April 13, 2008 6:00 AM
When in Rome, many travelers focus only on the blockbusters. Such as the Colosseum, where so many men and beasts gave their lives for a bit of jolly fun for a bloodthirsty audience. And the nearby ruins of the Forum, where one must think hard to imagine what this center of government once actually looked like. Or the Vatican - and the truly breathtaking beauty and grandeur that await inside. All worthwhile visits, of course. But here's a great day trip outside the city into the everyday world of the Roman Empire. This is a world of shops and tradesmen and taverns and baths and merchants. And, of course, a cemetery outside the city environs. In short, a glimpse into workaday lives in the Roman Empire — as opposed to just the cutthroat world of marbled palaces; scheming, debauched emperors; and, let us not forget, all those endless conquests of other peoples.
Ostia Antica is an easy 45-minute train trip outside Rome. Once Rome's main commercial port and military base at the mouth of the Tiber River, Ostia had a population of about 100,000 at its peak.
But over time the Tiber silted in here — no water, no commerce. And the population was decimated by malaria. So by the fourth century its decline had begun, and Ostia eventually was buried for centuries. Not as flashy and as grand as Pompeii, Ostia died a slow, gradual death. No charred bodies here frozen in time. And yet this is a place of great beauty, with mosaics, hints of frescoes and street after street of the ruins of homes and businesses and warehouses. There is a Roman theater. There are remains of Roman columns. Being Roman, there are baths, and even something of an oddity by our modern standards: a 20-hole communal latrine.
Aside from the tour groups and school outings, Ostia was fairly quiet when we were there in early March. Perhaps due to the surprising sprawl of the complex, there is plenty of room to spread out and breathe. Walking into Ostia, after paying the 6.5 euros-per-person (roughly $10) admission fee, you are immediately transported back, way back in time. The main road, Decumanus Maximus, is built entirely of smooth paving stones. It's not hard to imagine it filled with tradespeople, monied people, slaves and vehicles. One of the first sites encountered is the cemetery, or necropolis, where Romans put ash-filled urns in wall niches with the remains of their dead. Farther on are the Baths of Neptune, named for its quite-nice black-and-white floor mosaics. Cupid riding a dolphin is one. There's a nice observation deck to see the mosaics from above. The Square of the Guilds housed the offices of shipowners and traders. Along the sidewalk, mosaics with symbols and names advertise the shops' services. An elephant floor mosaic, for instance, decorates the office of a merchant from North Africa. The stone-seated outdoor restored theater still features summer productions, and farther along, the Forum, the traditional center of government, was once used in the 18th century as a sheepfold. But what make Ostia interesting are the diversions.
As you walk along the main streets, take the time to wander down the secondary ones. These are the best bits. The wandering among the ruins of houses and businesses becomes almost addictive as streets turn to alleys - and archways lead to even more structures. Small geckos sun themselves on exposed rocks and skitter with lightning speed, when startled, into the cool shade. The well-to-do residents here lived in style, usually in one-story detached homes, with loads of decorative flourishes like statues and mosaics. The less fortunate were relegated to cramped apartments of three or four stories. But the House of Diana was considered a step above typical apartment living, with a private bathhouse and courtyard. Nearby are the remains of an inn. The remains of the Forum Baths show the Roman adoration for public baths. A furnace beneath the floor heated water and air flowing through pipes. Here we were able to actually see the remains of the baths and other rooms. Unlike other bath ruins, here you don't have to guess what the baths might have looked like; you are in them. Nearby is the aforementioned multiseat communal latrine, which is worth a look. We also found at least one individual toilet in a house off a side street. There's also a small museum on the site, with statuary and such — though we never got to it. There is a cafeteria and shop. There's also a pizza restaurant outside the site on the walkway back to the train station. Depending on your tolerance for ancient ruins and mosaics and brick and almost endless alleyways and other finds, give yourself at least a couple of hours at Ostia. But take your time. Don't rush. Savor this treat not so far from Rome. It's a place where you don't just look at history, you feel a part of it.
Day trip to Ostia
Getting to Ostia takes about 45 minutes via public transit. The great part about Rome is that its Metro subway system has only two lines: A and B. And a 1 euro Metro ticket covers the cost of the train to Ostia - 2 euros total for a round-trip.
Take the city's B-line subway (terminus: Laurentina) and get off at the Piramide stop. Follow the signs inside the station for Lido, as they lead to the trains. All trains go to Lido, and Ostia is a stop along the way. At Ostia cross the blue pedestrian bridge outside the station and walk straight to the Ostia site. Admission is 6.5 euros. Going back, just reverse the journey to the train station. Signs on the station platform wall are clear as to what side of the tracks to be on for Rome. |