Today we started off seeing that baths of Diocletian where are the biggest baths built in ancient Rome, and the second to last to be built in ancient Rome (Constantine's were the last). They spanned a huge area, we walked all over to different points and were crossing streets and going past big hotels which took up part of where the baths were. One part of the baths, the frigidarium, which is the "cold room" is actually now one of Rome's really big churches. Michelangelo just knocked down a wall and added an apse to make it church like and decorated it, but the columns are still the originals from the baths.
We learned that all official business was done by noon since it basically started up at dawn, by 6 AM and people spent the rest of the day at the baths, socializing, eating, exercising, bathing, and there was even prostitutes, which was legal and taxed, though they were slaves so they didn't have a choice. The baths were really a hub of social life. Up until Hadrian's time men and women bathed together but I guess some scandals led to that being done away with.
We also saw the Servean walls, which were the first walls around the city for defense, with a dry moat around them. They actually worked really well, Hannibal got all the way here and decided not to attack Rome (even though it was actually really weak at that point) because the walls were too much trouble. It turned out to be his biggest mistake. Apparently he just thought he would steal all of Rome's allies and build a huge army but it never happened and he was defeated.
We briefly looked in at Sulla's gardens which actually were way below where we were standing. It showed the HUGE discrepancy between ancient ground level and modern ground level. I looked down and It was strange that back in ancient time all the ground was down there, and just got built on again and again until today's level was so much higher.
Our lecture was centered on the empire after Septemius Severus. He was a general and basically got to be emperor because he beat out the other three guys by force. His dynasty lasted for maybe three more emperors but then after him there was 26 emperors over 50 years which is just a very bad sign. The empire gets sacked several times during this period and things aren't looking too good. Finally, along comes Marcus Aurelius, who makes some big changes in the Military, has a civil war to get rid of people he needs to get killed, builds new walls, consolidates the east and west and within 5 years has things looking much improved. He isn't from a very high up family, he's just a general.
He gets this idea that since he cant rule alone, there should be two emperors and two junior emperors and when the senior emperors retire the junior emperors take their place and chose two new juniors. This is called a tetrarchy.Well this backfires because the new emperors chose people who aren't their biological sons for the junior emperor position, and so of the sons aren't happy of being cut out of the new system. So they revolt and try to take power. This is actually how Constantine becomes emperor illegally, he is one of the sons. He's always been known to me as the first Christian emperor but I didn't realize he took power so brutally and illegally. Interesting contrast, huh?
After that I'm pretty sure things go downhill again. By the sack of 410 the Roman empire is pretty much fallen.
So this is my last week in Rome and now comes time to focus on the impending doom of the finals, in Italian and our main class. The professor briefly touched on it today and it seemed pretty terrifying to be honest. I feel like I just got here, I dont remember anything, I'm confused!
Also the barrista where we go for cappuccino every morning started drawing hearts in our cappuccino, in the foam or with chocolate syrup. We giggle madly every time. i think he does it just to get a reaction out of us, but it really makes our morning. Plus the cappuccino is the best thing ever. Today is one the girls' birthday so we might go out to dinner again and to gelato. I'm pretty excited.
Wow two birthday dinners in Italy. It's such a shame that you only have one more week. Try and make the best of it, even though you have terrifying finals to come. You'll do fine, you can just refer to your blog as notes. They're very descriptive and informative :D
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