The Colosseum
In this picture you can see the floor of the Colosseum has been mostly removed so that people can view the intricate network of catacombs maz’ing underneath. This intricate network was used to move animals/etc. to the right locations to be pushed onto the stage by lifting them up via pulleys, elevators, and ramps. They say that they used to have naval battles here! Somehow that held A LOT of water!
There was a whole movement at one point to cover old Roman ruins in vines and other greenery. That would have looked pretty amazing, but definitely hastened the deterioration of the structures. They always say that “Rome fell when people stopped talking about it”. I guess growing vines over your enemy’s buildings would serve a similar purpose.
I was shocked that people would actually remove the metal from the columns. Might be another reason that only half the building (or so) is still standing.
The Roman Forum
A lot of the buildings in the Forum are no longer standing. there are some exceptions, but in general you’ll need a bit of imagination. Plus, I’ll post some drawings as well.
Caesar’s Forum
So Caesar’s Forum looked something like this (image above). Not quite (I think), but pretty close. It was built in 51 BC.
Antoninus and Faustina Temple
This temple is almost 2000 years old, and still standing! As was pretty common, the building was converted to a church at some point. In person it looks a little bit dangerous to be next too, but so did the Pantheon and it’s still in use.
Terrazza Belvedere del Palatino
This hill has great views of the surroundings. 2000 years ago the Caesars and the nobles lived up there. My understanding is that they even had a Statue of Colossus up there (once again double check). You have to have a pretty vivid imagination to imagine what things looked like back then. They did a good job of maintaining that overlook. You can even see modern windows there.
I always wondered why they didn’t build these ruins back better. One thing I’ve learned about Rome is that there’s no shortage of amazing buildings. There doesn’t seem to be any pressure to rebuild, and the tourist seem to love the ruins.
Here are some views of the surroundings from that hill.
Also, I was told that the word “palace” actually comes from this area (once again double check).
A Whole Lot of Other Sites
There’s just too many historic sites here, and I’m running out of steam, so I’m going to throw a bunch of the sites below.
