"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!"

[jere7my]

Saturday, June 27 - Rome

On the Palatine, it's not difficult to imagine the lifestyles of the rich and imperious, to re-dress the crumbling brick walls in marble and populate the stairs and arches with elegant Romans. You can see them nibbling on snacks, or drifting around the fountains, or idly discussing the races going on in the Circus Maximus below. It was a hot day when we were there (they all were), and the cool breeze skating over the hilltop made it very clear why emperors would choose to live there. I was particularly excited to see — to be shown, really, by adfamiliares and her constant companion, the Blue Guide — the newly opened House of Augustus (almost humble, by comparison with later additions), the foundations of an Iron Age hut village, a shallow pool with islands in the shape of Amazon shields, and an octagonal labyrinth-cum-impluvium.

In the Antiquarium (the museum on the Palatine), we were both amazed to come across the Alexamenos Graffito, uncovered in 1857 in the paedagogium (a training school for court pages). It shows a man gazing at a donkey-headed man on a cross, and is captioned, in untidy scratches, "ALEXAMENOS WORSHIPS HIS GOD." It is thought to be the earliest depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, as well as a pretty funny illustration of the mockery early Christians dealt with. (I tried to get a picture, but it's just scratches in plaster; you can see it on Wikipedia.)

One of the first things we saw in Rome, struggling with our luggage from the Metro to our hotel, was the Palatine above the Circus Maximus.


A is for Aqueduct!




the base of a meta in the stadium


four shields in the fountain


labyrinthine impluvium


fresco remnants


clingy clothing


a delicate fresco


opus sectile floor




corners of Augustus's house, with trompe l'oeil marble frescos


I think this is the Farnese pavilion, built beside the Temple of Apollo

The full set is here.