September 8, 2023
Day Five: Ascending and descending through history
September 5, 2023
Biscotti – Zoe, Jacob, Swadesh
Swadesh
For a moment, the sun peeks shyly through the window shutters before erupting redly into the room, its streaming light forcing open unwilling eyelids, slamming shut the door to the world of dreams.
(Or something like that. The sun comes up. You get the point.)
The sun’s arrival marks a new day: in today’s case, one whose theme is ascending and descending. ‘Tis fitting, then, to begin at the day’s first conceivable ascent (or its worst possible descent, if you ask me): getting out of bed. Once again, Apollo’s cruel call releases us from a sleep made fitful by the fading traces of jet lag, leaving us rubbing our bleary eyes and glaring at our buzzing phones to see that it’s Tuesday.
Tuesday. By now we’re a few days into the program, so some things have fallen into habit (while others spiral further out of routine). Schedules start to slide, mental maps take more focused shape, bits of Italian work their way into our speech. It’s increasingly difficult to pass off not knowing a classmate’s name. New thoughts occupy the mind: relief at the impressively affordable breakfast at your new favorite café, or fear of a half-hour onslaught in machine-gun Italian for misplacing your bus pass.
Today is about the Capitoline, which concerns “the smallest of the seven hills of ancient Rome, the temple on it, or the gods worshiped there,” Webster tells me (if there’s a Roman god of cliché, I’ve gotten their attention). Storytime: the hill and its temples were once dedicated to Saturn, who mythology buffs will know as the Roman god of time — a Roman Kronos, for the Riordan fans in my (thin) crowd. But as time went on, its very god ironically lost his domain; the hill was snapped up eagerly by Jupiter, apparently unsatisfied with being the Lord of the Sky and King of the Gods. The pantheon’s head honcho stole everyone’s thunder (get it!?), upstaging the temples of Virtus and Juno Moneta with the “Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus,” literally “Temple of Jupiter, the Best and Greatest.” You couldn’t find a more sarcastic sounding title if you hired Virgil to write it for you.
After a pleasant morning walk fueled by a warmly toasted croissant (a cornetto, if you want to get local) — alternatively, a bus, cab, or train ride for the transit-adventurous and particularly leg-sore — we met at the heart of the Capitoline hill. There, students presented on the area’s vast history: the strips of civilization that eventually became Rome, the people flung from cliffs and kidnapped in mass abductions along the gory way, even the critical role that Juno’s sacred geese played in staving off a Gaulish invasion (I’m sure the Gaul version of the story runs a little different).
Panoramic proof that decently good human beings can be monstrously bad photographers, 2023, colorized.
The Musei Capitolini, our primary attraction of the day, were chock-full of historical and artistic artifacts: massive tapestries depicting Romulus and Remus, sculptures of popes and paintings of kings who ruled Rome in centuries past, Caravaggio’s best and Michelangelo’s finest (my partners in crime will cover some of these in greater detail).
Everywhere on the hill, history could be found — and where history was, stairs would often follow. Also quite fitting, given the theme.
Ascend! Leg Day lies before you!
While completing the final staircase of the morning, I was struck by how much ascent and descent could teach us about the historic home of our study abroad experience. Rome was possibly the mightiest and most influential nation of its time, both a pioneering artistic hotbed and a military juggernaut — but just as it once rose, it later fell to ruined pieces. The cardinals and kings whose sculptures were in the Musei sat the highest posts and thrones in the land, commanding tens of thousands to do their bidding — but mortality brought them low, every last one, burying them beneath dirt and marble. Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor-philosopher who ruled through the final years of the Pax Romana (and the rider in my attempted panorama above), is reduced today to collecting rust and providing a humble toilet for Rome’s most insolent birds.
Sad, isn’t it?
But! There is upside to all this business of ups and downs. Even as Rome and its greatness descended into nonexistence, there was a richer ascendancy at hand: the ascent from reality into memory beyond reality. To exist in mind, if not in mortar: to stay, to last, to earn a place in the ever-flowing stream of remembrance, warped no longer by the withering grasp of time.
It seems Saturn, not Jupiter, rules on the Capitoline hill after all: time brings all low, but history lifts up what it can, offering the once-great a peculiar yet powerful way to live on. In the grave, they become immortal; in their fall, they become ascendant; written into memory by Saturn’s corrupting hand, surviving in the minds of their followers in time — all the while dead and buried deep beneath the cold earth.
Zoe
The day started with all of us meeting at the Capitoline Hill. Though a few of us suffered some bus issues, we began with presentations by two of our classmates about the history of the Piazza del Campidoglio. After we got our history lesson, we entered a courtyard displaying pieces of statues. This was just our introduction into the ruins of what was once a forum.
Entering the museum, we were immediately hit with depictions of very prominent Roman myths. Mainly, the story of Romulus and Remus and the She-wolf. This myth was displayed in the museum many times, and learning about the legendary founder of Rome gave us a new outlook on the city we were exploring. We learned about how Romulus and Remus set out to found a city together, though ended up fighting and Remus being killed by his brother. Other myths displayed in artwork could be found in the cases of ancient pottery. The famous portrait of the priestess Cumaean Sibyl was also displayed here.
The plethora of art in the museum was a good warm-up for the sheer grandiose nature of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. With its Gothic architecture and incredibly detailed interior, we could have spent all day in the church and still found new details to analyze and photograph.
Our theme for today was ascending and descending, which I thought was a fitting overarching idea for the day. We saw what represented the very beginning, or ascension, of the Roman Empire in the statue and paintings of Romulus and Remus. We see the depictions of battles, the emergence of art styles and eras, and their mythology, all preserved for us to see. But that’s within the walls of the museum. We see the descension in the incomplete statues, shattered pieces of pottery, and even in the churches themselves. We learned that most of the pagan temples were had churches built on top of them, effectively losing that evidence of history and showing the descension of Hellenistic practices.
We finished the day with a class on the stairs outside the museum in the piazza. Professor Wong told us anecdotes about acting as a tour guide for lost tourists, and it made me think how we were all one step closer to truly understanding Rome. For some of us it’s our first time in Rome, but even still we’re gaining a deep knowledge and appreciation for the rich history we’re surrounded with.
Jacob
Today I felt bad for tossing a penny into the Trevi Fountain a few days ago. Not only that, but I didn’t throw it in properly with my right hand and over the left shoulder. I just straight-up chucked it at the water. Not willing to literally throw away an opportunity for some good luck, I decided that tonight I would return and repeat the process correctly.
Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the fountain because I was preoccupied with not getting pickpocketed. Most of my attention was on keeping my guard up as well as navigating the swarm of other fountain-goers. After hurling two coins into the fountain I was ready to get out of that sardine can, and so I left.
I continued onwards to the Spanish Steps. After admiring the boat fountain I decided not to ascend the stairs as I remembered how many stairs I had already had to climb today. Additionally, I think the view is better with daylight.
After the steps I proceeded to walk to the Piazza del Popolo. Along the way I passed many stores that, despite being closed, were displaying their items in illuminated windows. Entire outfits stood poised on statues. I hurried down the street, eager to get out of the store section.
The Piazza del Popolo was not nearly as packed as when I saw it during the day. I took a brief look around and decided to return to the dorm.
The walk back was pretty standard. I burned my tongue on an espresso that cost me my laundry coins.
Overall it was a fairly calm evening. In some places the city is different and in some the city remains the same.