ROME
Rome
“Whoever has seen Italy, and especially Rome,
he will never be unhappy again…”
Goethe
Rome is absolutely unique. No other city can be compared to it by its historical, artful or architectural riches; none can amaze with such an abundance of places of note – to see only the masterpieces recognized as such all over the world will take you several days. The city attracts as a magnet by endlessness of unsolved mysteries. People strive to come here in search of beauty yearning to touch the history and culture at first hand, to feel that Rome is rightfully called the Eternal City.
Rome – “caput mundi,” the head of the world as people believed in the ancient times, has been Italy’s capital for more than 2000 years now.
In the ancient time, it ruled the world as the main city of the Roman Empire; in Middle Ages it became the capital of papacy and the center of Christianity. The eternal city, the city of the seven hills, the foremother of the cities – are just a few of the names and epithets the city received for almost three thousand years of its history. Rome is located on 12 hills, while the historical center of it is located on only seven of them: Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Capitoline Hill, Esquiline Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill and Palatine Hill, the most famous of the hills, on which Rome is built. In ancient times, Roman noble men settled there. Later villas of rich town-dwellers and a luxurious Emperor’s Palace were built on the hill. City-State Vatican is located on the territory of Rome.
Rome’s history
The first settlements on the site of today’s Rome appeared somewhere between the end of the Bronze Epoch and the Iron Age. But Rome is considered to lead a life of a city since April 21, 753 B.C. Two twin brothers, Remus and Romulus, left without parents were, as a tradition has it, nurtured by a she-wolf that lived on the Capitoline Hill and raised by shepherds. Having grown up, they returned to their grandfather, King Numitor. By the means of a fortunetelling Romulus proved his superiority over his brother, built a city wall on the Palatine Hill and became the first ruler of Rome. The Palatine Hill had a square shape. The ancient walls were built accordingly of stone rocks cut off the slopes of the hill itself. That is why the city also started to be called “Square Rome.” Romulus started the epoch of the kings (753-509 B.C.); after that Numo Pompilius ascended the throne; and then the last king of Rome Tarquinius Superbus (the Arrogant).
Tarquinius, just like Numo, belonged to the Etruscan nation, who long before the Romans built on the Apennine Peninsula a highly developed civilization. Later the Romans received many things from them although they did not like to admit it very much.
The Archeological excavations state that in X-IX B.C. on the Palatine Hill, Esquiline Hill, Quirinal Hill and Viminal Hill the first settlements in fact appeared. Gradually uniting of these and other settlements took place; as the result in time the City on the Seven Hills emerged. First kings ruled in Rome, and after the last king – Tarquinius the Proud – was expelled a republic was proclaimed (510 B.C.). By the middle of III century B.C. Rome subdued the entire territory of Italy and turned into a big state striving hegemony in the Mediterranean, which ensued a conflict with another sea power – Carthage. After the three Punic wars, Rome in 146 B.C. secured an ultimate victory and Carthage was wiped off the face of the earth.
The next two centuries, II-I B.C., were marked with social unrest and civil wars. In struggle with Pompey in 45 B.C. Guy Julius Caesar won but after one year was assassinated by conspirators Brutus and Cassius. A new period of civil wars concluded with Caesar’s adopted son Octavian. In 27 B.C., he received from the Senate title Augustus (that is “a sacred one”). Since that moment Rome becomes an empire. The state reached its maximum borders in II century under the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117). In 330, Constantine I the Great moved the empire’s capital from Rome to the East, to a city named after him, Constantinople. Beginning with the middle of VI century Rome becomes one of the many common cities of the Byzantium and only two centuries later thanks to the Catholic Church’s efforts once again gained glory, and the history of the kings from the Caroling Dynasty intervenes in its history: Frankish king Charles the Great was the first Emperor crowned in Rome.
In 756, Frankish king Pippin the Short gave the lands he gained in his war against Lombards as a gift to the Catholic Church. Since that point, the history of the Papal States began that lasted until 1870. In the period of Avignon Papacy (1309-1377) Rome for a while once again lost its political significance. Pope Martin V, who did a lot to help Rome regain its former glory, put an end to it. The Kingdom of Italy formed in 1861 with the capital first in Turin and then in Florence took Rome by storm in 1871 and made it the Kingdom’s capital. Peace between the church that did not agree with attempts of the authorities to limit its power and the state was obtained only on 1929. Since then, the Holy Throne is engaged only in evangelical mission. In the Renaissance and Baroque epoch Rome was decorated with many magnificent temples and grandiose palaces gradually obtaining its today’s appearances.
Places of interest in Rome
In the Renaissance epoch the best Italian masters – Michelangelo, Rafael, Bramante, Bernini – worked on the decoration of Rome. Rome has the full right to call itself one of the most beautiful cities of the world. Rome fascinates tourists entangling them into a whirlpool of little streets, monuments, old buildings and fountains, thus, joining the past, the present and the future.
The Colosseum is the most grandiose of all the old Roman constructions that survived to this day; it is the eternal city’s glory by its size surpassing all the amphitheaters ever built in Rome. Within its walls echo of gladiatorial fight sounded, and later when the Colosseum’s stones were plundered for the purpose of building Medieval churches and palaces it was replaced by echo of the sounds of hammers’ strikes. Now, even though half destroyed, the Colosseum’s walls continue to stand as if challenging a famous prediction, “Until Colosseum stands, Rome will stand; when the Colosseum falls, Rome will fall; when Rome falls, the world will fall.”
The Colosseum (its original name being the Flavius Amphitheater) was a creation of Emperor Vespasian (of Flavius family), who in 72 conceived raising a monument in honor of a military triumph in the Middle East. He was not able to complete the Colosseum in his lifetime. After his death in 79, the construction was continued by his son Titus. The ceremony of opening took place in 80 and started its long-time history that included one hundred-day gladiatorial fights with wild animals – elephants, tigers and even giraffes. The last touches were added by Titus’ successor emperor Domitian (81-96), who, like his predecessor, belonged to Flavius dynasty. Its name the arena received because of its size or, more probably, it originated from a giant bronze statue located nearby – the Colossus of Nero depicting Nero as the Sun God.
The size of this ellipse shaped historical monument impresses us even today: it is 607 feet long, 512 feet wide, 187 feet high, while the space of its foundation is 1.729 feet. Around 50-60 thousand spectators could get in and out of the amphitheater through 80 exits (vomitoriums); 240 wooden supporting structures upheld above the upper level a huge tent of canvas (vellarium) pulled up by sailors of the Emperor’s Fleet that protected the spectators from the sun. The amphitheater’s floor covered by sand helped the participants of the fights not to slip and absorbed the blood of gladiatorial fights (since that time the Latin word arena (sand) was used for calling places where spectacular shows were held). In the underground facilities beneath the arena there were storage rooms for all that was necessary to put on shows: cages with animals, preps, warehouses of weapons for gladiators, machines, and so forth. Having walked through a system of various tunnels, blocks and lifts, the animals and the participants of the fights appeared on the Colosseum arena. With the help of canals and aqueducts the arena could be quickly filled with water for staging entertaining sea battles (naumachias).
The Colosseum’s façade is three-storied levels of Toscanian, Ionic and Corinthian orders (from top to bottom), which was made of travertine, tuff and bricks, paneled with white marble, and one more upper level was built on top. Spectators were seated on the Colosseum’s tribunes according to social status and gender: the lower rows (the podium) were occupied by senators and the Emperor, judges, popes, as well as Vestal Virgins. The upper rows (civic) were occupied by women and on the top rows (summa) there were slaves who operated 36 lifts. The arches of the lower level had number plates on them. Personal seats of very important spectators can be seen even today: the inscriptions of their names are preserved very well.
Fights were held in commemoration of important anniversaries, during annual festivals and after extraordinary events. Shows lasted all day long and were held in a special order. First there were animal hunts; then, public executions started using terrifying devious devices; the day was consummated by gladiatorial fights. Gladiatorial fights were held here of two kinds; one kind was when gladiators fought against each (with weapons or without them); the other kind was when they fought against wild animals (venations). Captivated slaves and criminals were used as “performers.” Before the beginning of a fight a trumpet was sounded, and the participants greeted the Caesar. At the end of the fight a wounded gladiator’s destiny was decided by spectators; holding his thumb up he entreated them to spare him and if in response the spectators waved their handkerchiefs the gladiator remained alive. But thumbs held down at him meant only death (this result was the most frequent one). It is of note that the Emperor caring for entertainment of his people made attendance of the Colosseum free. Frequenters of the Colosseum stayed here for days bringing their food and drinks with them. Gladiatorial fights were banned since 438 A.D. although the last record about a fight with animals dates back to 523.
The Colosseum became very soon dilapidated. Fires and earthquakes continued to destroy it throughout the next two centuries. After Rome’s fall a small church was built nearby, and the arena was used as a cemetery. Some parts of the building were turned into a fortress, while others – into houses and stores. The stones of the Colosseum were relentlessly plundered – they were used in the construction of the Farneze Palazzo, the Venice Palazzo, The Barberini Palazzo and an endless number of small churches and modern bridges. In later years, thanks to the efforts of the Pope and representatives of the State authorities excavations began along with restoration works designed to strengthen the Colosseum’s structure. After 15 centuries and 8 years of restoration, in 2000, the Colosseum was reopened for theater performances.
A monument to Victor Emanuel II rises over Piazza Venetia – a symbol of the country’s uniting together. Making of this monument was by competition and begun by Giuseppe Succoni in 1885, and its grand opening took place only in 1911. The monument to Victor Emanuel II is a complex consisting of several compositions. The massive bas-relief of the statue’s pedestal signifies the main cities of Italy, while a vast colonnade signifies the Italian provinces. A text of the news about a victory published in a bulletin on November 4 of 1918 is engraved on a plate. A huge wide building where Institute of History, a library and the Central Museum are located today towers over Venice square and reminds us of a project of the Palace of the Soviets of the Soviet Union time that was never implemented. The broad central staircase leads to the altar of Fatherland with a magnificent Statue of Rome and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where remains of a nameless soldier, who gave his life for the Motherland in the 1915-1918 war, are buried. To the right there is a fountain signifying the Tyrrhenian sea; to the left – one signifying the Adriatic sea.