A Triumphal Tour

Last Tuesday, we began our Journey in the Campus Martius and went along the putative triumphal route (the route taken by victorious generals during triumphs), visiting sites along the way. First we visited a set of manubial temples (temples vowed by a general in a battle) at Largo Argentina. It also happened to be a cat sanctuary. Apparently the Italians feed and vaccinate stray cats at the site, and people can adopt them if they want.
Above you can see part of a manubial temple. These temples happened to sit adjacent to the Theater of Pompey, which is where Caesar was assassinated. Somewhere under the modern road in the background, behind the concrete core, Caesar was stabed to death on March 15, 44 BC.

Here, is a picture of part of the foundation of the Theater of Pompey, now part of a restaurant. The net-like brick-work (opus reticulatum) is a fine specimen and was some of the first of its kind in the city of Rome.

Near the site of the Theater of Pompey is a modern market. I bought some grapes.

As we continued along the triumphal route, we walked by the Theater of Marcellus.Here, Professor Gregg is lecturing and gesturing (adlocutio?). These Manubial temples had been converted into a church. We had the chance to go into the crypt and see the substructures for temples of Spes, Juno Sospita, and Janus. After that, we met on the Capitoline (one of the seven hills) and went to the Capitoline Museum.This famous statue is actually the subject of much controversy. Although most Italian scholars date the wolf to the 5th century BC (the twins were added in the 15th century AD), a recent study has called this into question. As it turns out, the wolf may actually have been made in the Renaissance. If this is the case (which it may not be), we cannot know whether it is a copy of an earlier Etruscan work or merely a modern invention.

Here is a picture of me standing in the Tabularium (now part of the Palazzo Senatoro) overlooking the Forum Romanum. You may notice a pad of paper in my hand. Note-taking is an integral part of the centro experience (or college in general for that matter). I really enjoy

This is the "Dying Gaul" or the "Dying Trumpeter." A marble copy of a 3rd century BC bronze statue, this sculpture has many of the signature features of Hellenistic sculpture: intense negative emotions, torsion, historical subjects, chiaroscuro (deep shadows). One of my colleagues, Louis, believes that the original Gaul was not dying, but was merely suffering from a bad cramp. I cannot disprove this theory.

I thought that these Egyptian monkey statues looked funny. I'm not sure what they are doing or what their functions were. Perhaps they were cultic. Or maybe they were just decorative.