Day 28

Still running behind but trying to catch up on the blogs.

For today we visited the Pantheon and an ancient monument called Ara Pacis.
Firs Ara Pacis.

The Ara Pacis literally translates into a "Peace Monument."  This is ironic because Augustus Caesar built and dedicated it after his victory against the Gauls(French).

Built in 13 BC, the majority of the monument has been preserved, but a great deal was restored.  Sacrifices were done on a regular basis(usually of a bull) and the tiny holes you see there were intended to  channel the blood out from the sacrifice.

Here we see a scene of what appears to be the Shepard finding the she-wolf and twins Romulus and Remus. The red writing is what modern historians believe to be what was originally there. Alot of the monument was politically driven, and the other side contains many of the original sculptures of Augustus and his family line, along with his plans for people to succeed him.





Next stop, Pantheon.

The Pantheon has had several versions built in it's place due to fire burning down the first two.  The first one was built in 27BC.  This one was built by Emperor Agrippa(whos name you can make out in Latin at the top) and was actually facing the other way.  The second one was built in 110AD by Emperor Domitian.  This is the same structure that stands there today, but was damaged also in a fire.  The final product that you see today was restored by Emperor Septimius and is still in that shape today.

 So the Pantheon has the largest concrete dome and the center of which is a large occulus.  The occulus is still uncovered and provides almost all of the light during the day.  That means when it rains hard a large column of water enters the Pantheon and runs into a drain, which is supposed to look spectacular.

The original intention of the Pantheon was for a "monument to all gods" and was later converted to a Roman Catholic church.  It's status as a Catholic church is largely what saved it from being recycled like so many of the other Roman monuments.  The Pantheon as we see it today is almost exactly left untouched, minus the removal of the Ancient Gods and the insertion of Catholicism.

The marble in the Pantheon is exceptional, and shows what Rome really looked like before they started recycling everything they could touch.  Churches were off limit.

Here is the body and coffin of Vittorio Emanuelle II, the first King of Unified Italy.  He of course has many more modern monuments, but is buried in one of the most prestigious.

The Pantheon was supposedly the first thing that sculptor Michelangelo rushed to see when he entered Rome.  Being nearly 1300 years old when he visited, he was in awe.  When later commissioned to build the Sistine Chapel, he specifically designed the dome he painted to be one meter smaller than the Pantheon, in order to pay it proper respect.

This may look like a mis-shot, however it is meant to show the curvature of the floor.  The inside of the Pantheon is described as very comforting.  This is due to the perfectly round shape and the lack of corners being inviting.  The floor also is shaped in a slight curvature, and as you can see, it is such a difference that you cannot see the ankles of people far to the other side from the ground level.  Very interesting designs and architechture to affect ones perception of the Pantheon.

Figured I'd throw in one last picture.  All of the marble that you see is colored marble.  This means the makeup on the Pantheon marble comes from around the world.  This colored marble either came from parts of Africa or Egypt when the Romans had also conquered them.  Very expensive and it had to be carved very carefully.






Sorry for lapse in blogs as I enter the final days of my stay in Rome, but I fully intend to finish the blogs by the time I leave.  Thank you all for reading!