Fresco at the Castel S Angelo

Castel S Angelo 22, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

This celing panel along the outer wall of Castel S. Angelo is very similar in style to the frescoes that adorn the walls of the command chamber. (photography was prohibited in there) I assume the command chamber was originally the location of the urns containing Hadrian's remains. However, the style appears to be more medieval than imperial so it may have been a later embellishment to the structure.

War and Sacrifice

Castel S Angelo 23, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

This frieze of a Roman emperor offering sacrifice served to inspire the men who later served within the walls of the Castel S. Angelo.

"The military was the greatest observer of religious events and possessed a calendar detailing the dates and events that were to take place. These involved rituals and displays of faith, especially to the emperor and the god Jupiter. Each unit would erect a new altar to the deity on the edge of the parade ground. A time after the ceremonies were completed, the discarded pieces would be buried. They would also maintain a shrine which would hold the statutes relating to the military, and the Legion's standard when it was not being used. The rituals were observed meticulously by all involved, as it would be deemed an insult to the deity, so these ceremonies were taken most seriously." - Romans-In-Britain.org

Hadrian's tomb converted to medieval fortress

Castel S Angelo 9, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

The Castel S. Angelo, once known as the Mole Adriana, was not originally built for defensive purposes but as a funeral monument for the emperor Hadrian.

"It was finished in 139 CE, a year after the emperor's death, by his successor Antoninus Pious. [Hadrian's ashes were then transferred there from their temporary burial-place in the former villa of Cicero at Puteoli] It was then used up to the year 217 CE as a sepulchral for the Antonine family. Although constructed on the river edge, it was built on very solid ground and in an area previously used as a cemetery (actually in the gardens of Domitia, which, with those of Agrippina, formed a crown property called by Tacitus "Nero's Gardens.")

The monument was composed of at least three overlaid architectural bodies - a square base, a large cylindrical body, and a third and last piece. The latter was cylindrical too, but smaller in diameter and consisted of two overlaid orders, on the top of which the statue of Hadrian pulling a quadriga (chariot drawn by four horses) stood." - Castle.org

The structure was once topped with a tumulus of earth planted with trees. A ring of decorative marble statues stood along the edges of the parapet. I wish it still had the trees there. It would give the structure a less military aspect.

"Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building." - Wikipedia

The mausoleum of Augustus had last been opened to receive the remains of Nerva, but was no longer in use; so the Antonine emperors and their families were buried in the mausoleum of Hadrian, so it was later referred to by the name of Antoninorum sepulcrum.

Inscriptions actually recorded included the dedicatory inscription to Hadrian and Sabina set up in 139 A.D. (the latter was already deified, the former not) by Antoninus Pius, the sepulchral inscriptions of Antoninus Pius and Faustina, and of three of their children; of Aelius Caesar; of three children of Marcus Aurelius; of Lucius Verus, and of Commodus. That Marcus Aurelius himself was buried here is recorded by Herodian 4.1.4 who also relates that the urn containing the ashes of Septimius Severus and probably Faustina the younger were also interred here. Cassius Dio tells us that, besides Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta were also laid to rest here. - edited from entry in Lacus Curtius.

"Much of the tomb contents and decoration has been lost since the building's conversion into a military fortress in 401 and inclusion by Flavius Augustus Honorius in the Aurelian Walls. The urns and ashes were scattered by Visigoth looters in Alaric's sack of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary was thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted by Procopius. " - Wikipedia

Bernini's Angels on Pont S. Angelo gird for battle

Ponte S Angelo 7, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, the designer of St. Peter's Square, was also commissioned to embellish the bridge to Castel S. Angelo, formerly the emperor Hadrian's tomb. This angel appeared to be holding a modern day window washing device that she is preparing to use on the irreverent pigeon perched on her head.

King Victor Emanuel honored throughout Italy

Sculpture on Pont Victorio Emanuelle II 4, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

King Victorio Emanuelle II is honored on monuments throughout Italy. King Victor Emanuel II of Savoia achieved the unification of Italy in 1870.

In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars Italy was divided into a patchwork of kingdoms and duchies. The famous composer Verdi, a fervent adherent of liberal nationalism, was widely perceived as a figurehead for the unification movement (the Risorgimento). Although staunchly anti-clerical and a republican, he agreed with those who argued that the best prospect for unification lay in accepting Victor Emanuel, the liberal King of Piedmont, as the monarch of a united Italy. 'Viva Verdi' became a national rallying cry, his name being an acronym of 'Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia' (King of Italy). - Adapted from Verdi, The People's Opera

View of the Pont Victorio Emanuelle from the Pont S. Angelo

The River Tiber 5, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

From St. Peter's, we walked to Hadrian's Tomb/Castel san Angelo. On the way I had an opportunity to get some wonderful photos of the sculptures along the bridge of Victorio Emanuelle and the Pont S. Angelo that cross the Tiber.

Saints and Martyrs gaze down on visitors to St. Peter's Square

St Peters Cathedral 35, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

There are 140 statues of saints and martyrs atop the balustrade of the ellipse of St. Peter's Square.

On the left side of the piazza is the Vatican post office. I bought two postcards and mailed them to my colleagues back in the Dean's office from there so they would bear the Vatican City postmark.

St. Peter's colonade a masterful illusion

St Peters Cathedral 25, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

Bernini planned the colonnade design by drawing chalk lines, and possibly using strings to carefully predict the visual illusions. - Father Gary Coulter

The Travertine columns were placed so that if you stood on the foci of the elipse, there appears to be only a single row of columns. The portico formed by the colonade is wide enough to let carriages pass through.

Bernini commissioned to build the huge piazza

St Peters Cathedral 24, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

In 1655, Pope Alexander VII commissioned Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini to design a monumental square in front of the recently completed St. Peter's basilica.

"The immense piazza is bounded by two semicircular colonnades, each of which is made up of four rows of Doric columns. In the centre of the piazza is an obelisk brought to Rome by Caligula from Heliopolis in ancient Egypt." - Lonely Planet

The obelisk had served as a turning post in the chariot races at the nearby ancient Circus of Nero, where St. Peter was crucified.

My first trip to Rome Day 3

St Peters Cathedral 26, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

Saturday, March 12, we took the Metro over to Vatican City only to discover thousands of pilgrims. We had lost track of time and did not realize it was the weekend. There are probably four times as many visitors on the weekend as during the week. However, I got some wonderful photos of St. Peter's Square.

The elliptical shape, symbolising the Church's embrace of all of mankind, is defined by a series of 284 columns arranged in four rows. The square was designed by Bernini and features a central obelisk and two identical fountains.

Scene originally adorning triclinium in Livia's villa

Scene from Livia's triclinium 1, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

One entire room of the National Museum is adorned with a mural of an orchard of apple trees laden with fruit and delicate birds that once embellished the underground triclinium of Livia's villa in Prima Porta. These frescoes are considered among the best conserved illustrations of an ancient Roman garden.

"Apart from the statue of Augustus, the most well-known find from the Villa of Livia are the spectacular garden frescoes, often referred to in works on Roman painting. Once attached to the walls of a large underground room measuring 5 x 11 metres, these frescoes were moved to the National museum in 1955. Currently under restoration,they are hopefully soon to be displayed in the new museum in Palazzo Massimo. The frescoes exhibit not so much a cultivated garden as a subtle flourishing landscape, rich in trees, flowers and birds of all kinds. In this image, some scholars want to see direct links to the Ara Pacis Augustae and the general pictorial programme of nature and fertility in Augustan art.

In the foreground we find a low wickerwork fence running around the whole room;behind this comes a grassy walk, bordered on its far side by a stone parapet. This stone enclosure have recesses at some points for single trees — one pine, one oak and four spruces. The background consists of a great variety of vegetation, where the laurel is omnipresent in different shapes, ranging from shrubs to tall trees. In the midst of the leaves, nightingales, oriols, magpies, swallows, blackbirds and many more spieces of birds can be identified. According to ancient sources, Augustus owned a talking magpie, as well as a raven and a parrot. More important is the fact that all the flowers in the fresco bloom simultaneously and can directly be associated with love and fecundity. In the age of Ovid'™s Metamorphoses, the motif of the fresco can be seen as a celebration of Augustan perpetual peace" - Prima Porta: Villa of Livia, Uppsala University.

Discus thrower curls his foot

Discus thrower 5, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

Both my friend Pat and I thought it unusual that the discus thrower sculpture shows the athlete was rotating on curled toes. Since I am not an expert on throwing the discus I am not sure that this foot position is truly a form not used today.

Myron's Discus Thrower

Discus Thrower 1, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

This Roman copy of Myron's Discus Thrower is the centerpiece for a display about the importance of athletics to the ancient Romans. Myron, one of the most famous Greek sculptors of the 5th century B.C.E., lived in Athens. His original work, entitled Discobolus, was thought to represent the perfect athletic form.

Roman Charioteer Mosaic 4

Roman Charioteer Mosaic 4, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

The Romans loved chariot racing so I was not surprised to find a series of mosaics depicting the four factions of chariot racers denoted by their color. If I remember correctly, Robert Graves related that Tiberias became suspicious of people cheering for the green faction because the team was a favorite of Agrippina the Elder. Agrippina had publicly accused Tiberias of engineering the poisoning of her popular husband, Germanicus.

Finely detailed Fishes

Fish Mosaic, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

Being raised in a small fishing community on the Oregon coast I frequently fished in local streams and from the jetty near my hometown lighthouse. So I became familiar with a variety of fish species. Therefore I found the detail of the fishes depicted in this mosaic fascinating.