Place to see: roman forum, Rome, Italy

Postcards about roman forum:

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  21 June 2008
  From:
  Anne Beach

  Admire the Arch of Titus and know that Napoleon himself admired it and modeled his Arche du Triomphe after it, although the Parisienne arch stayed true to proportion but is much larger. Titus died of the plague after only a two year reign. Titus was popular and his successor, his brother Domitian, was not, so we surmise that Domitian built the arch for Titus hoping for some vicarious adulation. The arch only survived the Middle Ages because the Frangipani family built around it to construct their fortress. So many layers of history entwined around these ancient structures call to us.

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  21 June 2008
  From:
  Anne Beach

  Sacked by the Visigoths and the Vandals in the fifth century, by 472 AD, the Roman Empire had fallen. We are fortunate so much of the Forum has survived; some of the survival was due to the sediment washing down from the Palatine hill, covering the ruins but also preserving them. Not all the buildings are contemporary with each other because as centuries passed, new monuments were built atop the old; only exquisitely careful excavation has revealed the oldest layers. There is no "ancient" history in America, so it is stunning to claim these distant and long lost relatives.

• 

  21 June 2008
  From:
  Anne Beach

  After centuries of degradation and of accumulated silt, the Roman Forum was referred to as Campo Vaccino, or the Cow Field in the Middle Ages. Little remained of the Temples of Concord, Saturn, or Castor and Pollux. After the fall of the Roman Empire, iron clamps were pillaged, marble was melted down for lime to make concrete or stripped to be reused elsewhere, stones were carried away. Even the name of the Roman Empire which once struck fear in the hearts of many would be attackers was little more than a whisper on the winds that blew across the ruins.

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  21 June 2008
  From:
  Anne Beach

  It was a long hike up the Palatine Hill for these 60 year old bones, especially since it was literally 98 degrees. "Horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow." I was one sweaty horse. I was stiff after walking the uneven steps up the Palatine and then over to the Coliseum for additional wonderful hours, but it was worth every moment of senoritis for the magnificent view of the Roman Forum. I admit as I walked up the hill, I hoped for an elevator, escalator, trolley, ski lift, anything to get me up the hill, but, duh, this is Ancient Rome.

• 

  21 June 2008
  From:
  Anne Beach

  Standing on the Palatine Hill overlooking the Roman Forum is one of the most stirring sights in the world. The Roman Forum is rather like a heavenly constellation of stars where you summon all your creative abilities to see Orion or the Pleiades. Here, you allow your mind's eye and your imagination to recreate the buildings and monuments. Using the very mental and intuitive skills that the ancients used, the ruins of the glory that was Rome become complete in all their magnificence before you, and you walk the ancient spectral paths alongside the apparitions of its storied past.