Learning Lots in Rome

I know that my loyal readers are wondering what happened to me the last few days. The last time I posted to this blog was on July 3rd and today is July 6th. So much has happened that it is hard for me to even explain it all and the pace seems like it will keep up this way, so I may just have to squeeze in a post now and then. I am sorry, but this will have to be a long one.

Saturday was the 4th of July! I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day. Here in Rome it was like any other Saturday I guess since it is an American Holiday. We did not even see fireworks! On Saturday COMCAR 2009 (Colloquium on Material Culture and Ancient Religion) began. For me it started with friends of ours coming from the United States and joining us in the apartment where we are staying. One of the friends is Betsy Robinson (aka Dr. Robinson) who is a professor at Vanderbilt University. She knows a lot about ancient art and archaeology and she was really excited to be in Rome. There were so many museums that she wanted to see. I was lucky to be able to visit the Muzeo Nazionale Romano with her. She knew what was there and could explain why different pieces were so important. In the museum they have taken wall paintings that were found and created actual rooms so that you can get a feel for what it was like to be in them. The one in this picture is a room from Lyvia’s house. She is the wife of Augustus Caesar and a very powerful woman. This room is painted to make it feel like you are outside in a garden. I highly recommend renting and watching the PBS series called I, Claudius that was made many years ago. It has really helped me to make sense of so much of what I am seeing here. I have a concept of Lyvia and what she was like and how important she was.

In the evening COMCAR started with a banquet for everyone. Here is a picture of the beautiful location. For dinner I had calzone which is a folded over pizza. My friends in Whitefish bay wanted to know about pizza and I am glad to be able to tell you that I have eaten pizza a few times. There is lots of pizza here. The pizza here has pretty thin crust and maybe fewer toppings than American pizza. Usually people order it for their own meal, sort of like a “personal-pan pizza”. The word for mushrooms is fungi, so you can order pizza with fungi, which sounds bad to me even though I am OK with mushrooms. I have not seen any pepperoni. Maybe that is in a different part of Italy. One other different thing about eating here is that they tend to eat several courses when they go out for a restaurant meal. First they have antipasti, which is appetizers and my favorite one is bruchetta, which is sort of fried bread with tomatos and basil on it. Then they eat a pasta course, like spagetti or lasagna. Then they have the main course, which is some sort of meat. Then there is dessert, which you are usually too full for, but after a walk you think you can maybe eat some gelato and so you do. There are two ways to prove that you are an American here; ask for decaf coffee, ask for a doggie bag.

Since the opening dinner I don’t feel like there has been much time to stop and think at all. All day Sunday we walked ALL over Rome seeing things and learning. Both on Sunday and today (Monday) the expert who led the group was Carl Galinski who is a Professor at the University of Texas and is a world-renowned scholar. His specialty is the Greco-Roman world and especially Augustus. He is AMAZING! It seems that he knows so much about everything here. I think he could talk to us for DAYS and still have things to show us that are interesting. I am participating in these days with a group of professors from all over. There is even one from Australia. They are all so excited about all of the things that they are learning and seeing. They don’t seem to get tired, but I am exhausted!


Here are the few things that have made an impression on me in the last two days:

1. Because Rome has been important for so long most buildings here have had multiple purposes. They were often built first as temples and then converted into churches and even as churches have gone through many different stages. In some places there are many layers of plaster and painting like I saw in Ephesus. In other places archaeologists have discovered one layer under another that are difficult to sort out.
2. Archaeologists are careful scientists. Dr. Galinsky told us that we should’t take stories like Romulus and Remus too seriously. There is no archaeological evidence for that story. The first actual building archaeologists found that show Rome as a city is from about 325 BC. They have found other much earlier evidence of people living in the area, but not of an organized city. Archaeologists document EVERYTHING that they do. Now they take pictures of things they find and write descriptions with extremely correct measurements of everything. When archaeologists today look back at something found 50 years ago they can often read the documentation from the original archaeologists and then they can tell how much something has fallen apart since it was first found.
3. Statues and columns in ancient Rome and Greece were painted and colorful! We often think of Greek and Roman sculpture and columns as looking like they are now: all white, but they were actually painted. It is hard to imagine and only now scientists are figuring out ways to find out what colors were used.
4. Roman temples were not used like churches are used today. There was no congregation and people did not go to the temple once a week. They had statues in them of Gods and were usually built by someone to show how important they were in the city. People mainly went into them for certain festivals.
   

Well, that tells you the large outline of things that I am learning. We spent all morning today at the Forum and I will tell a bit about that later. I have taken the afternoon off to have time to rest, do some laundry and write this blog. It is hot outside and most of what we are looking at has been outside.

Now for a few other questions: Linda wrote that the La Pieta statue had been attacked by someone with a hammer several years ago and she wondered whether I could see the damage. I am including a bit closer up picture of the statue (without Dill, sorry). You can click on the image to see a larger size. I did not see any damage, but maybe I would have if I had looked more carefully. As Linda mentioned that is probably why it is behind glass now.

It is interesting the Whitefish Bay kids are so interested in what I am eating and more modern things! I was expecting to have more questions about Rome and Gods and that sort of thing. I am sorry to say that I did not eat gelato yesterday. I think as soon as I am finished writing I am going to head out to eat some gelato. I think I will try hazelnut or maybe peanut if they have it. Wouldn’t peanut and chocolate taste good together? I really can’t tell you about sports in Italy.

I know that they like what they call football, but we call soccer, but I have not seen any soccer or talked to anyone about it, so I am not very helpful with that question. There are posters around about the World Swimming Championships.

It is pretty funny that people do not say anything about me taking pictures with Dill in them. The Bulgarian girls that I asked to hold him thought it was cute and laughed about it. I have enjoyed telling the professors that I am following around about Dill, but strangers just look at me and don’t say anything.

Next time I write I will try to include the Pantheon, obelisks, flying buttresses, and a few other things I may have missed this time! Looking forward to hearing from you!