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~ …… (oon∙poh∙dee∙PEH∙peh) Cristina writes about interesting stuff /Cristina scrive di cose interessanti

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Tag Archives: Ancient Roma

Buon Compleanno Roma!

21 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Italia, Roma

≈ 2 Comments

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Ancient Roma, April 21 753 BC, La Lupa Capitolina, Natale di Roma, Roma, Romolo & Remo

Roma’s turns 2770 years old today!  Auguri Roma.  The day of Roma’s foundation is called ‘Natale di Roma’.  You may be thinking… Christmas of Roma?  Huh? Christmas is called Natale in Italiano, but the word natale, with a lower case ‘n’, actually means birth-so today is the celebration of the birth of Roma. The exact date, April 21, 753 BC, was determined by Marcus Terentius Varro, a 1st Century BC Roman scholar.

According to legend, on this date Roma was founded by orphaned twins Romolo and Remo (Romulus and Remus in Latin).  Their dramatic story shares plotlines with those of Hamlet, Moses and Cain and Abel!  They were children of Mercury, God of War, and Rea Silvia, the daughter of Numitore, ex King of Alba Longa, which was 19 km southeast of Roma. Rea Silvia’s family were descendants of Aeneas, the Greek Trojan war refugee. Aeneas’ son Ascanio was the founder and first king of Alba Longa. Numitore’s brother Amulio ousted him.  To insure Numitor would have no heirs, Amulio killed his son, and forced Rea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin. When the gemelli were born in 771 BC, Amulio ordered them to be drowned in the Tevere.

The servants who were to drown the babies set them afloat in a basket on the river instead.  They washed up near the Palatino (Palatine Hill) and were found and nurtured by a lupa (she-wolf) who had lost her newborn cubs. *Interesting note- at the time, the word ‘lupa‘ could also mean prostitute! Romolo and Remo were found by a shepherd, Faustilo. He and his wife Larentia took them in and raised them.

Romolo and Remo grew up to be leaders of a group of shepherd warriors.  When they found out that they were the true heirs to Alba Longa, they attacked, killed Amulio and restored their Nonno Numitore as king. Fresh from their revenge and still full of adrenaline, Romolo and Remo decided they would build a city of their own near where they were found by the lupa.  Romolo wanted to build on the Palatine Hill (where the Forum is) and Remo wanted to build on the Aventine.  They disagreed and fought, with Romolo accidentally killing his brother in the process.  And so began the long, bloody, politically charged history of Ancient Roma.  Romolo built the city on the Palatino and named her Roma after himself.

Gruppo Storico Romano organizes many festivities in Roma today, including a live reenactment of Il Natale di Roma at Circo Massimo.

Ciao e buon 2770mo compleanno Roma, Cristina

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Il Pantheon

08 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Architecture, Art history, Italia, Photography, Roma

≈ 14 Comments

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Ancient Roma, Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda

Piazzadellarotonda500 years ago, Michelangelo entered the Pantheon and stated that it looked more like the work of angels than humans. The Pantheon is an architectural masterpiece and the most well-preserved building from Ancient Rome.  This is probably because it has been in continuous use since it was built.  The original use of the Pantheon is not known.  Many think it was a temple to all the gods, since ‘Pan-theos’ is Greek for ‘all gods’, although Ancient Roman temples were dedicated to single gods.  ‘Pan-theos’ might also refer to the heavens, the territory of the gods.  According to legend the site is where Romulus, the founder of Roma ascended to the heavens.  IlPantheonMarcus Agrippa, Augustus’ commander in chief built the original Pantheon on his own land, so it may have been a private building.  This building burned down in 80 AD and then was struck by lightning and burned again in 110 AD! The Pantheon standing today was completed around 126 AD by Emperor Hadrian.  He kept the original inscription under the pediment ‘M.Agrippa.L.F.Costertium.Fecit’ (Made by Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius in his third time as Consul) which caused confusion about the construction date.  The Pantheon was given to the Pope in 609, and it has been the Church of Santa Maria dei Martiri ever since, but it is usually still called the Pantheon.Pantheonfontana

From the outside, the Pantheon looks like a Greek temple. It is actually a round building (rotunda) with a portico of eight 12m (39 ft) high granite Corinthian columns up front and 8 more in behind. These columns are each a single 60 ton piece of stone quarried in Egypt.  Imagine the journey these huge stones made to get here….they were dragged through the desert, barged down the Nile to Alexandria, shipped across the Mediterranean to the port of Ostia, barged down the Tevere to Roma and then hauled overland to the site of the Pantheon!Pantheon oculus

Enter into the Pantheon and it is immediately clear what Michelangelo meant. Overhead is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world-still after almost 2,000 years! The Romans invented concrete, using a mixture of volcanic ash and soil from Pozzuoli, lime and rocks, but they did not have rebar, so this is amazing! The 8 m wide hole in the roof is the oculus and the shaft of light coming in from the sun moves slowly throughout the day like a sun-dial.  When looking up, the dome feels like it could rotate. The oculus and front door are the Pantheon’s only sources of natural light.  Concrete walls 6m (20 ft) thick support the dome, which is 6m thick at its base but narrows to 1.2m (3.9 ft) around the oculus.  Lighter materials, such as tufa, pumice and even broken terra cotta pots were used towards the top to further lighten the load.  The oculus also lightens the load at the very top, acting as a compression ring where the roof would be its weakest. Rainwater coming in through the oculus is drained off through holes and a drainage system under the slanted marble floor.

Is it a mask for Carnevale? No, these are drainage holes in the floor right below the oculus!

Is it a mask for Carnevale? No, these are drainage holes in the floor right below the oculus!

The height of the oculus is 43.3m (150 Roman feet) and the diameter of the building is also 43.3m. A perfect 43.3m sphere would fit inside the building. For another visual, if the dome was flipped upside down, it would fit perfectly inside the rotunda.

The perfect mathematical proportions of the Pantheon invoke harmony and symbolize the earth and the heavens. The Pantheon has provided inspiration to architects including Brunelleschi and Michelangelo for almost 2,000 years.  Public buildings throughout the world are modelled on the Pantheon’s ‘portico and dome’ design.Pantheonchapel

In the 17 the Century, the Barberini Pope Urbano VII removed the bronze ceiling from the portico and melted it down to make cannons for Castel Sant’Angelo. The outrage prompted the saying ‘Quello che non hanno fatto i barberi hanno fatto i Barberini’ (What the barbarians didn’t do, the Barberini did), implying that the Pantheon had survived numerous barbarian invasions, only to be looted by the Barberini family. In addition to functioning as a Classical Masterpiece and a Church, many notable Italiani are buried in the Pantheon.  Some of these include Vittorio Emanuele II, Umberto II and his wife Margherita di Savoia, Rafaelle Sanzio da Urbino (Raphael) and his fiancée Maria Bibbiena.

Il Pantheon from Il Vittoriano

Il Pantheon from Il Vittoriano

‘La Pioggia delle Rose al Pantheon’ (the rain of roses) is on my list of things to see. This takes place on Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter.  At noon, right after Mass, Roma’s Vigili del Fuoco (fire fighters) climb to the top of the dome and drop thousands of rose petals through the oculus as choirs sing.  The rose petals symbolize the Holy Spirit coming down to earth.  Even Michelangelo would be impressed!

The dome and oculus, viewed from the roof of Grande Hotel de la Minerve

The dome and oculus, viewed from the roof of Grande Hotel de la Minerve

Il Pantheon from Piazza de la Minerva

Il Pantheon from Piazza de la Minerva

Il Pantheon is also featured in my post ‘Un Giorno a Roma’.

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