Of Cows and Commerce; The Arch of Titus

Sunday, October 11, 2015

This morning we did another Context tour titled, “Of Cows and Commerce” which can be found here: https://contexttravel.com/city/rome/walking-tour-details/of-cows-and-commerce .  The thrust of the tour was to understand the early commerce of Rome along the Tiber.  We did indeed learn these things, starting in the ancient Cow Market on the edge of the river, and learning about the trade there.  But with our guide being an archeologist, there was considerable focus on the buildings of ancient Rome and how they were repurposed over time.  Indeed, our focus was more on architecture than on commerce.

Here’s a temple to Portunus, the god of the Port:

And a temple thought probably to be to Hercules:

Across from these is a building which originally was one of the 60 grain distribution centers which existed in the Republican and Imperial periods of Rome.  Citizens were entitled to grain simply because they were citizens!  This building had been repurposed as a church, and you can see the original columns buried in the church walls:

The church has a very beautiful floor which dates from around 1200:

Today the church is Greek Catholic, something I know nothing about.  There are Greek looking icons in the church:

In Renaissance times the various guilds all had their own churches, and we visited the church of the Ironworkers:

Finally we visited a church which had been built atop three adjacent Roman temples, and in the bowels of the church we were able to see the construction features.  Here’s a drawing of how it was done:

That was the end of our Context tour, and we walked to the Jewish Ghetto district for lunch.  There is a bustling street with a number of kosher restaurants.  We ate at one:

Following lunch we took a taxi to what we thought was the entrance to the complex which includes the Coliseum and the Palatine Hill, the residential area for the elite above the Coliseum.  We were off a bit, but ultimately made our way there.  We will tour the Coliseum with our Melton group, but not the Palatine Hill, so we walked up from the Coliseum.  The Coliseum itself is astonishing; enormous and very well preserved/reconstructed, it was really busy on a beautiful Sunday afternoon:

 The Arch of Titus is on the way up the hill. It was constructed in c. 82 CE by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' victories, including the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. It has been the model for many other triumphal arches including the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Carvings on the inside of the arch reflect the triumphant march returning from Jerusalem with the booty from the siege.  Prominent is a menorah:

We climbed to the top and explored the remnants of the palace and the residences.  There is a wonderful breeze up there which probably is delightful on hot summer days, and the view of the area below is very impressive:

We went back to the hotel, rested a while, and had another lovely dinner with wine.  Tomorrow we meet up with our Melton group and start that portion of our trip.