When the habitation was made on one of the seven hills, question came to name the place, the emperor drew a circle around the habitat and called it Rome means ‘I own the place’!
Roman emperors considered themselves GOD, as they were descendants of the twins Romulus and Remus. Their mother Rhea Silvia conceived them when their father, the god Mars, visited her in a sacred grove dedicated to him. Rhea Silvia was vestal virgin. (Vestal Virgin is kind of a Devadasi but with many privileges.) She had abandoned the kids in forest and the twins were taken care by a she-wolf. These twins founded the city of Rome!
In later years, Roman empire was spread on large parts of Europe, Asia and north Africa. To connect various parts of empire Romans built strong roads. At that time, salt was considered precious commodity and trade of salt was done through the roads built. The word Salary comes from prefix ‘Sal’ means salt. Roman soldiers used to receive half payment for their services as Salt. So the Salary came into existence.
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| Roman Roads |
Romans were very particular about the availability of water. They built dams/reservoirs and carried them to places through Aqueduct. After the water passed through the aqueduct, it was collected in tanks and fed through pipes to public fountains, baths, toilets, or industrial sites.
Whenever, a roman emperor won a new territory and spread the empire, he would build an arch on his name. There were 52 arches in ancient Rome. Why did they construct so many arches? Because of the arches, the emperors became role models for little boys in ancient society.
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| Titus arch |
Roman history is full of blood shed, frauds, murders. More popular the emperor, more he is vulnerable to being murdered. Hence, the emperor would live only for few years, sometimes only for few weeks. In early years, they used to build statues of the emperors while the emperor was alive. But in later years till the completion of creation of statue, the emperor used to die either by a disease, natural death or in a war or by being murdered by the enemies nearby. Hence they decided just to carve the head of the emperor and keep rest part of the body common. Hence, in museums, one can see only the head statues of various emperors. They are not part of broken statues, but thoughtfully designed like that. Just replace the head of the statue, and entire statue is ready.
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| Statue Without Heads |
Palatine hills was the tallest of the seven hills. Being the tallest one, this hill was chosen as the official residence of the emperor. Five storied palace was built on the palatine hill. The walls were decorated with art on Marble pieces.
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| Palatine hill wall |
The flooring used to be made from Limestone and there was internal heating system which would keep the flooring warm.
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| Palatine hill floor |
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| Home Theater |
The word ‘Forum’ has the connection with the place Roman forum which was a meeting place in ancient Rome. For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials etc.
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| Roman Forum |
Ancient roman society followed Paganism as they worshiped thousands of Gods.There are many temples around Rome. Pantheon is the old temple which was later converted into a church.
Paganism was originally a pejorative and derogatory term for polytheism, implying its inferiority.
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| Pantheon |
Pagan society was converted to Christianity over the years. Ancient roman treasures, artifacts are preserved in Vatican museums in Vatican city. They say Vatican museums is the wealthiest place on earth. If they sell the artifacts from Vatican museums, hunger, poverty all over the world could be vanished..(If!). It is an irony that we can see many beggars in the premises of Vatican museums.
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| Vatican City |
Most well known attraction in Rome today is Colosseum. Titus was the famous roman emperor who completed the construction of Colosseum in AD 80. It is an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome. The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators. It was known for the gladiator battles. A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences by violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their lives and their legal and social standing by appearing in the arena.
Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death. Thousands of animals, humans were killed in bloody battles on the amphitheater. The wild ferocious animals were captured from Africa and they were kept hungry for days. And then the battle with the wild animals were fought. The flesh of the killed animal was cooked on the ground floor of the Colosseum and distributed among the audience.
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| Colosseum |
For entry into Colosseum, lifetime membership cards were distributed to the citizens.Each card had the arch number from where the person was supposed to enter the Colosseum and row number and seat number were also written where he was supposed to seat. Members from royal family, virgin vestals had reserved places in the Colosseum. Women had no privileges, rights in ancient Rome. They had to climb to the top rows till the separate seating place for Women.
There is an underground passage in Colosseum used to house wild animals, slaves. Arena is the oval ground where battles were fought. It was made of wooden floor and covered with sand. Sand was used to protect the wooden floor from spilling of the blood.
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| arena Colosseum |
Colosseum is certainly the place which makes you feel that we certainly live in better world today. Slavery has been prohibited in most part of the world. Men, women live with certain amount of freedom.
However, Colosseum is an architectural wonder as it is still standing tall even after two thousand years. There is a prophecy...
If Colosseum falls down, Rome will fall down.
And if Rome falls down, entire world will fall down..
