We started our day doing a tour of the Christian catacombs. Roman law forbid burying their dead within city limits so the early Christians built catacombs on the outskirts of Rome to bury their dead. We were not allowed to take any photographs inside the catacomb because they are considered scared. It was really interesting and a little scary to walk through the catacomb. This picture shows the entrance to the catacomb and it is crazy how far underground we went on our tour!
There were a lot of fresco decorations on the walls that were Christian symbols like the fish or shepherd. Some of the artwork was so beautiful but I couldn't take any pictures of it. This picture is just a poster showing some of the common symbols. The bodies were placed in chambers that were carved out of the walls and each chamber was sealed with a slab bearing their name, age, and day of death. Some of the chambers were still sealed and others were empty.
Next we saw the Appian Way, one of the most famous ancient roads in Rome. It was built in 312 BC and spanned 350 miles!
We saw some interesting buildings along the Appian Way.
The Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella
Then we saw the Roman aqueducts. There were people golfing out in the grass so I guess there is a golf course by the aqueducts.
There is also a beautiful trail going along the aqueduct.
The aqueduct moved the water using a slight downward gradient and I was surprised at how tall it was!
Of course you can't go to Rome and not see the Colosseum. So we did that after lunch.
The Colosseum had about 80 entrances and could accommodate 50,000 spectators. It is huge and amazing how organized the Romans were. Based on your ticket, you knew exactly where to sit. Pretty much the same way we do it today.
The arena had a wooden floor and a layer of sand which covered the underground structure called the hypogeum. You can see where the arena floor would be and some of the original marble seats above the arena floor on the left.
The hypogeum was connected by underground tunnels to other locations outside the Colosseum. That way the animals and Gladiators could get to the Colosseum without needing to pass through crowds.
There were also numerous vertical shafts so the animals and Gladiators could be brought to the arena instantly from the hypogeum. The architecture and engineering that went into the Colosseum is amazing but it was a little unsettling to hear what it was used for. Gladiators fights, animals hunts, executions; not my kind of thing!
While on our tour of the Colosseum, we could see the Temple of Venus and Rome
and the Arch of Constantine. We then walked over to the Roman Forum which was the political, religious, and economic center of Rome.
Today it is just a lot of ruins and it is hard to picture how it used to look so this picture helps give a visual.
Basilica Aemilla, built in 179 BC, was a civil basilica.
Temple of Saturn (on left), Column of Phocas (center), and the Temple of Vespasian and Titus (on right)
Arch of Septimius Severus (on the left) was built in 203 AD to commemorate the victory over the Parthians. The Curia (building on the far right) was where the senate assembled. The building in the back of the picture with the dome is a church in Rome called the Santi Luca e Martina.
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Temple of Vesta, which is the white building with the columns, dates back to the 4th century BC.
Temple of Divus Romulus
The Santa Francesca Romana, another church in Rome situated next to the Roman Forum.
Basilica of Maxentius, which was the largest building in the forum
Arch of Titus, built in 81 AD, commemorates the victory in the Jewish War
Only three pillars remain of the Temple of Castor and Pollux built in 484 BC.
I'm not sure what this is. In fact, I wasn't sure what anything was when we were at the Roman Forum. I just kept taking pictures even though I didn't know what I was looking at. Our tour guide spoke very quickly and her English was hard to understand. Later on I was able to figure out the names of the all the different buildings except for this one.