Public Entry #1 (5/31)
May. 31st, 2019 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarahlavoy posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
walkingancientrome_2019During the last two days, the class has explored the church of San Nicola in Carcere, the Forum Boarium, the Circus Maximus, the Roman Forum, and the Flavian Amphitheater (better known today as the Colosseum). While exploring and learning about these places, we have learned about one of our favorite things as Morris-ites…. recycling and reusing! This post will seek to summarize a few ways in which the histories of some of the sites listed above have been affected by the practices of reusing and recycling in the classical, medieval, and modern times.
As a result of the 64 AD great fire of Rome, about two-thirds of the city had been burned to the ground. Around this same time, the emperor Nero decided that the large area near the Roman Forum that had been burned should be the location of his new and extravagant palace, the Domus Aurea (the Golden House). The Domus Aurea, which was located on the slopes of the Palatine, the Esquiline, the Oppian, and the Caelian hills, was completed in 68 BCE. According to Suetonius (in his Life of Nero), “when the edifice was finished … and he (Nero) dedicated it, he deigned to say nothing more in the way of approval than that he had at last begun to live like a human being.” The boldness and cruelty of Nero were controversial, to say the least, and after his death, the Flavians sought to reclaim the space that was used to house the Domus Aurea and to give it back to the public. As a result, the Flavian Amphitheater was erected. Because of this history of how the Flavian Amphitheater came to be (and came to be located), the monument is a great example of the reuse of space during the Roman empire.
The Flavian Amphitheatre also provides us with another example of reusing and recycling. During the Middle Ages when trade routes were weakened, it was easier to take the metals that were used in the monuments around them and melting them down to reuse and repurpose, perhaps to make utensils or weapons. This is exactly what happened to the Flavian Amphitheater. During the Middle Ages, people began to take out the iron used to reinforce the marble structure of the Amphitheater and melted those pieces down for repurposing.
The Flavian Amphitheater does not provide us with the only examples of how medieval and ancient Romans reused space and materials. For example, the church of San Nicola in Carcere, which was built in the 6th century, was actually constructed in and using the ruins of Forum Holitorium and its temples, which date to the 3rd century BC. The spolia, the repurposed building stones, from the earlier monuments can still be observed in the church that survives (and functions!) today.
In addition to the Flavian Amphitheater and the church of San Nicola in Carcere, the reuse of space can be seen in another MODERN (but simultaneously ancient) example. The Circus Maximus, dating from the 6th century BC, is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue, is located in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine Hills. The Circus Maximus was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire, as it could accommodate over 150,000 spectators (for reference, the US Bank Stadium has the capacity to hold up to 66,655 people). After the 6th century AD when it no longer held events, the Circus fell into decay and was quarried for building materials (reduce, reuse, recycle!). Today, the space that was the location of the Circus has been put to reuse; today it serves as a public park.
(Let me know if anyone knows anything about Roman composting!)
As a result of the 64 AD great fire of Rome, about two-thirds of the city had been burned to the ground. Around this same time, the emperor Nero decided that the large area near the Roman Forum that had been burned should be the location of his new and extravagant palace, the Domus Aurea (the Golden House). The Domus Aurea, which was located on the slopes of the Palatine, the Esquiline, the Oppian, and the Caelian hills, was completed in 68 BCE. According to Suetonius (in his Life of Nero), “when the edifice was finished … and he (Nero) dedicated it, he deigned to say nothing more in the way of approval than that he had at last begun to live like a human being.” The boldness and cruelty of Nero were controversial, to say the least, and after his death, the Flavians sought to reclaim the space that was used to house the Domus Aurea and to give it back to the public. As a result, the Flavian Amphitheater was erected. Because of this history of how the Flavian Amphitheater came to be (and came to be located), the monument is a great example of the reuse of space during the Roman empire.
The Flavian Amphitheatre also provides us with another example of reusing and recycling. During the Middle Ages when trade routes were weakened, it was easier to take the metals that were used in the monuments around them and melting them down to reuse and repurpose, perhaps to make utensils or weapons. This is exactly what happened to the Flavian Amphitheater. During the Middle Ages, people began to take out the iron used to reinforce the marble structure of the Amphitheater and melted those pieces down for repurposing.
The Flavian Amphitheater does not provide us with the only examples of how medieval and ancient Romans reused space and materials. For example, the church of San Nicola in Carcere, which was built in the 6th century, was actually constructed in and using the ruins of Forum Holitorium and its temples, which date to the 3rd century BC. The spolia, the repurposed building stones, from the earlier monuments can still be observed in the church that survives (and functions!) today.
In addition to the Flavian Amphitheater and the church of San Nicola in Carcere, the reuse of space can be seen in another MODERN (but simultaneously ancient) example. The Circus Maximus, dating from the 6th century BC, is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue, is located in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine Hills. The Circus Maximus was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire, as it could accommodate over 150,000 spectators (for reference, the US Bank Stadium has the capacity to hold up to 66,655 people). After the 6th century AD when it no longer held events, the Circus fell into decay and was quarried for building materials (reduce, reuse, recycle!). Today, the space that was the location of the Circus has been put to reuse; today it serves as a public park.
(Let me know if anyone knows anything about Roman composting!)
