Our journey to discover ancient Rome continues.
Dear reader, I must admit... Tracking down Octavian was a Junoesque undertaking and being able to talk to him...
Well it was almost completely impossible.
On the death of Caesar, Marcus Anthony and Octavian faced the army of the conspirators in 42 BC.
Then the territory of Rome is divided: the first the eastern provinces and the second the western ones with Rome included.
Antonio marries Cleopatra and tries to
Antonio marries Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and tries to form a power to oppose Rome but does not take into account that by doing so, he gives the pass to Octavian to declare him an enemy of the homeland. The conflict ends in 32 BC with the battle of Anzio where Octavian wins while Cleopatra and Antonio, once back in Egypt, kill each other in order not to get caught by their rival.
Left alone in power, Octavian asks for peace from the senate, from the people to the army even if in reality there is no lack of conflicts.
Thus began the imperial era.
The age of Augustus is known as that of the Pax Romana and favors the resumption of civil, economic and cultural life. During this period the Ara Pacis, the Pantheon, the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Marcello theater were also built.
I caught a glimpse of Augusto during a committee. He is a beautiful young man of just twenty years; blond, blue eyes, white skin and a slim body.
His way of speaking in public is bewitching and persuasive. He is a great speaker.
After the death of the emperor, (14 AD), the stepson Tiberius ascends to the throne, who is known for the horrible crimes he has committed, and subsequently his crazy nephew Caligula.
I witnessed in 70 A.D. to the construction of what will later become the emblem, the symbol of Rome and all of Italy in the world: the Colosseum or better known as the Flavian Amphitheater.
It was inaugurated by Vespasian's son, Titus, in 80 AD.
The construction takes place in the area occupied by the enormous Nero's palace, the Domus Aurea, built after the great fire in Rome in 64;
(the great fire, of unknown origin, in Rome breaks out at the time of the Roman emperor Nero with results: three districts destroyed and seven damaged districts, about two hundred thousand homeless and thousands of deaths.)
At that time I am not in Rome but in the tranquility of the countryside to rearrange my thoughts, so I was lucky enough not to have experienced that trauma.
Closed parenthesis, now I give you some clarification on the matter: the Colosseum is elliptical in shape, and has a length of 188 meters.
The building rests on a base of two steps; above there are three orders of arches, and a fourth, with rectangular windows.
There are eighty arches on each floor separated by pillars with a semi-column.
On the first three floors there are circular corridors that shelter the spectators in case of rain.
This almost generic information was given to me by a Roman building architect, engaged in manufacturing, who kindly gave me a few minutes of his precious time and attention, and which I thank.
I also want to express and make you aware of other wonderful things that Rome has such as, for example, the Seven Hills on which the Eternal City was founded, also visible in our age and are:
Aventino, to the south;
Campidoglio, now the representative office of the municipality of Rome;
Celio
Esquiline
Palatine Hill
Quirinale, where today the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic is located.
Viminale, the smallest hill.
I mentioned Rome as the "Eternal City", but where does this name come from? Let's see it together.
The credit goes to Albio Tibullo (about 55 / 19-18 BC), a Latin poet known today by very few, but who at the time was a well-known author of erotic poems.
In his second book of "Elegies", the author imagines a very remote period and writes "Romulus Aeternae nondum formaverat Urbis moenia", translated as: "Nor had Romulus erected the walls of the Eternal City".
Often the origin of the name is traced back to Hadrian (reigning emperor in the 2nd century AD) and to this prophetic passage: "More Rome will come, and I can't imagine their face; but I will have helped to shape it. [...]
Rome will live, Rome will only perish with the last city of men "; this epic sentence, however, was written in the 1900s by Marguerite Yourcenar in the novel" Memories of Hadrian ", while
<< Rome eternal city >>, is already used from previous periods.
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Living in ancient Rome
Historical FictionMarta finds a strange contraption in the attic. It's a time machine built by his grandfather! Will it work or will it just be a prototype? Let's find out together by reading her adventures.
