Lost in Time

 

I'm still lost, honestly.

I spent one long October afternoon, guided and solo, wandering the Roman forum, trying to find myself. 

During my week in Rome I made several trips along Via Fori Imperiale, with the outstanding viewpoints looking down on the Forum. I thought I was getting oriented, spotting some favourites.

Then with our clever guide, we time travelled a long hot afternoon, storm clouds and sun duelling for control.

By way of orienting myself from this new vantage point I kept track of my daily landmarks, sticking up above this ancient place, layers of time: the flamboyant white Victor Emmanuel II monument with its rooftop horses, and the yellow brick Capitoline Museums, to which I later time travelled via narrow brick stairs up from the Forum to Michelangelo's magnificent square.

I am a history nerd; I expect eventually to figure out the chronology of eras, if I try hard enough. Today for example I've been digging back into the succession of English kings and queens, prompted by a video series about the royal art collections I stumbled upon on BBC Select this week. I've lost my head over Charles I and his passion for collecting.

But back to the problem at hand. The forum So many layers. The buildings of this one forum alone span 1400 years, of kingdom, republic and empire.

The foundations of medieval buildings don't clear the picture at all. They pop up everywhere, built among and with the stones of the ruins. Perhaps one day we'll dig deeper?

Maybe I should just be satisfied by recognizing a few favourites.

 Like the Arch of Titus, photo awkwardly composed to obliterate a few hundred of us gawpers.

Like San Lorenzo in Miranda (below) a Baroque church of the early 1600s built inside the columns of the second century temple of deified Roman emperor and empress Antonius and Faustina.

There's a nice seventeenth century painting of the scene on this site. It reminds us that the area was then called 'campo vaccino', used as pasture for livestock. No respect. And the 17 metre high marble columns and attic did survive the plunder of so many nearby structures as a result of that church adopting the site.

It all became a bit clearer when we made our way up the long stairs to Palatine Hill, pausing a moment to enjoy the garden. From the edge of the hill, we looked down on all that astonishing history, and it became a bit clearer. Perspective.

So, I am still lost. But maybe I should just be satisfied that I got to be there, sitting on a wall in the heat, looking about me. So many layers. Makes my little worries about big events transpiring in January 2025 seem insignificant indeed. Perspective is indeed everything. 

This fine little Smart History video explains the confusion in 7.2 entertaining minutes.