Originally posted on July 3, 2012 by Canicus

Herculaneum

Herculaneum is actually a Greek colony, although thoroughly Romanized by the first century. It was one of the cities destroyed by the historic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD – on of several disasters to hit during Trajan’s reign.

From Naples it is quickly reached from Naples by the Circumvenusian railroad. I was worried about where to get off. There are numerous stops, all named in Italian. I did manage to decode “Ercolonoco” as Herculaneum, so I got off at the right place. The view from the train is not good. You cannot see the ruins, and I could not see Vesuvius. Early in the morning it is a nice walk from the rail station to the archeological site – all downhill. It was morning and not terribly hot.

There is a further major descent, still pleasant in the morning, to the level of the city. Herculaneum, unlike Pompeii, was covered by a pyroclastic surge which left it buried under about 65 feet of volcanic rock. The cities were rediscovered in the Renaissance by accident and essentially mined for ancient statuary, mosaics and wall paintings. Archeology has improved in the subsequent centuries and there is considerable effort to preserve and restore the site that continue today.

Originally it was thought that the people of Herculaneum escaped the disaster because, unlike Pompeii no human remains were found in early excavations. However, when the boathouses were discovered along what was then the coast of the Bay of Naples, hundreds of skeletal remains of people that had been instantaneously carbonized by the pyroclastic surge. Apparently fairly early in the eruption, they had fled to these boathouses in hopes of escaping, but help never arrived.

We know that Pliny the Elder, who was the commander of the Roman fleet based at Miseneum at the extreme western part of the Bay, had led the fleet in a rescue attempt but could not approach Herculaneum (or Pompeii) because of the winds, current and volcanic ash (which reduced visibility and risked setting ships on fire) and so went to Stabiae.

One interesting exotic field is archeological botany. Most of us know how in Pompeii “hollows” were found in the pumice and ash that were left by people and animals killed in the disaster. These were filled with plaster and images of dead recovered. Well, the archeological botanist looked for holes in the grounds of gardens in Herculaneum filled them with plaster, dug the result out and identified the plants that had grown in the gardens. Reconstructions today are based on those findings.

Leaving Herculaneum is all uphill. So as soon as I got out of the archeological site I took a three euro cab ride to the train station.

Today the pedometer shows 2,748 steps, for 1.30 miles. Somehow I thought it would be more. It says 119 calories were burned. Average pace was 3.1 mph and actual time 24 minutes 27 seconds, which I know is wrong.

Canicus Modus

Originally posted on July 22, 2012 by Canicus

Final Report

This was a long day. I woke at 5 AM in Rome. (It was midnight in Dallas.) I seemed to do that while in Europe. I have no idea why. It did, however, make it easier to catch early morning trains and flights. But this morning’s flight out of Rome wasn’t all that early. I didn’t really need to check in until 8 AM, and I was already at the airport — or at least the Hilton Rome Airport which is connected by a long Sky Walk to Terminal 1. I had no idea which terminal I needed to go to, so when I checked out of the hotel at 7 AM I asked which terminal I needed. “Terminal 5. Take the shuttle parked out in front.” So I actually arrived at the check in counter before they opened. It seems, though, that Terminal 5 is just check in and security clearance for international travelers. After clearing security, they put us on another bus to take us to another building that had boarding gates.

The flight to Charlotte, N.C., was uneventful, and we arrived about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The nasty thing about this is that since I was entering the U.S. I had to retrieve my checked bag (which always seems to be the last unloaded), clear immigration where there were hundreds of people queued up, go through customs (which was pretty quick), recheck the bag and then find the gate for my flight to DFW.

To get the gate we had to go up a long flight of stairs — the elevator and escalator were both shut down. When we reached the top of the stairs we were greeted by a uniformed security guard wanting to know why we came up that way. It was the only way we could see on the lower level. He was vary concerned because we came into an area undergoing remodeling and there was stuff strewn all over the place.

As I entered the floor I could see out the windows of the building for the first time and there were dark clouds forming up outside. Sure enough, in a few minutes there was a thunderstorm. It was fairly brief, but what it did was delay the plane that was to take me to DFW. When it did arrive, we boarded. Then we were told we didn’t have clearance to take off because of the weather at DFW. So we sat about 40 minutes waiting for clearance.

The flight to Dallas took exactly two hours, as promised. So essentially I arrived an hour later than scheduled. One observation about flying this year: the food is worse than ever. I don’t know if that is simply U.S. Airways, or system wide. In the past I always did British Airways; so it may just be the difference in companies. There is talk that American (in bankruptcy and being advised by Bain Capital) may merge with US. They deserve each other.

I took a taxi to a hot apartment, turned on the air-conditioner, ate a quick microwaved supper and went to bed.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 19, 2012 by Canicus

Transition from Lyon to Rome

All Europe is populated by C Programmers. Thus the first floor is Floor 0. This works out fairly rationally because it means that if there is a basement, it will be Floor -1; if there is a subbasement it will be -2. But all this means that the second floor (the one above the ground floor) is Floor 1; and the third floor is floor 2.

Now, in case you are confused, consider the hotel where I stayed in Lyon. The first (ground) Floor is 0. (There was a basement where taxis lurked, but you could not access it by elevator — supposedly that would be -1.) Now the hotel lobby was not on the ground floor — Floor 0; you had to take an elevator to the second floor, Floor 1, to get to the lobby.

But the hotel elevators were on this second floor, but those elevators designated the second floor as Floor 0. My hotel room was located on Floor 3 — that being the fifth floor of the building. To get to ground level I had to take the hotel elevator to Floor 0, transfer to another elevator and, because as far as that elevator was concerned I was on the second floor (1), I had to take it to the first floor (0).

Nothing much to report. I packed in the morning — pretty much for the last time. It was a short walk to Gare Part-Dieu to catch the Rhônexpress to Aéroport Lyon Saint-Exupéry. It is an hour 30 minute flight to Aeroporto Internazionale Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino (Rome’s major airport).

I’m spending the night in the Hilton Rome Airport. Too expensive and, obviously, the most “American” hotel this trip. But I figured that taking the Leonardo Express from Fiumicino to Rome, spending one night in a cheap hotel, being sure to wake early enough to take the Leonardo Express back to the airport to catch an 11 AM flight to the U.S. would end up being a bigger mess and not a lot cheaper.

I figure I have to check out of the hotel by 8 AM (instead of 7 AM had I stayed in Rome) in order to find where in which terminal I need to be by 9 to get the boarding pass, check my bag, go through security and find my gate.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 18, 2012 by Canicus

Lyon

Today is effectively the last day of the Grand Tour this year. I’ve managed Venice, Naples, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae, Paestum, Rome, Ostia and Lyon in the three weeks since leaving Dallas. Today is sort of a transition in time of some 1,500 years from ancient Rome to the modern world.

Lyon was a Gallic dudum before Caesar’s Gallic Wars began. It retained its Gallic name of Lugdunum (Dunum of Lug, a Gallic god) even when it became a part of the Roman empire and, for all intents and purposes, a Roman city. I’m not quite sure how linguistically one gets from Lugdunum to Lyon, though I suppose over centuries of slurred speech (and maybe lots of Gallic beer, Roman wine and eventually the French) one can get from one to the other. Lyon does make a thing about lions though. They are somewhat symbolic for the city.

Much of Lyon is a very modern city, although there are sections that retain not only the Roman but the medieval, renaissance and later characteristics. What it does not seem to be is a tourist city. I decided to visit the Tourist Center in the Place Bellecour, which the hotel literature indicates is where the tourist action is. There is a tourist center run by the transit authority. You can book tours of the city and region there. But there is none of that highly competitive on/off sightseeing bus bit you see in Rome or Paris. Nor are there the legions of hawkers selling all sorts of stuff on the streets as is the case in Venice, Naples and Rome. There is a lot of high class shopping around the Place Bellecour and a lot of sidewalk restaurants. I did eat at one, but decided not to hang around for a couple of hours for the next tour bus.

Tomorrow I pack for an afternoon, non-stop this time, to Rome. Online booking seems a bit strange. The train booking I took from Rome to Venice had a transfer at Bologne; the train booking from Venice to Naples was direct to Rome but with a transfer at Rome. I had originally planned on doing the train from Rome to Lyon, the idea being that on the return I could do a night train that would eliminate a night in a hotel. But that turned out to involve a three country rail pass (Italy, Switzerland and France) and a number of transfers. So I ended up booking a flight and a night at a Leonardo airport. The fight to Lyon involved a transfer at Milan; but the return in direct and non-stop. Go figure. A taxi driver here told me I should have flown to Paris, and then take trains to Venice, Naples, Rome, Lyon and back to Paris to fly home. He probably is right.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 17, 2012 by Canicus

Musee Gallo Romain

This is what I came to Lyon to see. The area around Lyon is quite flat, except for this hill. On top of the hill is where the Gauls before Caesar had their town, which the Romans took over and made a center for the new province of Gaul. Lyon is a major city in France these days, and the hill contains a lot of “modern” structures. But there are the remains of an amphitheater and odion (a music hall) dating back to the days of Augustus Caesar.

The French have built into the side of the hill a museum. Architecturally it is interesting in itself. From the outside it is a concrete blockhouse. So plain, in fact, that the taxi driver who took me there didn’t recognize it or where the entrance is. But inside you gradually descend five floors in a spiral from the top (roughly the top of the amphitheater) to the bottom. All along the way there are displays of historical materials of Lyon going back to the stone age down to the late Roman Empire.

A lot of the material is epigraphical – inscriptions of various monuments. But there is a good deal of other things including everyday objects such as ladies’ toilet objects, game pieces, tool, weapons, pottery, glassware etc. There are also some spectacular moasics.

I’m finding Lyon a rather “normal” city after all the tourist bits in Venice, Naples and Rome. There are obviously tourists. But none of the street venders selling souvenirs. I did spot some buses that obviously are for tourists – both of the open top variety and the closed buses with big windows. In Rome you had vendors constantly attempting to sell tickets to those buses all over the place. But I can’t find any of that sort of activity here. Tomorrow, I may try again to locate one just to take a tour of the city. Or I may try to go to Vienne, which is nearby and which also has some Roman ruins. Or I may do neither.

The weather here is not what I expected. I really did think I would experience Texas like heat. But the air is on the cool side if you are in the shade. Standing in the sun, though, can be quite hot.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 16, 2012 by Canicus

From Rome to Lyon

Today was the transfer from Rome, Italy, to Lyon, France. No photos today, although I guess I could have gotten some airplane window shots of the snow-capped Alps. Then there could have been some shots of the architecture of the corn, harvested hay and industry between Saint-Exuprey and Gare Part-Dieu.

Lyon was once known as Lugdunum, established as a Roman administrative center by Julius Caesar. This was also one of the cities in which Rome operated mints, a few of which coins have ended up in my collection.

Lyon also has an important connection in Christian history. It was here that Irenaeus was bishop. One of the 2nd century Greek Fathers (that is, he wrote in Greek) he knew Polycarp who, it is said, knew the apostle John. This sort of apostolic connection plays a role in one of Irenaeus’ works, “Against Heresies” in which he refutes Gnostic heresies. One of his arguments is that one must look to those sees where the tradition received from the apostles is taught. He uses the Church of Rome as an example. He also argues for the evidence of the four gospels as preserving the apostolic faith. At one time scholars rejected the descriptions of Gnostic belief.

Tomorrow I hope to visit some of the Roman remains in Lyon and the Roman Museum here.

Hotel stories. I left wake up calls at the two previous hotels to be sure I was up early enough to catch my transportation to the next city. Neither actually made the calls. Fortunately, I woke up on my own without the calls.

This seems to be the nicest hotel so far. But like the hotel in Rome, the lobby isn’t on the ground floor. The hotel in Rome was in a building with three hotels. There was no lobby for any of them on the ground floor – which is floor 0 in Europe. The lobbies for the hotels were on floors 1, 2 and 5. (I think there was a floor 6.) The hotel in Lyon has an elevator on floor 0 to the lobby, which is on floor 1. Different elevators go to the other floors of the hotel. To make life interesting floor 1 (the lobby floor) is floor 0 for the hotel. My room is on floor 3, which means I am on the fifth floor.

WiFi is free here, but seem to be flaky. It was working before I went to dinner, but now I can’t connect. I may have to try the lobby to post this.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 15, 2012 by Canicus

Santa Maria in Cosmedin

Today being Sunday I attended the Divine Liturgy at Santa Maria in Cosmedin. This ancient basilica is not usually listed in the tour guides this way. It is customarily listed as Bocca Della Veritas (Mouth of Truth). In a wall at the portico of the church there is a stone face with an open mouth. According to legend if a liar puts his (or her) hand into the mouth he (or she) will drop dead. There are long lines of tourists seeking the opportunity to pay a euro to stick their hand into the mouth. Seeing that people are not dropping like flies, I am somewhat skeptical of the veracity of the Bocca Della Veritas.

One can skip the line and enter the basilica directly. At least parts of it date back to the Constantinian era, if not earlier. It is located between the Circus Maximus and the Forum Boarium (the Roman cattle market). Before it became a church, it was a place for the distribution of food to the poor (Rome did have a tax supported welfare system which Jesus endorsed.) Later it was taken over by the deacons of the Christian Church – continuing the provision for the poor. The area was settled by Greeks. The church continues today to serve the Eastern Rite (Roman rather than Orthodox) liturgy.

Across the street are a couple of well preserved pagan temples. A circular temple in the Etruscan style is sometimes identified as the Temple of Romulus, but is correctly identified as a Temple of Hercules. (The actual Temple of Romulus is in the Roman Forum. It is also round, but without columns.) Next to it is the Temple of Portunus in the more familiar rectangular style.

I mentioned that the ancient cattle market of Rome was also in the neighborhood. It is marked by a four-way arch.

Organizing and packing up for an early departure to Lyon, France early in the morning. I will be returning to Dallas on Friday.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 14, 2012 by Canicus

The Capitoline

There are seven hills in Rome. Please note that the Vatican is not one of the seven, nor was it a part of the actual ancient city of Rome which is on the opposite side of the Tiber river; so those preachers who interpret the Apocalypse as referring to the Vatican have both their geography and history wrong. One of the actual Seven Hills of Rome is the Capitoline. The Roman Forum lies at the foot of this hill to the east. There were apparently small dwellings on top of this hill in the Iron and Bronze Age. Its importance dates to the Etruscan Kings in the 7th century BC. They turned this hill into the city’s acropolis (literally, the “high city”).

A fortified hill top makes a good defensive site to which the people can flee in times of attack. But it is also the theologically correct place for a Temple to one or more of the gods of high places, such as the Olympians. Thus, in Athens, the Parthenon is located atop a high hill overlooking the city. (Note, that even YHWH was such a God with his Temple atop Mount Zion.) All this in contrast to the gods of the underworld who were worshiped in caves and other “low places.” (Consider the Witch of Endor whom Saul sought in a cave to conjure up the ghost of Elijah the prophet.

So the Etruscan kings of Rome fortified the Capitoline and began the construction of a huge temple dedicated to Jupiter the Greatest and Best, his wife, Juno, and Diana. The Capitoline became Rome’s acropolis. It was not the place of ordinary business (that would be done down in the Forum). But it was a refuge in 390 BC when the Gauls sacked Rome. We are told that during that episode, a garrison defended the acropolis. The Gauls did find a way to scale the difficult Tiber side of the hill, but the defenders were alerted to their attempt by Juno’s sacred geese and the attackers were repelled.

The modern Capitoline Museum is atop the hill today. In it one can visit the massive blocks that made up the podium of the temple and the Tabularum, which was the records building of Rome that is located at the extreme western end of the Forum and which affords a spectacular “aerial” view of the Forum. The museum contains a lot of classical sculptures and inscriptions. This year there was also a special exhibit of mostly medieval documents on lone from the Vatican Library, which apparently displaced many regular exhibits. One that was displaced was one of my favorites – the Spinario or Boy with a Thorn. It probably is a favorite because I too was a boy who got stuck by stickers going barefoot; however, we usually were not completely naked.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 13, 2012 by Canicus

Ostia

Ancient Rome was a city of over one million people. Ostia, where the Tiber flowed into the Tyrrhenian Sea, was the seaport that supplied the city with grain and other items shipped from all over the Mediterranean. In a society where bread was the major staple of diet, along with porridge made from grain, the arrival of grain in huge quantities was as critical to the city’s survival as the water brought in by the numerous aqueducts. And while huge grain ships were a major part of the traffic at Ostia, so were ships bearing wine, oil and imports of silk and frankincense. Over time the shoreline has extended several miles from Ostia and it has been centuries since it was an important port city. Much of the ruins remain, sometimes even second stories of buildings which contained shops on the lower level and dwellings above. Also, because of the nature of the city’s economics, much of the ruins consist of warehouses and wholesale dealers’ facilities.

Archeology is discovering new things. When I was in college, we were taught that the Romans did not navigate in open waters, but rather sailed around the Mediterranean, keeping shorelines in sight. Underwater archeology has shown this was not true. Liquids, such as wine and olive oil, were shipped in large anaphora. These are seen in museums and come in all sizes ranging from tiny jars to hole a ounce of precious perfumes to huge barrel sized jars used in shipping. Characteristically, they have rounded bottoms, expand outward toward the top before narrowing at the top with maybe a couple of handles at the top. Archeologists have discovered literal highways of these amphorae between port cities of the ancient world littering the bottom of the Mediterranean. These highways cut straight across the Mediterranean and are only a few hundred feet wide. We are not quite sure why these ended up on the bottom. It isn’t a trail of shipwrecks. One guess is that at least the contents of some were consumed by the people on the ship and then thrown overboard when emptied. It is also possible that if a ship was in danger of sinking, some of the cargo would be thrown overboard to lighten the ship.

Visiting Ostia is quite pleasant. There are lots of pine trees that provide shade and a nice breeze blowing off the sea to make it comfortable.

Today the hotel finally let me buy at one time enough WiFi hours for the rest of my stay in Rome. Only two more days here, and then to Lyon, France. One week from now I will be on my way home.

Canicus Modius

Originally posted on July 12, 2012 by Canicus

The Forum

The city of Rome is approximately 2,750 years old. Cities (or perhaps more properly, city-states) were a center for the agricultural area surrounding it. Most of the population lived on farms, there were few residents who actually lived in the city proper. The city served as a market place, a center of public worship, governmental administration and defense. When the city-state was under attack, the rural population could withdraw within the walls of the city.

The area between the Palatine and Capitoline hills was originally a swamp. Sometime between 750 BC and 500 BC the kings of Rome built a drainage facility (still in use today) to drain the area, where they constructed a major forum. The forum was dominated by the Temple of Jupiter Greatest and Best atop the Capitoline Hill which served as an acropolis for the city’s defense. Down below in a huge area was the forum – and area for markets, politics and civil religious festivals. Considering the small population of Rome at the time and its insignificance in world affairs, clearly the kings envisioned something great for its future.

In the picture gallery I mention the Rostrum and the Tabularum. The Tabularum was where the records of Rome were stored. The Rostrum was the place where public speeches were made to the assembled Romans. The word comes from a Latin word meaning “rooster’s beak.” No, it’s not about orators crowing. Warships had a metal battering ram that resembled a rooster’s beak. Part of the naval battle consisted in ramming enemy vessels. Some of these rams captured from Carthaginian ships during the Punic Wars were installed on the platform.

The eastern end of the forum contained the Temple of Vesta, in which an eternal flame was maintained by the Vestal Virgins who lived in a house nearby. There was also the Temple of Romulus, the traditional founder of Rome. Both these temples are in the round Etruscan style rather than the more common rectangular temples.

Canicus Modius