Originally posted on July 20, 2011 by Canicus

Today I finally made it inside of the Coliseum. Having carried a ticket for several days entitling me to enter without standing in the horrendous line to get a ticket, I finally found the entrance permitting individual ticket holders carefully hidden where groups enter. I stayed on the first level at 74 with blisters on my feet, I’m not about to climb up to the second or third levels of that thing.

From the Coliseum I made my way to the Plaza de Bocco d. Verite. The most striking feature of this plaza is the Temple of Portunus which was once mistaken for the Temple of Vesta, where the Vestal Virgins kept the eternal flame of Rome burning. It is, perhaps an easy mistake, as it is a circular colonnaded temple similar to what the Temple of Vesta (actually located hard by the oldest part of the Forum) looked like. Nearby is the Forum Borium the ancient cattle market of Rome. There is a four way arch there not triumphal like those of Titus or Constantine, but practical. It marked the crossroads used by the drovers and provided shelter in inclement weather.

From there I went back to what once was the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) which was the army’s training grounds for centuries well into the imperial period. Very little evidence of what was once an open field anymore. But it is where Augustus’ tomb is located and the Altar of Augustus’ Peace. This time I was able to get inside the enclosure and view the enormous structure up close. Unfortunately the layout of the enclosing museum (undoubtedly dictated by the streets on either side) make it difficult to view the scenes high up on the enclosing walls of the ancient structure.

I was interrupted in my hotel room by a plumber that apparently the maid had summoned to work on the toilet.

It was nearly overcast this morning. “Mostly cloudy,” I guess you’d call it but most of the clouds had dissipated by mid-day.