The Flavian Amphitheater.

I have been looking forward to today for awhile -- we finally went inside the Flavian Amphitheater, or as the rest of society calls it, the Colosseum! It was a sunshiny, beautiful day.

The Arch of Titus.

This was constructed by Domitian, Titus' brother who succeeded him as Emperor after his death in 81 AD. It's absolutely beautiful. The carvings on the inside represent a triumphal procession of Titus coming back after suppressing an uprising in Judea. It also depicts all the spoils they brought back from Judea and on the right and side, you can see a box... what archaeologists believe to have been the Arc of the Covenant!

Found in 2008, these are the remains of what archeologists are hoping to have been the triclinium, or dining room, of Nero's Domus Aurea (Golden House). You can barely see it in this picture, but the concrete cylinder, next to the wooden wall on the right, is the center of the dining room. Eight arches extend from that cylinder and are strong enough to support a rotating dining room, which is what Nero wanted. They have found a mechanism, powered by a cut in aqueduct, that allows a suspended floor to rotate around. It's crazy if you ask me, but it's like an old school Sundial. 

On top of the Palatine Hill where the Imperial Palace built by the Flavian dynasty stood.

AHH THE COLOSSEUM -- even though it should technically be called the Flavian Amphitheater. Long story short, things got mistranslated back in the day, and no one bothered to fix it. Okayyy, I'll tell the long story. The original Colossus Neronis was this enormous bronze statue of the Emperor Nero depicted slightly as Apollo, the sun god, that stood near the current day "Colosseum." Well when Venerable Bede, a famous English author and scholar wrote, "As long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world," he used the Latin term coliseus, which was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian Amphitheater. But you'll find that quote in a bunch of tour guide books and they'll be referring to the Colosseum. I hope that all makes sense.

When I say that I did something with "a few of the girls," these are the ones I'm referring to. Cristina, Kelly, Katrina, and Katie are too much fun to be with and I'm so happy to have met them. -- can't wait to hangout in Aths. :)

After class, I may have fallen asleep for an hour and half.. but I was exhausted from class and we did a lotttt of walking, so it's totally okay. On another note, our weekend starts tomorrow after class and the girls and myself are going to Florence!! We booked our hotel for two nights the other night and then bought our train tickets today. I'm so excited to go shopping and see David and lots of other famous people's artwork! The hotel that we're staying at does have wi-fi, so I'll continue to blog.. probably about my bargaining adventures. So wish me luck!