Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Rome - 2003
Second Group Presentations
Rome - 2003
Second Group Presentations
In their first presentations the students had considered different armature systems of ancient Rome - walls, gates, roads, and aqueducts.
In the second round of presentations, groups looked at public buildings and public spaces inside those systems. One aspect of this presentation was to consider the scale of public buildings in ancient Rome.
The first group looked at the theaters built in the Campus Martius. The second group looked at the Altar of Peace and the Sundial of Augustus. The third group looked at the Pantheon as a complex rather than as a single building. The fourth group considered the Baths of Diocletian.
The Theater Group
The Theater of Pompey, about 55 B.C.
The Theater of Marcellus, finally dedicated about 13 B.C.
The Theater Group showed us the sites of two theaters within a few minutes walk of each other.
One difficulty of studying ancient Rome is finding things that are no longer there. The Theater of Pompey is a good example of a shadow-building; the foundations of the theater are inside the picture above, but the renaissance palazzo traces the curve of the theater. The Theater of Marcellus is easier to see, though it, too, was much altered.
The Theater of Marcellus was turned into private space - fortified, in essence, by people who filled in the arches with stone and brick - in the middle ages and renaissance. About a third of the semicircle of theater remains, however.
The Sundial Group
The Sundial Group explaining the location of the Horologium.
The Sundial Group had a tricky job because their subjects have been physically MOVED.
Here they are showing a marker that indicates the northernmost point of the circle occupied by the Sundial or Horologium of Augustus.
Augustus set up an old (even then) Egyptian obelisk as the pointer of the sundial. It was moved in the baroque period to the Piazza Montecitorio. I can't find my picture of it - just wait!
The Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis) was sited in relationship to the sundial so that the shadow of the obelisk hit the Altar of Peace on Augustus's birthday. The Altar of Peace was reerected much closer to the Tiber - AND the shell around it is under reconstruction, so we can't visit.
The Pantheon Group
The Pantheon Group (pictured above in the best shot I've ever taken of the dome!) talked both about the incredible building we can see AND about its original setting. Rather than the small, sloping piazza now preceding the Pantheon there would have been a large portico extending toward the sundial. In fact, the Mausoleum of Augustus and the top of the obelisk would have been visible from the Pantheon's portico.
There is no picture of the Baths of Diocletian Group, but I include as an excuse a picture of the hail that was falling while they were talking. We all got a little dispirited and the whole group dissolved before the presenters came to a well-rounded conclusion and posed for their picture. Alas. On the other hand, all my students probabaly know how to say "It's snowing" in Italian, which is not something that every American studying in Rome has reason to use.
In the second round of presentations, groups looked at public buildings and public spaces inside those systems. One aspect of this presentation was to consider the scale of public buildings in ancient Rome.
The first group looked at the theaters built in the Campus Martius. The second group looked at the Altar of Peace and the Sundial of Augustus. The third group looked at the Pantheon as a complex rather than as a single building. The fourth group considered the Baths of Diocletian.
The Theater Group
The Theater of Pompey, about 55 B.C.
The Theater of Marcellus, finally dedicated about 13 B.C.
The Theater Group showed us the sites of two theaters within a few minutes walk of each other.
One difficulty of studying ancient Rome is finding things that are no longer there. The Theater of Pompey is a good example of a shadow-building; the foundations of the theater are inside the picture above, but the renaissance palazzo traces the curve of the theater. The Theater of Marcellus is easier to see, though it, too, was much altered.
The Theater of Marcellus was turned into private space - fortified, in essence, by people who filled in the arches with stone and brick - in the middle ages and renaissance. About a third of the semicircle of theater remains, however.
One difficulty of studying ancient Rome is finding things that are no longer there. The Theater of Pompey is a good example of a shadow-building; the foundations of the theater are inside the picture above, but the renaissance palazzo traces the curve of the theater. The Theater of Marcellus is easier to see, though it, too, was much altered.
The Theater of Marcellus was turned into private space - fortified, in essence, by people who filled in the arches with stone and brick - in the middle ages and renaissance. About a third of the semicircle of theater remains, however.
The Sundial Group
The Sundial Group explaining the location of the Horologium.
The Sundial Group had a tricky job because their subjects have been physically MOVED.
Here they are showing a marker that indicates the northernmost point of the circle occupied by the Sundial or Horologium of Augustus.
Augustus set up an old (even then) Egyptian obelisk as the pointer of the sundial. It was moved in the baroque period to the Piazza Montecitorio. I can't find my picture of it - just wait!
The Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis) was sited in relationship to the sundial so that the shadow of the obelisk hit the Altar of Peace on Augustus's birthday. The Altar of Peace was reerected much closer to the Tiber - AND the shell around it is under reconstruction, so we can't visit.
Here they are showing a marker that indicates the northernmost point of the circle occupied by the Sundial or Horologium of Augustus.
Augustus set up an old (even then) Egyptian obelisk as the pointer of the sundial. It was moved in the baroque period to the Piazza Montecitorio. I can't find my picture of it - just wait!
The Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis) was sited in relationship to the sundial so that the shadow of the obelisk hit the Altar of Peace on Augustus's birthday. The Altar of Peace was reerected much closer to the Tiber - AND the shell around it is under reconstruction, so we can't visit.
The Pantheon Group
The Pantheon Group (pictured above in the best shot I've ever taken of the dome!) talked both about the incredible building we can see AND about its original setting. Rather than the small, sloping piazza now preceding the Pantheon there would have been a large portico extending toward the sundial. In fact, the Mausoleum of Augustus and the top of the obelisk would have been visible from the Pantheon's portico.
There is no picture of the Baths of Diocletian Group, but I include as an excuse a picture of the hail that was falling while they were talking. We all got a little dispirited and the whole group dissolved before the presenters came to a well-rounded conclusion and posed for their picture. Alas. On the other hand, all my students probabaly know how to say "It's snowing" in Italian, which is not something that every American studying in Rome has reason to use.