We had a very busy but exciting first week. On Monday, we visited the Roman Forum and Palatine hill to discuss the origins of Rome. There are new discoveries which was quite wonderful including the unearthing of an arena of the Emperor Domitian which had not been seen or unearthed for more than 50 years. On Tuesday, we toured a couple of national museums (Massimo and Terme) as well as the Diocletian baths (the site of Mandy's group picture below), as well as the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. On Wednesday, we were taken through the Colosseum by Darius Arya, the executive director of AIRC, our host site. Dar is a respected archeologist and specialist on the Colosseum and other arenas in antiquity. The students really enjoyed their time with him and seeing the Colosseum up close and in depth. (See a couple of my great pictures below.) On Thursday and Friday, we visited the Vatican. On Thursday, we were priviledged to tour the necropolis of St. Peter. The evidence for this being the actual burial place of Peter is actually quite compelling, and I actually do believe it to be authentic (not that the bones that they have are necessarily Peter's); however, for me the most compelling evidence is the length of the tradition of that exact site as the burial place of Peter. It actually goes back to the first century, only a few years after the death of Peter. On Friday, we climbed all the way to the top of the cupola of St. Peters (half of us) where we were able to overlook the entire city. We then went through the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. The students are off for a three day weekend, visiting places like Pompeii, Sorrento, Venice, Capri, and London. I'm staying "home" in Rome to get caught up on work and rest.
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| Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre) |
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| Colosseum inside |
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| Seeing eye behind altar in St. Peters |
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| Podium in front of baldicchino over tomb of St. Peter |
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