While this trip is coming close to the end, I feel like we've just started to scratch the surface of everything that can be learned from this place. While being a little homesick, I really do not want this trip to end. I've met so many unique beautiful personalities on this adventure, It's sad to think in just five days Rome will be the beginning of a memory and we'll all be on a plane going back to our own lives.
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| Part of the Baths of Caracalla |
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| Underground Tunnel at The Baths of Caracalla |
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| Inside of Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and the Matyrs (Built in the Baths of Diocletian) |
The past couple of days have been spent at the Baths of Caracalla, Baths of Diocletian, Basilica of San Clemente, and the Arch of Constantine.
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| What the Baths of Diocletian would have looked like |
The baths of Caracalla were way bigger than I thought they would be. It almost reminded me of a modern day recreation center or like the regional fitness center in Morris. I mean, the Baths of Caracalla had a work out area, pool area, locker rooms... basically everything a modern day recreation center would have. The Baths of Caracalla were made under the emperor Caracalla of course! If I remember correctly he had them made mostly for propaganda, to get people to like him, and it was mostly used for a social gatherings. Ancient romans wouldn't usually come to these baths by themselves, they'd come with a friend. This part of the Baths kind of struck me as weird, because thinking in modern day terms, I haven't really thought of rec centers as a place to socialize. I'm not exactly sure about why I never thought this before, but now that I noticed it, its one of those things where it just makes sense and I should've known all along.
The Baths of Diocletian were... ok. I mean a lot of it has been turned into other things and has other uses, so for this I kind of didn't understand what I was looking at most of the time or it was really hard to picture what it would have looked like back in its prime time. I did include a picture of the floor plan though so you can get an idea of what it would've looked like. Another thing that we saw earlier today was the Basilica of San Clemente. We actually had a guest speaker today which was a nice change of pace. Inside of it was also really amazing. We go in on the top floor or I guess main floor and then there was excavations that made it able for us to go down two more floors into the ground. It was a little bit humid or musty down there due to water, but it was really cool. I find it hard to think that the fresco's down there have survived as long in those conditions, one would think they'd deteriorate. Later on today we had went to the Arch of Constantine. It is situated between the colosseum and capitoline hill. It was made to celebrate constantine's victory over Maxentius in 318 AD.
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| Arch of Constantine |
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| Entrance to the Basilica of San Clemente |
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| Had to steal this group photo! It's the best |
