Coocoo
Did you know that all roads lead to Rome? Now that may not be true anymore, but back in Roman times, the major through roads all led to or from Rome. They all had their own names as well and we walked on one of them. A very famous one!
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| The road as was, with a pedestrian area to the left and right. Chariots, carts and large platoons would have used the center. |
We walked on the Via Appia. Mara had found it on her phone/gizmo thingymebob and had led us straight to... the Via Appia Nuova. The New Appian Road and we wanted the old one! Fortunately there was another bus and we ended up on the Via Appia Antica, which was one of the earliest roads built by the Romans (starting from 312BC by Appius Claudius Caecus), connecting the Forum in the center of Rome to Brindisi, a town about 550 kilometers further south.
Not much is left today of the road, as its stones have been used in houses and farms along the way and in later years, the road itself has just been asphalted over and completely ruined. There are still some bits that are original and we found a tiny bit of it.
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| Can you see the wheel rut? That is over 2000 years old! |
In fact, in the top photo you can see me sitting on the road. The road wasn't only used by foot soldiers, carts and chariots also used it and all those wheels made ruts in the roads and I am sitting in one! The stones used to be really flat and flush, but over the over 2000 years of its existence and sometimes repairs, it now ended up as quite an uneven road. Great fun though.
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| Part of the bath house with a beautiful mosaic floor. |
In Roman times it was not allowed to bury your dead within the city walls, so there are a fair few mausoleums, graves, crypts and catacombs along the Via Appia. There were also temples, bath houses, inns and farms. We saw the remains of a bath house and after watching countless episodes of Time Team, it was great to see it 'live' so to say. Gera was even able to point out some of the features!
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| The mausoleum of Caecilia Metella. It was really really really big! |
Because it was Monday, we didn't get to enter the site of the mausoleum and a stronghold/keep/castle as it was closed, but we did get to finish the very first catacombs. If you want to read more, Mara has looked up where to go. Click here to do so: HERE.
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| San Sebastian Basilica from the outside |
We were not allowed to take any photos inside, but I can tell you it was big! Every time I thought it was the end, we saw another corridor filled with graves and holes for graves or urns. And we found out later it was one of the smallest!!!
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| I am going to catch you yet Mousey! |
We did get to see one mausoleum from the outside and a church right across the road from it. The church was in ruins, but it was a great place for cats to catch mice. Although the cat never caught it while we were watching it...
The last thing I want to show you today are some trees. When the road was constructed, trees were used a lot to shade the users of the road. I call them umbrella trees and they would be on both sides. Because of later building and such, most of the trees along our stretch of road had disappeared.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteThat was very most interesting, Brom! Golly, how many feet, how many wheels must have passed over yonder stones to have created such 'memories' of themselves! The history is palpable, even from your words and pikchewers... thank you, dear bear, for being our guide! Hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
A fair few armies will have passed with their carriages and carts and chariots. All those blisters!
DeleteMemory is a funny and unpredictable thing. how long has it been since I heard of the Appian Way -- maybe almost 60 years back in high school. But the name sprang into my mind, even before you got around to mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing area for such great history. Thanks for showing us some of your trip.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to see things that old! There must have been a lot of traffic to have made those ruts.
ReplyDeleteAnd the best part is: those roads still stand. Perhaps not in their original form, but most of the roads they made have been in use since then, being upgraded and widened all the time!
DeleteIt is an amazing city with so many buildings that have been around for hundreds of years. I loved Rome but the cobbled streets were hard on the feet maybe I should have worn Roman sandals!
ReplyDeleteI wore sandals one day and wasn't too happy. If there was any water on the road and you couldn't avoid it, you never knew whether it really was water or some other fluid! I preferred my proper walking shoes.
DeleteWhat a wonderful road to be able to see and walk on....soooo much wonderful history!
ReplyDeleteOh, Brom. I am so glad no chariots were on the road when you were resting in the rut. Goodness that would have been awful. The Latin books I studied in high school had stories about the Appian Way. Some of the stories were in Latin. I would not remember how to read them now.
ReplyDeleteI had Mara check the road first! You studied Latin? Wow, next time you can come and translate for us!!
DeleteIs that the Colosseum? How exciting!!! Those roads are something else. That is very interesting about the mausoleums too. The tree's are also very interesting.
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