Republican Rome

Today in Rome:

Our studies took us today to the Museo Capitolini (Capitoline Museum) on Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome. This hill, while not the largest in Rome, held great significance to the city of ancient Rome as a symbol of it's power and sovereignty. The Capitoline Hill was once home to the great Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the god of lightening (the Roman equivalent of Greek mythology's Zeus). Because this temple, which was the most important in Rome because it honored their chief god, was set on this hill, the hill itself became the center of Roman religion. It is likely that this, along with this hill as the location for the first Senate meeting of each year, is the reason that Capitoline Hill was so frequently written about by ancient Roman authors.

This wall is  one of the only pieces remaining of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
The Temple had to be rebuilt many times because it burned down in multiple fires.

The Capitoline Hill was also home to a number of statues and trophies, commemorating the victories of generals in the Roman army. Many of these artifacts, along with various other works of art and historical pieces, now reside in the Capitoline Museum.

One of the most famous and most prominent statues is the one that still stands (in replicated form) in the center of the Piazza del Campidoglio; the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (one of Rome's great emperors). What is particularly interesting about this statue is that it is one of the only bronze statues to survive to present day, because it was a common practice in the middle ages to remove the bronze and melt it down, in order to reuse it. This statue also survived a second purging, when the Catholic church destroyed many of the statues of earlier emperors because they believed they were idols. The reason this particular statue survived this period of removal was because in the Middle Ages, it was though to be a statue depicting Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. It is because of this mix-up that this statue is the only surviving bronze statue of a pre-Christian emperor.

This replica of the Marcus Aurelius statue stands in the middle of the piazza, where the original would have been. The original bronze statue has been moved into the museum in an effort to better preserve and protect it.

The Capitoline Hill is still a prominent symbol of Rome, sitting above the Roman Forum and in one of the most historical areas of present day Rome. Although many of the buildings have been rebuilt and reconstructed, there is a clear desire in the Roman culture to preserve whatever history they can, which is distinct from our way of doing things in America. If something is old, generally we knock it down and build something better, something newer. Here they maintain rather than replace. I think this concept is something that is hard for us to wrap our heads around, and for me is very likely one of the reasons that I am still shocked every time we see something that has survived from ancient Rome. This attitude of preservation is an incredible testament to the Roman people and their desire to proliferate their city's history to coming generations.

The view of the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Museum.
This area would have once been the center of Roman life, particularly politics and religion.