Submitted by Bija Knowles on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 09:13
Go to Rome's Piazza Navona on a Saturday night in July and you'll find yourself having to pick your way through the crowds of locals and tourists, some standing in large semi-circles watching a unicyclist juggle with fire or a guitarist play his Led Zeppelin back catalogue, others perusing the displays of gaudy paintings on wooden easels and trying to avoid buying a rose from street sellers. It's one of the main hubs of Roman night life: the area's bars and granita vendors are usually thronged and groups of barefoot college students jostle with each other around Bernini's famous Fountain of the Four Rivers. It's a lively place to take an evening stroll and there is enough people-watching to last several beers at one of the piazza's pricey cafés.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 10:15
A Little-known Fact
A little-known fact about the emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus is that he shares his name with a common word for public latrines in Italian. Not only were the antique communal latrines, such as those at Ostia Antica – see photo – referred to as 'vespasiani', but modern-day urinals in Italy, including the portable plastic versions often seen outside stadiums, also go by that name.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 09:43
Conquer and triumph were key parts of the rule of all Roman emperors. Conquering new lands and tribes brought the cache associated with strength and strategy in battle, as well as the economic benefit that flowed back to Rome in the form of the spoils of war and captured slaves. The triumphal procession naturally followed any conquest and this was the emperor's chance to put on a public display of his new-found riches and defeated opponents, which were testimony to his supremacy as ruler of the Roman empire. It is reasonable to suppose that many Roman emperors may have felt considerable pressure to push the boundaries of the empire as far as possible in order to win personal glory and popular respect.
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By 388 AD the Roman Empire was in crisis and Romans based in Britain were told to leave
The model for many of the triumphal arches built since the Renaissance, the Arch of Titus is made of Pentelic marble and has a single arch. It stands at 15.m high and 13.5m wide and straddles the Via Sacra to the south-east of the forum. The panels on the arch display scenes commemorating the victory of Titus and his father Vespasian over the jews. It is the only monument in Rome to show artifacts from the temple in Jerusalem.
The arch was turned into a fortified tower by the Frangipani family in the 14th century.
Conquer and triumph were key parts of the rule of all Roman emperors. Conquering new lands and tribes brought the cache associated with strength and strategy in battle, as well as the economic benefit that flowed back to Rome in the form of the spoils of war and captured slaves. The triumphal procession naturally followed any conquest and this was the emperor's chance to put on a public display of his new-found riches and defeated opponents, which were testimony to his supremacy as ruler of the Roman empire. It is reasonable to suppose that many Roman emperors may have felt considerable pressure to push the boundaries of the empire as far as possible in order to win personal glory and popular respect. 
