The Forum

May 31 - Thursday –Bring bag lunch.  When in Rome, do as the Romans, therefore we are going to have late lunches.  We expect to complete this day about 3:00 p.m.

The three main architecture in the Forum is the Basilica, Trimphal and the temples. Today was a very hot day and I had the best luck ever because a pigeon pooped on me!! I was really not bother at that moment but now I do dislike them and it will take time to begin to like them. 

I was happy to have sandwiches to eat at the archeological sites especially because it was Italian bread but after this class I was really hungry that I just felt to eat a huge pizza and wine! We walked the Via Sacra, which is a reconstruction site to actually see a resemblance of how Romans lived. Some of the news was that we were going to the Basilica of St. Peter's on Saturday. I knew that his caught my attention because I was interested in going to the Vatican City. 

The Forum in Rome is considered the heart of the city and it was also the political heart of Rome. The senate's meeting point is where people consider very important to meet. This site was quite scary, I honestly do not know why but I felt something strange. It was like Roman spirits were walking and guarding their territory. 

There were several presentations today, such as the Senate House, Julius Caesar and the temple of Divus Julius, Temple of Vesta, Temple of Castor and Pollux, and the Triumphal Arch. The Senate House, Curia Julia began in 44 BCE by Julius Caesar and Julius Caesar was murdered in the Senate before they finished the Curia and Augustus finished the Curia in 15 years. One of the quotes that caught my attention was from Julius Caesar he said, "Non Rex Sum Sed Caesar" the translation is "I'm not king, but I'm Caesar" This can probably tell us that he was an ambitious emperor and demanded respect and loyalty. The Temple of Vesta was where maidens were chosen and they were chosen around the ages of 6 to 10. They had to have 30 years of celibacy and all those 30 years of their life were separated by three parts. The first part was 10 years of learning the duties of the vestals, the second part was to be entitled 10 years of performing duties and the last part was that it was required for senior vestal to teach the new comers.