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Who knew you could take a guided tour of the INSIDE of the Pyramid ?
VT friend Antonio Barbieri did!
We agreed to meet in front of the huge (36 meters) pyramid 15 minutes before the scheduled Saturday morning tour. Most guide books say you can’t visit the inside – but you can when the twice monthly tour is given.
To check for the next tour when you’re in town, buy the publication “Roma C’è” at newsstands. Unfortunately, the listings are mostly in Italian – so ask your hotel to make a reservation for you. The tour of the Pyramid was given only in Italian, but interestingly enough, 2/3rds of the visitors in our group were not native speakers of Italian. The tour guide kindly spoke very slowly for us!
After the Roman conquest of Egypt, in 30BC during the reign of Augustus, tourism boomed. Rich Roman tourists were so impressed with the pyramids as burial monuments, several were built in Rome, but only this one survives. It was built, according to the Latin inscription on this marble-clad tomb, in just 330 days. Not much is known about Cestius, but the inscription says he was a praetor (magistrate).
Entrance to the burial chamber requires stooping a bit through a low door and tunnel. Like its much larger Egyptian cousins, this pyramid was broken into and robbed. The chamber is about 6 meters by 4 meters by 5 meters high. While most of the decorative fresco medallions on the white walls have been stolen (literally chiseled out of the wall) there are enough left that you can imagine the original design.
The pyramid was incorporated in the Aurelian Wall, around 271 A.D. The Pyramid is also home to one of Rome’s cat sanctuaries, like the one at Largo Argentina, but smaller.
The Pyramid of Caius Cestius (Pyramide Cestia, pronounced "peer RAH mee day CHESS tee ah) is easy to find, just a little outside of the center of Rome, south of the Aventine Hill, at the Porta Ostiense, also called the Porta San Paulo. Leave a Comment
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Roman Goddess of the moon, free nature, wild beasts and hunting. Her cult centers were holy groves all over Italy (f.e. Capua/Aricia).
She also had a main temple in Rome on the Aventine - the statue which was kept in this temple was a copy of the Artemis of Massalia (which was a copy of the Artemis of Ephesus).
Diana was a patron of women and hunters. She was considered the protector of the lower classes, especially slaves. Her festival on August 13, in both Rome and Aricia was a holiday for slaves and on her feast day, all Romans had to give their slaves the day off. Her temple became a sanctuary for runaway slaves. The late Princess Diana comes to mind often as we read of this ancient Roman Goddess - the eulogy of her brother, Earl Charles Spencer, at the funeral of Pricess Diana noted both striking coincidences and sad similarities.
In psychotherapy and Jungian psychology, Artemis/Diana has come to represent the multifaceted, contradictory, beautiful, violent aspects of the feminine psyche. Her temple at Ephesus was one of the Wonders of the Ancient World and the site of one of Saint Paul's least-successful missions - built probably by Mario Asprucci, based of course on classical models, it is an example of a circular peripteral temple.
Photo 1 - Temple full view
Photo 2 - Ceiling detail - In the center medallion, the goddess Diana with one of her hunting dogs; the octagonal spaces are given over to hunting motifs
Photo 3 - Hunting dogs detail in octagon spaces
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The Via Appia was the main Roman highway that went south towards Naples. Outside the city limits, Romans buried their dead (as required by law), so the Via Appia collected a lot of tombs.
On Sundays, Romans since ancient times have ridden out the Via Appia for a pleasant drive and a picnic among the tombs - it's not macabre, it's actually very pretty.
The attached photo is of the Via Appia in one of the sections that has been paved over with asphalt. Note that there are sections that still have the original Roman stones.
Much of this area is now a park. See http://www.parcoappiaantica.org/en/default.asp for a great website in English for the park that contains monuments, catacombs, and the Via Appia Antica.
You will see that on Sundays and holidays, that the park is shut down to traffic and becomes a giant pedestrian zone, so I would say that walking on those days is not only safe, but encouraged. Leave a Comment
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Never miss to visit this place should you have enough time going around Rome. I suggest take the Archeobus from Termini Station (Pizza del Cinquecento) and book yourself to the next trip to Via Appia Antica. It will be a rolling trip (no stops with the guide, simply viewing while on the bus) with a bi-ligual guide (English and Italian) and you can hop on and hop off at Archeobus stops if you want to visit the museums-catacombs and the like. However, best suggested that you finish the trip (trip takes to an fro (Termini-Aquiducts-Termini) up to the Aquiducts and then hop off on your way back to sites you desire to visit. At the Roman aquiducts, you'll be given 5 minutes to get off the bus and take pictures.
The aquiducts are one of the best engineering works of the Romans that are worth a genius' mind. It used to be a water-system supplying the water needs of the Roman baths. Other than that, the place is also very, very scenic especially on a nice sunny day.
Ticket cost 8euros. Leave a Comment
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The mouth of truth as it is aptly known is located in Piazza della Bocca della Verita, outside the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. This beautiful, unadorned church was built in the 6th century on the site of the city's ancient food market. It contains many examples of Cosmati work, in particular the mosaic pavement, the raised choir, the bishop's throne and the canopy over the main altar. Set into the wall of the portico of this church is the mysterious Bocca. Although it may onve have been a drain cover dating to the 4th Century BC, Medieval tradition had it the formidable jaws would snap shut over the hands of those who told lies--a useful trick to test the faithfulness of spouses.
Today the church is under massive restoration and the Bocca draws hundreds of tourists seeking that token hand in mouth photo op. We were almost run over by a crowd of Japanese tourists. They come by the bus loads and the only thing snapping are the shutters of many a camera. It's a lot of fun. Don't miss it. Leave a Comment
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In the center of old Rome is a block of ruins and artifacts that has been taken over by the cats of Rome. Largo or Torre Argentina is now known as a cat sanctuary and is now regularly visited by folks who care for these inhabitants.
Torre Argentina is located at the intersection of Via Arenula and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Leave a Comment
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Off the small street that goes South on the East side of the Pantheon (to your right when exiting) there is a small square called piazza della Minerva. It will be on your left when walking towards Corso Vittorio Emanuel II.
In the middle of the square stands this small obelisk perched on the back of a baby elephant (a baby obelisk deserves a baby elephant, I guess). It was designed by Bernini in 1667. It's a neat litle curiosity to look for when leaving the Pantheon area. Leave a Comment
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All around the city you find old pieces spread like flowers on a field after the rain. This is just found between newer buildings, just under your feet, in the middle of the street. Still under recovery... and not difficult to find: just crossing the Tiber from the Trastevere by the Tiberina island (Ponte Fabricio), walk straight ahead a few tens meters by Via del Portico d'Ottavia, and you'll find some columns on your right (just emerging from the street pavement!). Then look around, follow the column path, and voilà! Leave a Comment
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The pyramid of Cestius was built during the reign of the emperor Augustus, probably between 18 and 12 BCE. It is a remarkable monument, made of white Carrara marble and exactly 100 Roman feet (30 meters) high.
Address:Aventine Hill, Rome Leave a Comment
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In the old times it was not allowed to burry death within the citywalls. The rich roman citizens had their monuments along the major roads into the city as close to the citywall as possible. Just behind the Porta Maggiore is one such tombe still standing. It is the tombe of a baker, Eurysaces and his wife Atisia, dating back to 30BC. The tombe has the form of a bakeroven and reliefs on it show scenes of a bakery. Eurysaces was not always a rich man. An inscription on his tombe tells proudly about him being a freed slave. Slaves used to save money to buy themselves free. He did so and started a bakery which made him rich. Leave a Comment
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