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Album: By Country | By Date Italy | February 2001 < Prev: Palatine Hill Ruins | Next: St. Peter's >
Travelogue: By Country | By Date Italy | February 2001  

February 2001 - Drawing at the Forum and a New Companion

We spend a sunny morning drawing at the Forum, and Marilyn Sheahan joins us

Drawing at the Forum while Dad and Grandma go to pick up Marilyn Duncan with Arch of Septimius Severus. The arch was built to Severus and his sons, Caracalla and Geta, to celebrate their victory over the Parthians and the consequent expansion of the Empire. Severus was a North African. Caracalla eventually killed his brother (who was in the arms of his mother). He ultimately became one of the cruelest emperors, conducting several massacres and exiling his wife. He had Geta's name removed from all the monuments, including this one, so that the people would forget him. Piece of ancient Rome Temple fo Antoninus and Faustina. Antoninus built the place when his wife Faustina died. After he died, teh dedication was extended to him. In the Middle Ages a church was built inside the temple. The Forum had been abandoned for a long time and was so covered with earth that the door was once level with the ground.
The Temple of Romulus (a son of an emperor, not the founder of Rome). It may actually have been dedicated to Jupiter Stator and the Household Gods. Out the apartment window, Maggie and Tote are returning from shopping. Marilyn on her first subway ride A cool store.
Dinner for Grandpa's birthday at a great pizzeria Good thing they had paper tablecloths Vittoria Emmanuel at night The Forum at night. The big brick building is the Curia, where the Senate met. Three hundred senators met here. The ceiling is very high, apparently a substitute for a microphone.
Walking home, Tote tries to kick his long-suffering father Colosseum at night Colosseum at night Dinner at home in the apartment. We're eating pizza from the take out place down the street. The fellow who runs it, as a young man, went to Australia to cut sugar cane.
Taking care of the dishes. Lounging around. Grandma is reading Maggie's book and the boys are engaged in some Star Wars madness