Rome Trip 1998
A short distance away is the Palatine Hill, a grand complex of palaces which housed the most incredible concentration of wealth and political power in Ancient Rome; it was here that senatorial aristocracies and emperors made their homes.
Climbing to the top of the Palatine, you can see the Circus Maximus, a stadium for chariot races which at one time could 250,000 spectators.
Several hundred yards away is the Colosseum, perhaps the most familiar monument of Ancient Rome, once the site of gladiatorial games and other wild entertainments. In some ways, you can get a more authentic feel for what ordinary life in Ancient Rome was like by touring the excavated sites of Pompeii and Ostia.
In these well-preserved ruins, you can visit elaborate baths, bakeries, houses, the Roman equivalent of a fast-food restaurant, and even a "red light" district, where the buildings feature frescoes that a guidebook tactfully calls "licentious."
Sitting in the theatre, you can imagine tragedies or comedies being performed. For Dr. Jeff Nelson of the UAH English department, walking through Pompeii and Ostia provided an added dimension to learning about the ancient Romans that books simply cannot provide.
It is not only a matter of seeing the city forum, the restaurant, the brothel, or the theatre; it is a matter of moving from place to place, imagining the city's inhabitants moving place to place in their day-to-day life.
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