Saturday, July 20, 2013

A Day with the Dead

We didn't have any classes this Saturday, so my friend and I decided to make a trip to the catacombs.

History 101: Catacombs are subterranean tombs that usually have religious meaning. The first mention of the catacombs was in the first century in Rome where the apostles Peter and Paul were said to be buried. (that was so stolen from Wikipedia)

I was very excited to go because of all things I want to see in Europe, the catacombs were second on my list (first being the graves of certain composers).

Our first issue: How to get there. it's about 6.5 km away, so we decided it would be best if we took the bus. We found out that if we took Bus 30, we'd stop write in front of it. Great! Simple! The bus stop is right there! Oh...what's this? You can't paay for the ticket on the bus? So...where do you get one? We asked the friendly, English speaking store owner and he said to turn right, second store. Turns out it was a grocery store. There was only one lady working there so I asked her if she spoke English. She didn't. I tried using hand gestures, but seriously. How does one mime "I would like to buy a bus ticket"? I looked at my friend for help. He suggested drawing a bus.


Bus...badly drawn ticket...dollar symbol
somehow it made sense...

Now she knew we were looking for a bus, and in very broken Italian, I explained where we were going. Now we just needed to buy tickets. She didn't understand so I drew a dollar sign. Now that I think back on it, that was really dumb since I'm in Europe and they use euros....

But it worked! She told us that some buses have machines on them or you could buy a ticket down the street. Down the street was too far so we decided to risk the bus not having a machine to pay.

The bus came and...it didn't have a machine. But because no one checks to see if you have a ticket we sat down and tried are best to look nonchalant.

Very nonchalant indeed
 After a 20 minute bus ride that made riding the TTC seem like driving on air, we made it to the Catacombe di San Domitilla.

Time to cross it off the bucket list!
History 101: San Domitilla is one of the largest catacombs in Rome with 17 km of tunnels and four levels, with the bottom being 32 meters underground. Imagine getting lost down there...

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the catacombs, but I did find a picture online that is basically what we saw.


http://www.aboutroma.com/Roman-images/catacombs/priscilla.jpg
I so wanted to crawl into one of the holes and pretend I was a corpse
The bones have been removed due to idiotic tourists that think a bone is a very good souvenir...
Even so, it's awfully spooky down there and you could just imagine the bodies, the stench, the rats, and the darkness. For the areas we walked through, they had wired lights throughout the hallways. But just imagine, there would not have been lights down there. It would have been pitch black. With bodies...and rats... *shiver*

(for those of you that have watched The Story Keepers, yeah...catacombs. Can you imagine having to hide in there?) 

Christianity 101: You know the fish symbol or the fisherman symbol for Christ?

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXhVYlv17UN7f9gOmDfIDOfw3lgfKQ-N55EVov5LDsgmOdARtYULsh3CHyNOE7kbFZKzgfq-s4K3dNKPFEJgzrqCilIChhvxxMZ6e6LyfmI2a8eQxqzvKqNZDNsh33rkj_H7rh1XEKidN/s1600/blogacatromefish.gif


If you ever visit the catacombs, you will see the picture drawn in different areas. The Greek word for "fish" is Ichthys. It's actually an anagram. It goes like this:

Iota (i) is the first letter of Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), Greek for "Jesus"
Chi (ch) is the first letter of Christos (Χριστός), Greek for "anointed". 
Theta (th) is the first letter of Theou (Θεου), Greek for "God's".
Ypsilon (y) is the first letter of (h)yios (Υἱός), Greek for "Son". 
Sigma (s) is the first letter of sōtēr (Σωτήρ), Greek for "Saviour"

"Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour."


Cool.

After the incredible tour of the catacombs, we hopped on a bus, (again, nonchalantly since we still didn't have tickets) and headed over to Campo di Fiori (a giant farmer's market) and picked up some deliciously fresh peaches.

You can't understand how delicious everything smelled
We then headed over to Castel Sant'Angelo (or Castle of the Holy Angel).

Home of the Illuminati

History 101: Castel Sant'Angelo was built in 123 AD by Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. It was later turned into a castle by Pope Nicholas III as a refuge in case of attack. It is called Sant'Angelo because of a legend from the 9th century when Rome was dealing with a terrible plague. To invoke divine mercy, Pope Gregory the Great organized a procession to the tomb of the Apostle Peter. Near the Mausoleum, the people of Rome saw a vision in the sky: the radiant silhouette of an angel sheathing his flaming sword. It was then that the plague ended.
Later, a statue of the angel, Michael the Archangel, was placed on top of the building created by Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt.



So yes, more dead people.

In the courtyards, they had areas where they had secret executions. And within the building you could see where the prisoners were kept. Definitely not the nicest place to be.

The inside of the structure is basically a spiral that goes all the way to the top. When you get to the center of the mausoleum you can see where Hadrian was buried. Unfortunately, they took away the sarcophagus, but there was a nice plaque with the words that Hadrian addressed to his soul.

 
In English:
"Little soul, gentle and drifting,
guest and companion of my body,
now you will dwell below in pallid places,
stark and bare;
there you will abandon your play of yore."


I'd better come up with something as nice as that for my death.

Halfway up we saw this creepy fella...appropriate

I must say, the view from the top of the castle was spectacular. You could see all of Rome stretched out as far as you could see. In the background, you could see the Apennines Mountains in gorgeous shades of blue. To the West, you had a perfect view of the Vatican with the sun beginning to set behind it.

All in all, a fantastic day.








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