Rome

The world is my school today, and my classroom is in Rome, Italy.

Hello, how are you today? Today were going to go on a tour, ready? Lets go!!!!!

Collosseum

Welcome to the Collosseum! It is not as active today as it was back in the 1st Century A.D., when there were 80,000 people piling in. When you're walking though big crowds these days, it's nothing compared to 15 minutes before the games began. People loved watching the games, they found it funny and amusing to watch people and animals get killed. Once the gladiator got on the stage they must have been terrified. The stage was covered with sand so it would collect the blood, the lions and tigers could jump out of a trap door any second to kill a gladiator. The animals were put in cages, and the cages were lifted up. There was a small fire on the bottom of the animal's cage that made the animals furious, so when the trap door opened they started looking for breakfast. then a little while later they looked for lunch, and at the end of the day they had some dinner. Gladiators were usually slaves, prisoners, enemies, or any other kind of enemy during war. The gladiator could be a Woman or a Man. After the games, gladiators that were still alive were thought to be heroes. They were treated in a hospital if they got any cuts or wounds. the gladiators that were dead would get burned, and sent to one of the nearby graveyards. The slaves were the ones to bring in the animals, the tools, and many more items to make the games happen. They prepared everything under the stage, so that the crowd and the senate could not see what was going to happen. When the slaves would be getting the gladiators ready, they would sometimes give them a few wooden swords. This way the Gladiators could kill the animals easier, which would also be more amusing to the crowd!

FACT! The original name for the Collosseum was Collusul, which over time turned into Collosseum.

Pantheon

Now we're at the Pantheon! The Pantheon was the temple for all the gods but now is the Catholic Church for all of the saints. The Pantheon was built in the 1st Century B.C., around the same time that the Collosseum was most active. Sadly, in 64 AD there was a big fire. It destroyed many things in Rome, and part of the Pantheon was one of them. The dome in the middle was originally made of bronze. after the fire, it was taken by the Vatican and was replaced with volcanic rock. The floor is original and made of marble. All of the colored marble came from turkey, which was part of the Roman Empire a long time ago. Purple became a royal color because of all the purple marble in the Pantheon. FACT! In the Pantheon, there is the tomb of a very famous artist, Raffaello. I'll tell you more about him later, when we talk about the Roman Art.

Do you want to know something really cool? The streets of Rome are littered with accordion players.

FACT: When you come to Rome you will see S.P.Q.R. everywhere, and I want you to know what it means. Sennatus Populusque Romanus. Translate: Senate People Romans.

Vatican City

Let's go see Vatican City!

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel was built in 1471 next to the old St. Peters. Pope Sisto the 4th was the first pope, and the one that ordered the Sistine Chapel to be built. The Sistine Chapel is 20m tall, 40m long, and 30m wide. In 1508, the new pope ordered Michelangelo to paint the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo said, " No I am a sculpture, not a painter!" He ended up painting the roof, and he did a great job at it. Around the same year, Julius the 2nd built todays St. Peters. As if Michelangelo was not busy enough, he also worked as an architect. He ended up working for the pope at which time he invented a new painting technique, painting when the plaster was still wet so that it would seep in and become a part of it thus last longer. One of the scenes Michelangelo was ordered to paint was Noah's ark and he made it look very interesting- like a floating wooden church, without animals in it go figure!

Michelangelo was most famous for the painting of the creation of Adam, which he painted on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. HE made lots of scaffolding to get to the roof, and to be able to paint up there. Michelangelo invented scaffolding, but today we use a different material for it. We are able to see the painting that he did very well today, because of all these good techniques that he used.

On the roof a small column and two naked men separate all the different scenes. Paul the 3rd asked Michelangelo to paint the last judgment. he was 62 when he did this. A few years after he finished this he died. the pope did not like all the nakedness in much of michelangelo's work and wanted to ruin it. Michelangelo's friend did not let him ruin it, and said that he'd paint drapes over all nakedness. He did this on all the walls, but left the ceiling original. It is very sad that Michelangelo at the time did not get paid enough money for his artwork. I feel he is the best artist in the world.

Roman Artisans

Now I'm going to tell you about all the Roman Artisans! First, Raffaello. He died when he was 37, and was one of the greatest artisans along with Michelangelo. On Raffaello's tomb, there are sculptures of two doves and an olive branch. Now lets talk about the top of the list artisans. In the Middle Age (1200-1300) it was Giotto. In the Renaissance (1400-1500) it was Raffaello, Michelangelo, and DaVinci.

In the Baroge (1600) it was Caravaggio and Bernini. Bernini was another great artist, he made the elephant and put an Egyptian Oblisc in the middle of it. The Oblisc was put in this place to symbolize a family. The Elephant was made of marble, and was painted all by Bernini.

Julius Caeser

Now lets talk about the biggest Caeser of them all,- julius! Julius Caeser was a senator who wanted to become a King and a God; but instead became a bloody mess when he got stabbed in the back at the Roman forum. He was called in to talk to the democratic romans one day, and got stabbed in the back by Brutus and Cantus. They didn't like the way he was ruling.

Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps aren't a big monument, but whenever you go to Rome and see the Spanish Steps you wonder why they were built. The Spanish steps were first made in the 18th century for a connection of the French embassy and the Spanish embassy. The Trevis fountain was made at the same time, in front of the Spanish Steps for the same reason. Today the thing that is awesome about them is everyone hangs out there and basks in the sun. I did my share of basking. Eat at a café and bask then go for a walk for some gelato. Ah Rome.

I hope you all liked the tour of Rome and understood everything, if you have any questions feel free to ask. I recommend coming to Rome before you die, if you haven't already. It is truly one of my favorite places that I have ever visited!

<3 World Rings Bell

By the way all gelato is great, and when you go to Rome you HAVE to have some!

Bibliography

~Tour Guide