For my second Giornale, I had to return to the Capitoline
Museum. I simply didn't get enough time there before. I decided to
brave the bus system to get there, and this time I took the right
bus. However, it started getting too crowded around the Largo Argentina,
which is only a few blocks from the Capitoline. So I got off and simply walked the rest
of the way. I ascended the ramp up the hill and stood for a second to look at the
statue of Marcus Aurelius. I then bought my ticket and went inside. Now
that I had more time, I saw the space differently. I no longer only
focused on things I knew, but stopped to appreciate unnamed statues and
unfamiliar pieces. In the first courtyard, I looked at a series of reliefs
along one of the walls that I hadn't really noticed before, even though I
remember staring in that direction. I saw people, armor, flowers, and
serpents captured in the marble. I continued along the wall until I
reached the corner, above which was a portico that covered three statues. The
center one was a statue of Minerva, the other two were labelled as a Dacian
prisoner. The statues seemed identical at first, but upon further inspection, the righthand
statue's eyes seem wider. I wonder who he was. I climbed the stairs to the main gallery again and arrived in the room full of black and orange Greek pottery.
While I didn't linger here for too long, as there were still many other
things I have more interest in, I still gave this room much more attention than
I did previously. I moved on to the room containing the remains of the Forma Urbis Romae. I'm somehow amazed by how similar this is to a modern
map. While I'm sure that the ancients had a much better working knowledge
of the city, it's still nice to know that they wanted to stick up a plan in a
public place. I then wandered over to the room with the fasti, the list
of consuls. When I was here last, Sarah pointed out some famous people on
the list. I spent a bit of time looking around for someone I recognized,
but I couldn't find anyone. Past that, I entered the room with the statue
of the runner picking a thorn out of his foot, the name escapes me. To
the right is the green statue of Brutus with striking white eyes. I still
find this statue to be unnerving. I left quickly. From here I
wandered through the gallery, looking for whatever caught my eye. I eventually
came upon something I didn't see before. Across from the awkward
tetrarchs is a small alcovelike room containing lots of Christian iconography.
It was roped off. I don't really know what it was or what it was
doing there, but it felt really out of place. Moving on, I reached the end of the gallery and a junction that would lead to the courtyard again, the stairs to the paintings on the
second floor, or the stairs to the underground epigraphy corridor. I skipped the paintings floor today. Instead I headed for the
stairs that could take me downstairs to the epigraphy. But before I made
it, I stopped to notice four reliefs at a landing on the staircase.
They're all magnificent. One depicts Hadrian, the other three
depict Marcus Aurelius in battle, in triumph, and performing a religious
ceremony. I continued downstairs. Here I really stopped to admire
the artifacts. I also tried to read as much of the Latin as I could, and
I did pretty well, even though it's starting to get a bit rusty and I didn't
have a dictionary. Lots were dedicated to the souls departed and described
who erected the stones. The corridor was also beautiful itself.
Light seemed to emanate from the two rows of stones that lined the walls;
the lights below and out of sight. Above me was a blue sky dotted with
stars. To top it all off, piano was playing gently in the background.
It all seemed very respectful, which surprised me. It seemed as if
they recognized the purpose these stoned served. I eventually left to
come to the statue of Mars, which I was disappointed to read was not the original,
but a copy from the Flavian era. Oh well, it's still beautiful. I
climbed the stairs to the hall of busts to see more famous people, but that's
not quite all that happened. Determined to see things I hadn’t seen
before, I went into a smaller room. This
room seemed to only contain busts without names. A weird thing happened. I felt as though I could walk among them as
opposed to simply past them. Their eyes
seemed closer and as though they were looking at me, instead of above me. I felt as though I was close to experiencing something
resembling the old city. It was very
cool. I then went into the room with all
the famous people again, and this time into the room with the emperors as
well. I stayed a bit, seeing those
representing the glory of imperial Rome before museum fatigue started to hit me
and I left.
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