J-term Abroad: Roman Structures, Engineering & Society

Today, we got up and started our day in the classroom. We learned more about compression members with an emphasis on domes. Our class time was highlighted by a paper dome-building competition. We split into teams, and the group with the strongest team would win a gelato treat from Professor Besser. The champions of the day were Ethan, Gentry, Thomas, and Erik. 

We continued our journey to Tivoli and Hadrian’s villa. Hadrian created his Villa to be more of a city surrounding his home. This was done out of his personal distaste for Palatine Hill. The Villa took many years to construct, and sadly, Hadrian was only able to live there for a few years. There were tons of amazing mosaic tiles laid on the floor and so many rooms to explore. There were lots of different areas that were specifically for the emperor and his family. Hadrian did not abandon the palace in Rome. However, they certainly liked the area outside for a quieter. One of the coolest sights on the trip was the Canopus and Serapeum. This is a large pool surrounded by many columns and statues, said to connect his villa with the ancient city of Alexandria. The villa is expensive with the grounds covering 250 acres (about the total floor space of the Pentagon). 

Our next stop was still in the city of Tivoli where we checked out Villa d’Este. Before we began our tour, we found lunch within the city. The class found paninis, pizza, and gelato to refuel for the villa. During the tour, the class quickly learned why the villa is so famous. The Villa is terraced on a hillside with a stunning garden and an extraordinary system of fountains. The original owner, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, ordered the construction of Villa d’Este in 1550. At one end of the garden is the Fontana dell’Organo. This is a fountain with an Organ built into it. The instrument is played by the water through a complex hydraulic system. The fountain was commissioned in the late 1500s by Cardinal Alessandro d’Este. The hydraulic systems contain water that naturally flows down the hillside, and it’s all used to supply the 51 fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, and 364 water jets. This was one of the most visually stunning treats of the trip thus far.  

After a great first week in Rome, the group was looking forward to some much needed rest and their own personal explorations of the city. Today a few of the group members embarked on another adventure with Deb as they explored the Capitoline Museum here in Rome. Located at the top of Capitoline Hill in Piazza del Campidoglio, the museum is home to unique art pieces and various sculptures. The group that joined Deb can be seen below and in her words they are the “Capitoline Museum Warriors.” They were also able to see bits and pieces of the colossal Nero statue which is where the colosseum gets its name!

As group members went off on their own adventures today, Cecelia and I did as well. Being that it is Sunday, and our group dispersed, we’ve found it difficult to summarize everyone’s day, so we decided to summarize ours. We started the day with our first ever experience at a laundromat. Although we’ve been doing our own laundry for years, we quickly lost confidence in our abilities. All of the directions were in Italian and the process was a bit unusual. We were able to use non-verbal communication with another customer to figure it out. However, much to our mother’s dismay we mixed our dark and light laundry and washed them on hot…caldo does not mean cold. Here is a picture of us waiting for our laundry and trying to catch up on assignments.

After that Olivia and I had an unforgettable experience making our own homemade pasta and tiramisu. For the great price of $50 USD, we were able to make homemade ravioli, fettucine, and tiramisu (not sure I can mention the wine and limoncello).  The teacher was an amazing woman with great stories and advice. We wholeheartedly recommend this experience.

We all look forward to another great week! Ciao for now!

-Cecelia and Olivia

The class woke up to great news about the weather: 55 degrees and sunny today! After a great lesson on arches and columns, the class took the metro back to the Colosseum stop to start the day of touring the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and a tour of the city’s bridges. During the republican era of Rome, the Forum was used as an all-purpose city center, while it would eventually be used for religious temples and monuments under the empire. The class went through the vast expanse of the ruins, with countless columns and structures still standing. Above us stood Palatine Hill, one of the “Seven Hills of Rome.” This hill has huge cultural and historical significance as it is said to be the birthplace of Rome. It was the sight of many emperors’ homes and personal libraries. The sight has a wonderful view that only adds to the beauty of the sight. Emperors such as Augustus, Tiberius, and Domitian built their residences there.

Just by Palatine Hill is the Circus Maximus. This is a secondary Chariot racing stadium that provided a second source of entertainment to the Coliseum. At Circus Maximus, each set of horses and their chariot had to be pulled around 7 times, one time for each planet that they knew of. Circus Maximus also hosted different events, but it was a super cool sight to see.

The bridges of Rome were very impressive to see. At the end of the guided tour, a group of us followed the Tiber River from the forum back to the Castle Of Saint Angelo   Besides the fact that the weather was incredible today and most days of our trip. During the class presentation today, we discussed the methods ancient Romans used  to build bridges without motors. They stacked limestone on top of each other in the form of  an arch and designed it in such a way that compression forces (weight of each block against the others) kept the bridge stable. They then filled in the top of the arch with rubble to add more weight to the arch and, in turn, more compression. Seeing a bridge of that design still standing, while a bridge of a different design that looked to be around 50-100 years old in ruins, goes to show how advanced Roman Engineering was. This was a very scenic and educational part of a fantastic study abroad trip so far.

Taking the Metro

Today’s destinations were the Colosseum Arena and the Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano. To get to the Colosseum, we all took the underground metro train. The Rome Metro has three different lines that operate on about 37 miles of track. There was a station just a few blocks away from the hotel, and it was super quick and easy to get in and on the train. We all thought that it was a pretty cool experience, and this was something that we definitely wished we had in our metro area. It seems like they really got the public transportation down here.

Colosseum

Next, We toured the Colosseum and went over its unique history and involvement with Rome and Gladiators. It was used for various events such as gladiator fights and animal hunts. The Colosseum was created around 80 AD and it was properly maintained up until the fall of the Roman empire. One of the more notable aspects that we observed during our tour were all of the arches as the arches gave a lot of strength and utility to the Colosseum. The materials used in the colosseum were stone and bricks that were long lasting, but after the fall of the roman empire, it was no longer maintained. It began to crumble over time and the remains are all that is left for tours. Another interesting part of the tour was that the floor was gone and we were able to explore the dungeons.

St. Clemente’s Church

We ended our tour at St. Clemente’s church where we got to have a look at one of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures. We started our tour in the basement in a 4th century church with frescos dating back to the 8th to 11th centuries along with artifacts cemented into the wall. We then ventured deeper into the lower basement of the building that was once a Mithraic temple. Mithraism is the lost religion of Roman soldiers. We then ended our tour in going up to the 12th century Basilica dedicated to St. Clemente.

Today was our class’s first full day in Rome and it all started with an incredible breakfast served on the top floor of our hotel. Immediately after breakfast we began our first classroom session where we studied the fundamentals of architecture and engineering presented by Vitruvius in his book “De architectura”. These fundamentals include the idea of three main principles being necessary for any building, those principles include firmitas, utilitas, and venustas which mean “strength”, “utility”, and “beauty”. Vitruvius states that for a building to be sound, it must balance all three of these principles well. We had a short break that was then followed by a walk over to the Pantheon, the biggest unsupported dome in the world. In here we connected the location to the engineering ideas of using compression to support structures that is seen in domes and arches alike. The pantheon balances all of Vitruvious’ principles extremely well which is why it has been preserved for so long. At the Pantheon, Dean Weinkauf and Professor Besser informed the class about the remarkable construction of the ancient building. Understanding the reasons why the dome has greatly outlasted its engineers is a key component to the class and will ultimately produce engineers who are well-rounded in engineering knowledge and history.  

This ended the mandatory part of our day, but the class elected to continue our adventures by going on to see the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Trevi Fountain was a great place for the class to stop and toss coins. The fountain is made of travertine stone, likely from the city of Tivoli, which is 22 miles away. The class then visited the Spanish Steps. At the top of the many steps, there is one of 13 obelisks in Rome. The obelisks were taken from Egypt throughout the first century BC. Finally, many of us made it to St. Peter’s Basilica. We raced up the 535 steps to catch the sunset. This was a great conclusion to our adventures as a class.