Please pardon the delay on this, but we’ve been terribly busy.  This post is actually about 1/6/15 .

Being on top of Palatine Hill started to make me realize why the emperors thought of themselves as gods. If I owned a city like this, in which I overlooked something as gorgeous as this everyday, I would probably think of myself as a god as well.

This was our last stop of the hill for the day, and what a conclusion it was. Palatine Hill was a center for a ton of different commotion within the city of Rome, but one of the most important features of Palatine Hill was its ownership to the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum was the place to be in Rome, where a ton of different trading, entertainment, and emperor addresses had taken place. It truly was one of the most important areas for those in ancient Rome, and it showed with the scale of space in which the forum took up.

 

Another really cool part of the Palatine Hill was its ancient structures (obviously), but one that stood out to me was the Arch of Titus! The Arch of Titus is an arch built by the Roman Emperor Domitian, after the death of his brother, Titus (go figure). But I personally think the most interesting part of the arch is its more modern history. Up until the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, Jews refused to walk under the arch due to the carving within the walls that depicted Jewish diaspora. The Jews, after the establishment of the state, would then walk backwards under the arch, signifying their redemption from exile from Rome.

Finally, after the day was over, the engineers had a night to themselves to explore Rome and to hopefully avoid being parked on (you should see the parking here, picture to come within the next couple of days). Rome really is super special at night, and walking down the strip that leads to St. Peter’s Square is something extremely magnificent that all of us get to enjoy for the next month.

This upcoming weekend we have a lot of engineers going to Venice, and some going to Assisi! So hopefully we can get some great pictures and stories to share with all of you on our brief stays there!

– Alex Manning