If you think the Bible is boring, it is SO NOT. It's a big soap opera. Take Judith for example. The Assyrians are messing with the Israelites, so what does she do? She goes in, befriends Holofernes, then cuts off his head so the Israelites can win the war. She's compared with David a lot, because she gets the head of the guy who's the big guns of the head military force. A lot of work has been based off her story, like plays and things, and she's also considered a projection of the Virgin Mary. She's got some of the qualities, for sure. Yay for strong Bible women! :)
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio painted a picture of her.
The picture (oil on canvas), done around 1598-1599, is currently in Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome. We didn't see that one, but we did see two of Caravaggio's other paintings. Caravaggio was an Italian artist who worked around Rome, Sicily, Naples, and Malta around 1593-1610. He painted in the Baroque style, which was big and flashy. He used dramatic lighting and portrayed the highs and lows of human emotion. He painted the Conversion of Paul (oil on canvas, 1601) and the Crucifixion of Peter, both of which were in the Santa Maria del Populo.
Before we went into Santa Maria del Populo and saw those two paintings (there was mass, remember?), we hung out around Piazza del Populo and looked at various statues. We noted that Poseidon, like many other poor statues, had become the victim of castration in the name of modesty and (as Kathryn put it) had essentially become a woman. On the other side, we found a fountain with the she-wolf, Romulus, and Remus. We saw Aeneas, the descendant of Romulus (who founded Rome!), and we saw it flanked by two statues that we weren't quite sure of. Antonia and I posited that the sickle held by one probably meant one was Saturn and that the cornucopia held by the other probably mean it was Jupiter, but we weren't sure. We found that the Egyptian-looking pole in the middle of the fountain (and all the fountains we've seen here, really), is definitely Egyptian (or inspired by Egyptians), and while I was taping a cello player in the Piazza, a lady came by, look off her pants, threw them into the fountain, and walked around for a while.
After that, we headed to the church of St. Ambrose and St. Carlos Borremeo and talked about several things, including erotic mysticism, as many Christian mystics experienced the love of God in erotic ways. This led to several comments, as you can imagine. We also saw a relic of St. Carlos Borremeo's heart. Relics were like pieces of a saint, and if you had a piece of the saint, it was like having a direct audience with God. Because saints don't have to wait for final judgment--they automatically go to God after they die. So, it's not really a worship thing. It's more of a "Are you there, God? It's me, Kylee, speaking through this other person."
I have to say, after doing lots of 9pm mass at Loyola in that chapel (which I love, don't get me wrong), it was kind of nice to be in such nice churches. I know I'm posting about Friday on Sunday, but I GET TO GO TO CHURCH TODAY WHICH IS GOING TO BE AWESOME.
We went down under the church after that, another church which had been ruined by flooding in Rome in about 1250 (apparently, Rome is extremely prone to flooding).
Jesus was apparently fashioned after Hermes. My topic of expertise for the trip is Vestal Virgins, Tychae, and Fortuna, and I need to see if maybe Mary was fashioned after the Vestal Virgins. It would make sense but...yeah.
I'm sorry. This is a super nerdy post. Let's do some pictures, okay?
Above is the Aeneas/Romulus/Remus/she-wolf/possibly Saturn/possibly Jupiter conglomeration.
Here's poor Poseidon. :(
Me in the Piazza!
That weird Egyptian thing that keeps popping up everywhere.
Morning lessons with Sister Terri!!! :)
I've seen this symbol all over, and I'm not really sure what it is. Dr. Sebastian assured me that it had nothing to do with pirates, though. :P
Kristin! Doing an awesome presentation. Everyone who have presentations today did a good job, including Kristin and Allison. Not sure if other people gave presentations, but they did good too.
CHRIS BAUER WORE RED PANTS.
I'm...an idiot. Let's talk about it.
Everyone knows that Antonia's a tree-hugger. But do they actually have evidence? I have just provided it. Dirty hippie.
LOOK HOW CUTE EVERYONE IS. AND COLORFUL. AND CURIOUS. AWWW.
I took so many shots here at Fori Imperiali shown below ( (the bulk of which will be posted later when I don't need to get this post up AND another post).
This was my lunch! I'd never had anchovy pizza before, so I tried it and it was really good!!! Also, I was full for the first time in three days! Being hungry all the time just wasn't cutting it.
Oh, also me and this guy...I forgot who he was...Constantine, maybe? But he looked so sad, so I felt for the poor guy. I mean, after all, he didn't have a nose.
Even the graffiti in Rome is art.
We had dinner around the Colosseum, which was good because it had been a long day, despite our break (most of which was spent walking back to campus). We were very tired, and we knew we wouldn't be getting back until about 10 or 11. But miraculously, after dinner, we all felt SOOOOO MUCH BETTER. :P
Stairs? NO PROBLEM.
The sunset was definitely worth it, though.
And here's some of just the city at night, which photographs quite beautifully, I must say. On our hour and fifteen-minute walk back, we found the moon! Which was pretty. We also found this kind of random scene that was still pretty.
I was so tired when I got back that all I could do was take a shower and go to bed. I tried to work but kept falling asleep at my computer. I've taken to sleeping (it's not really a sleepiness but a physical exhaustion that's going on) and waking up at 5 or 6 to do work, which is what I'm doing now. It's working, but I still have a bit of catching up to do.
I didn't post pictures from inside the churches or excavations, but those are really nice, so I'll probably put all the pretty pictures from Friday and Saturday into one post that I'll try to do later today. I know there's no time, but I'm really going to try! :)
Comment please!!! <3
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