Itálica pt. 1
Feb. 12th, 2012 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tinywarlordFinally bothering to get this set up! I'll start with posting pictures of the field trip I just went onto Itálica and I'll move back as I get around to it to sticking up pictures from earlier.
In case someone's following my link here and missed my explanation (because I... tend to forget to explain, haha...), I'm currently studying abroad in Sevilla and will be here until May. This is just a place for me to stick up pictures that I've taken because I've been having a lot of fun doing that and want to share! And Facebook really isn't the best way to do that.
On Friday we took a short bus ride out to Itálica and looked at the ruins. Tbh before coming here I'd never seen anything that was actually from ancient Rome or Greece, so this was really cool for me! I'd seen some of the things they had excavated in a museum near where I am staying (I'll post pictures of that later), but this was on a whole other scale.
I didn't get any good pictures of the antetheater from the outside, but it was very large--I believe it is the third largest Roman antetheater still standing--and in better condition than I had expected, although it was stressed that it had fallen into centuries of disrepair even before getting raided for building materials from 1492 all the way up until the 1950's.
upper left there's a person in red for scale--she's 6'0", so this thing is big
looking down into the pits
Animals (lions, tigers, and bears, oh my) were kept down in the pits and used in the (euphemistically named) games. The theater was used for human sacrifices initially and then for the famous gladiatorial games. We were able to walk through the passages that the gladiators themselves would have used to get into the ring. They were much taller and wider than I had expected!
"backstage"
such thick walls!
these weren't actually windows--they were used to hold the metal nails that held the old marble facade in place
And it was surprisingly cold back there! It was starting to warm up when I was out, maybe 18C? But back there, brrr... I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I really wasn't expecting it, haha... The corridors were wide enough to hold banquets in, by the way--they used to have feasts for the men sent in to die the night before the games. Wine, women, food... I'm taking the guide's word for this, of course, but apparently they were real orgies in every sense of the word.
Latin!
In a little room off this corridor was an iron plate with the rules of the game on it. You could touch it! You could walk on the ruins and touch the inscription! I felt too guilty to do so, but it was definitely okay. They were translated into Spanish, but it was too crowded in there for me to read them. There were other rooms, also, but they were all barred from the public, although I did see that one of them had a mosaic in pretty good condition on the floor.
and outside again
archway!
The antetheater was exposed to the elements, as you can see, but apparently there was once a huge white covering that they would pull up over the seats and stage since the games were held in summer--and it can get up to 140F in the sun over here, ugh. The white covering and the white marble facade must have made for an impressive sight.
more Latin!
I grabbed a picture of this marble pillar engraved with yet more Latin as we left the antetheater. The guide didn't mention it, so I don't know if it is original or a replica, but it was interesting either way. I wish I could read, so I could know what it said! The writing went all the way around, but was much more worn down on the opposite side.
I thought this pillar was kind of cute, actually...
After we finished our tour and brief exploration of the antetheater we went to look at one of the excavated homes nearby. I didn't find that quite as impressive as this first part, but it was very pretty and definitely worth seeing. :) I'm going to stop here for now, though, and stick that in a second part since this is getting kind of long and I'm getting hungry. >_> I don't think we're having dinner yet, but it's gotten dark while I was typing this and I'd rather go look for a snack than sit in the dark!
(Actually after writing this up I found Ruffles con sabor a jamón in my bag... Is this a Spanish-only flavor? I thought it might have been so I bought it, but I also don't really pay attention to chips very much so...)
In case someone's following my link here and missed my explanation (because I... tend to forget to explain, haha...), I'm currently studying abroad in Sevilla and will be here until May. This is just a place for me to stick up pictures that I've taken because I've been having a lot of fun doing that and want to share! And Facebook really isn't the best way to do that.
On Friday we took a short bus ride out to Itálica and looked at the ruins. Tbh before coming here I'd never seen anything that was actually from ancient Rome or Greece, so this was really cool for me! I'd seen some of the things they had excavated in a museum near where I am staying (I'll post pictures of that later), but this was on a whole other scale.
I didn't get any good pictures of the antetheater from the outside, but it was very large--I believe it is the third largest Roman antetheater still standing--and in better condition than I had expected, although it was stressed that it had fallen into centuries of disrepair even before getting raided for building materials from 1492 all the way up until the 1950's.
upper left there's a person in red for scale--she's 6'0", so this thing is big
looking down into the pits
Animals (lions, tigers, and bears, oh my) were kept down in the pits and used in the (euphemistically named) games. The theater was used for human sacrifices initially and then for the famous gladiatorial games. We were able to walk through the passages that the gladiators themselves would have used to get into the ring. They were much taller and wider than I had expected!
"backstage"
such thick walls!
these weren't actually windows--they were used to hold the metal nails that held the old marble facade in place
And it was surprisingly cold back there! It was starting to warm up when I was out, maybe 18C? But back there, brrr... I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I really wasn't expecting it, haha... The corridors were wide enough to hold banquets in, by the way--they used to have feasts for the men sent in to die the night before the games. Wine, women, food... I'm taking the guide's word for this, of course, but apparently they were real orgies in every sense of the word.
Latin!
In a little room off this corridor was an iron plate with the rules of the game on it. You could touch it! You could walk on the ruins and touch the inscription! I felt too guilty to do so, but it was definitely okay. They were translated into Spanish, but it was too crowded in there for me to read them. There were other rooms, also, but they were all barred from the public, although I did see that one of them had a mosaic in pretty good condition on the floor.
and outside again
archway!
The antetheater was exposed to the elements, as you can see, but apparently there was once a huge white covering that they would pull up over the seats and stage since the games were held in summer--and it can get up to 140F in the sun over here, ugh. The white covering and the white marble facade must have made for an impressive sight.
more Latin!
I grabbed a picture of this marble pillar engraved with yet more Latin as we left the antetheater. The guide didn't mention it, so I don't know if it is original or a replica, but it was interesting either way. I wish I could read, so I could know what it said! The writing went all the way around, but was much more worn down on the opposite side.
I thought this pillar was kind of cute, actually...
After we finished our tour and brief exploration of the antetheater we went to look at one of the excavated homes nearby. I didn't find that quite as impressive as this first part, but it was very pretty and definitely worth seeing. :) I'm going to stop here for now, though, and stick that in a second part since this is getting kind of long and I'm getting hungry. >_> I don't think we're having dinner yet, but it's gotten dark while I was typing this and I'd rather go look for a snack than sit in the dark!
(Actually after writing this up I found Ruffles con sabor a jamón in my bag... Is this a Spanish-only flavor? I thought it might have been so I bought it, but I also don't really pay attention to chips very much so...)
