View Article: 083005 Porta Maggiore and the Baker's Tomb

	083005 Porta Maggiore and the Baker's Tomb
	written by liu9700 / 09.03.2005

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Itinerary

This morning sleepy honors students from across Rome made their way to the ItaliaIdea center for the second Italian language class of the program. Today the students of Marcella's class divided into partners and ventured out into the city. The aim was to practice our Italian and at the same time explore some of the different food experiences the city has to offer. By the end of the class we had learned that “Stracciatella” is Italian chocolate chip and that it costs almost 3 euros more to have your cappuccino and “cornetto” (croissant) at a table then it does standing at the bar.

After class we had our daily siesta break. This is time when students take a leisurely lunch and explore the newly opened shops around the Campo de' Fiori, the owners having just this week returned from their August vacations. Most of us spent at least some time in the Rome Center working hard on our creative writing assignments or reviewing the afternoon’s art history readings.

Art history began with a short walk, a crowded bus ride and a long scenic detour through the modern city. “Long scenic detour” is a term I learned from my father on a family road trip long ago. Translated to English is means we had an idea of where we were supposed to be but just seemed to have trouble arriving there. However, humidity and thirst aside, I found the detour quite interesting. It is rare that we leave the Centro Storico or the Historic Center of Rome in our day to day travels. All our apartments and lessons so far have been well contained within the old city walls. This means we are used to cobbled, narrow streets and small comfortable Cafés. Once outside the Centro we observed a city markedly different from the one we had come to know. The streets here are wide and well paved and the stores are larger, more like what we are used to seeing in the states.

Eventually we regained our bearings and off in the distance the Porta Maggiore revealed itself. Flanked by the ancient city walls and set behind modern city trams the impressive portal was a welcomed site to our eyes. It was an appropriate ending to the long walk. Like those who journeyed to Rome long ago we were travelers, feet exhausted and tongues parched. Porta Maggiore translates to "Main Gate". In ancient times it served both as an entrance to the city and an aqueduct that supplied water to the people. It was built by Emperor Claudius in 52 C.E.

In the Porta Maggiore's shadow sits the Baker’s Tomb. When you first glimpse it in the distance you don’t know exactly what to make of it. Cubic, squat, with an elaborate frieze around its top and odd circular recesses on its side it is truly an oddity of Roman architecture. It is the tomb of the freed slave and baker Eurisaces and his wife Atinia. All along its surface is carved indications of his profession; the circular recesses mimic the large stone bowls used for kneading dough and the frieze depicts the process of bread baking.

It was interesting to sit in the grass near these two sites, the noisy trams passing along the street behind us. In a single frame we captured a glimpse of the old and the new, bread and water, entrance and exit, life and death. Leaving the site was an unique experience. Up we stood and walked past the tomb, along the original cobble stones, over the ruts that still exist from ancient Roman traffic and finally under the grand arch and back into the Centro Storico.

The second excursion for the day, a visit to the Museo Nazionale Romano (the National Roman Museum) had to be canceled. Unfortunately our detour had cost us some time and the museum was soon to close. Together we walked from the Porta Maggiore to the Termi station where we caught the number 64 bus (a notorious favorite haunt for pick pockets) back to the familiar Campo de’ Fiori. The entire walk to the station the sky threatened rain, but most of us were lucky enough to reach our apartments before it followed through.

We had the evening free. Many of us used this time to catch up on home work or work on journals. Of course everyone must take a break sometime. Lucky for us we have a fantastic city right outside our doors, full of surprises and secrets, just waiting for us to pay her a visit.

Highlights

Today was a day for traversing boundaries of all sorts. We broke cultural barriers in our ItaliaIdea language class and physical barriers by leaving the historical center of Rome for the first time as a group. In our art history lesson we discussed the Porta Maggiore and the Baker’s Tomb, juxtaposed images of entrance and exit, water and bread, life and death.