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Melancholy of the antique world: Palatine |
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written
by minhan / 10.24.2005 |
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| melancholy of the antique world |
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Part 1: |
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From the rubbles of the Forum, I look up and see the huge ruins of Palatine Hill. Its high position draws me in, compelled to see what lies inside, what view can I see from that great height. As I enter, ascending up the hill, a feeling of mystery and excitement cross me. I imagine the creator of Rome, Romulus first in his cave on this very hill, what potential he had in mind for this hill to provoke his decision to make the first settlements of Rome here. From the top, I am able to view all that is left of the grandeur of Rome, the Circus Maximus reduced to a dirt road and the dilapidated Forum. The inevitable defeat, the melancholy, however, was always known by the succeeding leaders of Rome. As the population grew, Palatine Hill would not be able to support this growth and the city needed to be extended out. With each extension, the knowledge that things would never be enough, there would always be something else became more apparent. Now Palatine Hill, where the great emperors stayed, is reduced to a tourist attraction with its great walls and ceilings open to the common people to gawk at.
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Part 2: |
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Heading to Pompeii, I already had an image of the destruction caused by the eruption. The rubbles there would be just like Palantine showing the grandeur of what had been. However, once on site, that preconceived image was gone. Seeing the remains, the fairly intact buildings in their original positions, the bodies in the exact position of their instant death was something I had not expected. Actually being there, Pompeii became more than just a destroyed city but more of the melancholy of the much too soon death of the inhabitants and their last thoughts as the inevitable loss approached. Walking around and seeing the shops along the street, frozen in time, positioned similar to the narrow streets in modern times, showed how normal the ancient Romans were, living their daily life, going through their routines just any person throughout history. The destruction was not made from corruption but from a natural disaster, where no one was spared, affecting all indiscriminately.
The Palantine only represents the few, the high leaders, an idea, while Pompeii showed more of what was at cost when destruction occurred. The loss of a few corrupted leaders of the people does not rank up to the loss of the very people themselves.
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