{"id":68,"date":"2018-07-22T10:48:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T10:48:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:27:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:27:59","slug":"exploring-the-hidden-giants-of-ancient-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/22\/exploring-the-hidden-giants-of-ancient-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"EXPLORING THE HIDDEN GIANTS OF ANCIENT ROME"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exploring The Hidden Giants Of Ancient Rome<\/span><\/h2>\n
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It\u2019s no wonder Rome\u2019s called the Eternal City. A rich architectural legacy, spanning over two millennia, bridges today\u2019s metropolis with the city of the Caesars and the Rome of the popes. In Rome\u2019s centre, you can barely turn a corner without stumbling upon something special\u2014an arch, a column, or even an ancient temple. So much has survived from Rome\u2019s heyday that we think<\/i> we know the ancient city pretty well.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Roman Forum<\/a><\/b> was the ancient city\u2019s hub, a melting pot of international trade, social ostentation, and political conspiracy. The Colosseum<\/a><\/b>(or the Flavian Amphitheatre as it was then known) was Rome\u2019s main arena: a sporting arena-cum-bloodbath where the imperial elite put on shows to placate the city\u2019s plebeian masses\u2014part of their diet of \u201cbread and circuses,\u201d as Pliny the Younger once wrote.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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But when the Roman Empire fell, the city of the Caesars fell with it\u2014its pagan monuments mainly destroyed, converted into churches, or, more often than not, simply built over. We\u2019ve uncovered but a fraction of the ancient city that underlies the modern metropolis. And while some monuments, like the Pantheon<\/a><\/b>, have survived haphazardly (in the Pantheon\u2019s case only because of its last-minute conversion into a church), many of Rome\u2019s ancient giants lie hidden. Hidden, but not forgotten. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Rome\u2019s hidden giants still play their part in determining the city\u2019s landscape. Some structures disappear or blend into modern buildings; others dictate the shape of what stands above. All have one thing in common though. That if you know where to look, they spill much more of Rome\u2019s history than you could ever imagine. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In this post, Roman Candle Tours<\/a><\/b>guide you through some of ancient Rome\u2019s hidden giants. We\u2019ll look at monuments that rival the Colosseum in scale and curiosities on a par with the Pantheon in their ingenuity. And we start in a place better known for its Christian rather than pagan past: the Vatican<\/a><\/b>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

The Vatican: Caligula\u2019s Circus and Obelisk<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Artist\u2019s imagination of Caligula\u2019s Circus and an old Saint Peter\u2019s Basilica. Photo credit: Roger Pearse<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Visitors to the Vatican are rightly awestruck by its architecture: St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, Michelangelo\u2019s dome, and Bernini\u2019s square. It\u2019s no surprise that these imposing medieval structures dominate attention. This is after all the beating heart of Christianity. But the square\u2019s more keen-eyed visitors might also ask themselves what a thirteenth century BC Egyptian obelisk is doing in its centre. It\u2019s a good question. And like most questions about the Eternal City, it comes with a colourful answer. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Vatican Obelisk was brought to Rome in 37 AD by the mad, bad, and dangerous-to-know emperor Caligula, who had a ship built especially for the task. Caligula initially installed it nearby in his private gardens before erecting it on the spina<\/i> (central barrier) of his circus (completed by Nero), which now partly underlies the western wing of Saint Peter\u2019s Basilica. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Roger Pearse<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Here the obelisk <\/i>remained until 1585, when Pope Sixtus V set about the thirteen-month project of reassembling it and moving it to its present location. Because this red granite obelisk weighs 330 tonnes, this was no easy task, and Sixtus entrusted it to the expert hands of famed architect Domenico Fontana.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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To move the obelisk, Fontana acquired 40,000 pounds of hemp rope, 72 horses, and 900 men. But even this nearly proved insufficient. At one point while it was being winched up, the hemp ropes started to fray. The gathered crowd, threatened by pain of death should anyone utter a sound, stood shocked, silent, until an experienced Genovese sailor cried out, \u201cwater on the ropes!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Fontana duly obliged, and by applying water to the ropes managed to finish winching the obelisk up, saving the monument from obliteration. As for the sailor, rather than being put to death he was rewarded for his intervention. Sixtus declared that from henceforth the Vatican would buy all its Palm Sunday fronds from the sailor\u2019s hometown of Bordighera. It\u2019s a promise the papacy keeps to this day.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

Piazza Navona: Stadium of Domitian<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
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Wander upon Piazza Navona<\/a><\/b> and you\u2019ll immediately be struck by the strangeness of its shape (not least because, unlike most piazzas, it isn\u2019t square). The long, sculptured piazza instead takes a U-shape. For it stands precisely above the first century AD chariot-racing track of the emperor Domitian. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Domitian built his stadium\u2014the first in Rome based on the Greek model\u2014in around 86 AD on land cleared by a devastating fire six years earlier. It was used mainly for athletic performances, but also saw gladiatorial contests, Christian executions, and, from its arcades which doubled up as brothels, some of the baser everyday acts of ancient life. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The present piazza gives a good sense of its dimensions. At 275 metres long, 106 metres wide and 30 metres high, Domitian\u2019s stadium could accommodate 30,000 people.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The stadium gradually fell out of use until Late Antiquity, when its arcade was used to shelter the poor. Its rubble was then robbed piecemeal over the centuries, recycled and incorporated into other building projects. Parts of the stadium are, however, pretty well preserved. You can still see its travertine arches beneath the I.N.A. Palace at the far end. The rest can be viewed through by visiting the Stadium of Domitian<\/a><\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne: Odeon of Domitian<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
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Photo credit: Rome Art Lover<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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When the emperor Constantius II, Constantine the Great\u2019s son, visited Rome in 357 AD, he was awestruck by one of the ancient city\u2019s most widely recognised wonders: the Odeon of Domitian. In terms of its beauty, it was, according to the fourth century AD writer Ammianus Marcellinus and the event\u2019s narrator, on a par with the Pantheon, Domitian\u2019s Stadium, and, next on our list, the Theatre of Pompey.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Rome Art Lover<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Odeon has now disappeared completely from sight: a victim of the Eternal City\u2019s historical ebbs and flows which have resulted in the haphazard preservation of Rome\u2019s architectural legacy. But walk along the modern Corso Vittorio Emanuele and you\u2019ll come across the curved fa\u00e7ade of Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne. This palace\u2019s curve was not a conscious architectural choice, but took its shape from the building that belies it.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/b><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It is specifically the Odeon\u2019s stands the give shape to palace\u2019s fa\u00e7ade, designed to accommodate around 10,000 spectators who would flock to the Odeon for musical and theatrical performances. As befit its function, the Odeon resembled as an extraordinarily beautiful ancient Greek theatre. As befit the man who built it, its construction was an expensive, populist gesture, which went down brilliantly with the people and sourly with Domitian\u2019s rival aristocrats. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Other than the Odeon\u2019s outline, preserved in the curvature of the palace\u2019s fa\u00e7ade, the only thing left of Domitian\u2019s remarkable structure is a single cipollino<\/i> column. It\u2019s seen better days, and being situated in the centre of an inner-city car park you can\u2019t help fear for its longevity, especially given the devil-may-care nature of Roman driving. But for now it stands: a neglected vestige of one of Rome\u2019s most remarkable monuments.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Largo di Torre Argentina: Theatre of Pompey<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
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Photo credit: Pin the Map Project<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Sheltered from the traffic of one of inner city Rome\u2019s busiest crossroads, the archaeological area around the Largo di Torre is one of the most curious ancient sites in the city centre. Its ruins are poorly signposted\u2014so much so, in fact, that most people survey them to spot the cat sanctuary rather than the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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On the Ides of March 44 BC, the great dictator met his bloody end in the newly built Senate house annexed to the theatre of his great rival Pompey Magnus. Here, beneath a statue of Pompey, he was stabbed 23 times in one of history\u2019s most famous (and most botched) assassinations, ushering in the end of the more democratic Roman Republic and the beginning of the monarchical Roman Empire. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Reconstruction of Pompey\u2019s Theatre. Photo credit: King\u2019s College London<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Though archaeologists believe they have identified the spot where Caesar was killed<\/a><\/b>, nothing remains of his rival\u2019s 17,500 capacity theatre annexed onto the site. This is all the more surprising given its historical significance. For, as the first permanent stone theatre in Rome, the Theatre of Pompey was one of the defining monuments of the late Republic. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Funded from the proceeds of Pompey\u2019s many wars, the theatre was incredibly symbolic: a populist political gesture aimed at getting the people onside by building for them a state-of-the-art public venue. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Building stone entertainment arenas in the city was, in fact, politically prohibited, partly because the Romans feared such populist gestures and partly out of a general disdain for \u2018too much\u2019 of the arts. Pompey was only able to get round this prohibition because he could claim it was a stairway leading to the Temple of Venus \u201cVictory\u201d at the top (which, technically speaking, it was).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Piazza di Grotta Pinta perfectly preserves the curve of the theatre\u2019s cavea<\/i>. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Theatre of Pompey may be invisible on the surface, but in terms of Rome\u2019s topography it\u2019s one of the best examples of urban continuity in the city. Completed in 55 BC, it was restored numerous times over the centuries after fires and other natural disasters before being built over entirely. But the shape and site of its large curve are perfectly evident from the bend in the buildings above it on the Piazza di Grotta Pinta.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Ludus Magnus: The Colosseum<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
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Photo credit: Spotting History<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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All year round, people gather outside the Colosseum to marvel, line up and get photos in front of the most famous monument in Italy. When in Rome, a private Colosseum tour<\/a><\/b> is a must, especially if you want to unlock the secrets of this remarkable amphitheatre. But you should also make the time to visit its surrounding neighbours, each of which offers its own unique insight into Rome\u2019s incredible past. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Just a few minutes walk east of the Colosseum, concealed beneath the modern street level of the Via Labicana and the Via di San Giovanni in Laterano, is the Ludus Magnus: the largest of four gladiatorial training schools built in the area around the Colosseum. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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On the left is the gladiators\u2019 living quarters; on the right what remains of their training amphitheatre<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Built by the emperor Domitian (81 \u2013 96 AD), whose family, the Flavians, constructed the Colosseum<\/a><\/b>, the Ludus Magnus was a multipurpose facility serving as the residence and training centre of the Colosseum\u2019s gladiators. It housed staff too: trainers, administrators, cooks, surgeons and (where surgery failed) morticians. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Capitolvium<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Only one of its original three stories of accommodation cells survives, though even this is enough to give you a sense of scale for the living quarters alone (each cell housed up to five men). More eye-catching, however, is the section of small amphitheatre where the gladiators used to train and vague traces of its cavea<\/i>(seating area), spacious enough for 3,000. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The remainder of the amphitheatre and the Ludus Magnus at large is lost, irrecoverably built over by the modern road. Were it not for archaeological efforts in the twentieth century, we would be none the wiser that the Ludus Magnus was once directly connected to the Colosseum via a long (and regrettably no longer accessible) tunnel.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Meta Sudans (The Sweating Cone): The Colosseum<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
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The concrete foundations of the Meta Sudans<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The last of our monuments takes us just outside the Colosseum to the junction between the Arch of Constantine and the beginning of the Via Sacra and the Roman Forum. All you can see now are its concrete foundations, cut into a grassy mound that doesn\u2019t draw so much as a second glance from the Colosseum\u2019s visitors. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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But in its day, from its construction during the reign of Titus (79 \u2013 81 AD), it was a 20 metre high conical fountain, with a width of 16 metres, standing in a pool 1.4 metres deep, and designed so it seemed to sweat water (hence its name, Meta Sudans, which means \u201csweating meta<\/i>\u201d in Latin).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Traditionally, a meta<\/i>was the conical structure that stood at either end of chariot-racing tracks and marked the point the charioteers had to steer around. The Meta Sudans served a similarly pivotal purpose. Only it featured at an event that carried far more prestige at a significantly slower speed.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Artist\u2019s imagination of the Meta Sudans in its imperial heyday. Photo credit: Detritus of Empire<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Standing in the back of a chariot, dressed up as Jupiter, with a slave behind him whispering a reminder in his ear that he was only mortal, a victorious general would pivot around the Meta Sudans during his triumphal procession over a vanquished enemy. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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He would have come from the Via Triumphalis, its streets lined with adulating crowds hoping to be showered with spoils and plunder from his victorious campaign. From the Meta Sudans, he would make his way up the Via Sacra into the Roman Forum and toward the climax of his triumphal parade at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Relief of Titus\u2019s triumph from the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum. Photo credit: Ancient History Encylopedia<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Meta Sudans stood in a state of disrepair from antiquity to the modern age. By the twentieth century, and the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, only its brick core survived brick core survived. Then, in 1936, the dictator had it hurriedly razed to create space for Fascist parades around the Via dei Fori Imperiali. It was only in the 1980s that its overlooked concrete foundations were excavated.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Roman Candle Tours in Rome<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
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Roman Candle Tours offers a wide range of guided, private tours of Rome<\/a><\/b>, many of which either incorporate or take you past these remarkable sites. Whether you\u2019re interested in classical, medieval, or Baroque Rome, we\u2019ve designed our tours to bring you the best of the Eternal City. But if something here\u2019s caught your eye and you\u2019d like to organise your own itinerary, get in touch and we\u2019d be happy to talk you through one of our tailored tours<\/a><\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Exploring The Hidden Giants Of Ancient Rome \u00a0 It\u2019s no wonder Rome\u2019s called the Eternal City. A rich architectural legacy, spanning over two millennia, bridges today\u2019s metropolis with the city of the Caesars and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[870],"tags":[877],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rome","tag-caligulas-circus-colosseum-corso-vittorio-emanuele-flavian-amphitheatre-pantheon-stadium-of-domitian-theatre-of-pompey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4549,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/4549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romancandletours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}