Time machines really do exist!

As I have previously mentioned in earlier posts, I am taking an art history class in which we meet on-site at the different subjects we are studying, which are all from ancient Roman times. This past Thursday, we took a little trip down history lane and went to the Roman Forum. Now when I say time machines really do exist, I am not kidding! When we were down amongst all of the ruins, it literally felt as if I had just transported to Ancient Rome. We looked at ruins of temples, basilicas, everything...it felt so surreal standing in the same place that so many, such as Julius Caesar, had stood thousands of years ago!

The Forum looking towards the backside of the Capitoline Hill.

Ruins of the Temple of Vesta.

Looking a little sleepy at 9:30 in the morning but so excited to be at the ruins!

One of the many stones that was carved in order to communicate with the Roman people who were at the forum.

Ruins of the entrance and columns of the Basilica Julia.

This is said to be the exact spot that Julius Caesar was cremated after Marc Antony gave his famous passionate speech about the type of leader that Caesar was. The people of Rome built a column to mark the spot where he was cremated and so this is what is left of the base of the column. As you can see, people still put flowers there!

The ancient senatorial house. Believe it or not, this building is ancient and has been around since the times of ancient Rome! It may not look like it because it is made of brick, but brick was used back then too!

More ruins...it's amazing to think how old they are!

If you look at this picture and see the 6 or so holes carved into the steps, you are looking at an ancient board game. These are the steps that were attached to one of the forum buildings and this game was a common one that would have been carved into the steps of places. Think of an ancient version of mancalla. They even had dice back then that were not too different from ours now!