Arch of Constantine

Near dawn on our second day in Italy, we woke in our little tent and packed up our even smaller car. We headed back into the heart of Rome, heading straight for one of the city's best known buildings. Known in English as the Colosseum, but known in Italy as the Coliseo, This massive structure rivals today's sporting event structures in size, and is the model upon which they are often built. Much of the outer walls are gone, victims of time and earthquakes, but what does remained is shored up by angled brick sections.

We easily found a parking spot nearby and wandered the almost deserted streets. 8am in Rome is like 7am here. No one is out but the shop keepers setting up. Our goal on this particular day was not to actually pay a visit to the Coliseo, but to see the less famous arch that sits right before it, the Arch of Constantine, before we crossed through the Roman Forum to reach the Capitoline Museum.

The Arch of Constantine is one of several arches in the area of the Roman Forum, and, having been built around 315 AD was the last one built. It's purpose is to Commemorate Constantine's defeat of Maxentius. Many of the pieces of the arch were thought to be taken from existing structures or ruins, and re purposed to represent the battle. For a good description and more pictures, check out wikipedia's entry.


After looking over the arch for a while, we headed off through the Roman forum, which we would spend more time exploring another day. The forum is a large area filled with many ruins in varying degrees of decay. As a city center is houses temples to roman gods as well as early christian cathedrals. It was deserted in the early morning, and following the ancient road through it toward the Capitoline Hill, we were surprised to encounter free flowing drinking fountains, which seem to belong with the ruins. We weren't sure at the time if they were truly for drinking, but later, in the heat of the day and tourists everywhere, they were surrounded by thirsty people with cupped
hands or empty bottles.


Stay tuned for the Tarpeian Rock and Capitoline Museum.