Arrivederci!

Depart for London: August 31
Arrive in London: September 1
Depart for Rome: September 7
Arrive in Rome: September 7
Returning Home: September 18

     The trip is starting to feel real now. I guess it had better, as I'm leaving for London in just a few days! This is a simple blog post, but it may contain helpful or interesting information relating to my upcoming journey for friends and family who want to follow along a bit on the adventure.

     It's possible I will be updating this blog as I go, but this is largely dependent upon available free time and an internet connection.  At the very least, I will stay publicly connected using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and possibly Pinterest.  (Feel free to connect!)  On social media, also keep an eye out for my photography identified with one of the following hashtags: #KarlsLondon and #KarlsRome.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

                         

Click for Live Cam

Click for Live Cam  (Savoy Place)

Links:

British Museum

National Gallery

UK Parliament / Big Ben

ROME, ITALY

SaveSave                         

Click for Live Cam (Trevi Fountain)

SaveSave

Click for Live Cam with Audio (Coliseum)

Click for Live Cam (Vatican City)

Click for Live Camera (Basilica of Saint Francis)

Links:

Muzeo Nationale

Capitoline Museum

Galleria National d'Arte Antica

Borghese Gallery 

Basilica of Saint Francis*

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls

Vatican

     Vatican Museums

     Gallery of Maps

     Sistine Chapel

     Saint Peter's Basilica

Courtesy "National Geographic"

Courtesy "National Geographic"

* Looking for an excellent book on Saint Francis?  Read Saint Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton!

London/Rome Study Abroad Goals & Expectations

     In just over a week now, I'll be leaving the USA for London along with a group of fellow student travelers from Marylhurst University. I look forward with great anticipation to seeing the sights of two of the truly great cities of the world. As I wrote recently about making this journey, the focus is really upon learning and connecting the dots regarding the cultural and physical context of some of the world's greatest art and literature. I look forward to visiting the libraries and museums of London and Rome, and I am particularly excited for the opportunity to spend hours upon hours at the Vatican. The Globe Theater is also on the itinerary, and I am confident that the play will be amazing. For a guy whose only out of country travel has been limited to Canada, I'm confident this will be an enriching experience for all of us student travelers.

     I selected the image above from Google Earth, because it's illustrative of how perspective influences our understanding of places.  This image may evoke a welcoming environment, but it is actually North Africa.  The shape and feel of places change as we grow nearer and assumptions are slowly replaced with familiarity.  It's my sincere hope that the upcoming trip will be illuminating in this regard for all of us travelers.

     I decided to add that I think I'm most looking forward to London.  The language barrier for Italy makes me a bit uncomfortable.  Of course, being uncomfortable is not necessarily a  bad thing.  Looking forward to what may come!

Experiencing Anthony Doerr's "Four Seasons in Rome"

     I have really enjoyed the opportunity to read Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome this term.  If Robert Hughes' book on Rome is seen as something of an objective analysis of Roman history and culture, Doerr's book is a much more subjective reading experience.  It's instantly engaging and welcoming to the reader, creating a rich sense of place with a narrative that feels often like poetry.  There is no sense of anything other than an honest account of the Doerr's family experiences in Rome: no underlying cynicism or inflated sense of ego to get between the reader and the text.  The author's gentle attitude is often expressing a profound sense of wonder not only of Rome itself, but, I would argue, his lovely family seen through the lens of Rome and the Roman people.  

     One of my favorite passages is the following excerpt concerning his son; it really captures the purity of personal experience and thought conveyed within these pages.

Swaddled in his Moses basket, wires trailing out the bottom, his monitor flashing green, green, green, his entire four-pound body motionless except his eyelids, it seemed he understood everything I was working so hard to understand: his mother's love, his brother's ceaseless crying; he was already forgiving me for my shortcomings as a father; he was the distillation of a dozen generations, my grandpa's grandpa's grandpa, all stripped into a single flame and stowed still-burning into the thin slip of his ribs.  I'd hold him at the window and he'd stare out into the night, blue tributaries of veins pulsing in his neck, his big eyelids slipping down now and then, and it would feel as if tethers were falling away, and the two of us were gently rising, through the glass, through the trees, through interweaving layers of atmosphere, into whatever was beyond the sky.

     One aspect of the book that I particularly appreciate is the author's emphasis of understanding a place through the eyes of its people.  He's not a simple tourist or traveller, he's experiencing Rome through the act of truly living there: mingling in the markets, strolling the ancient streets, speaking--or attempting to speak--with its residents, and, in short, truly living in the place.  I know my upcoming visit will be but a fraction of the length of his, but I hope I may leave Rome with a much greater sense of what this city is all about when my time comes to head home.  Like Doerr, I don't see most of this knowledge coming from being a tourist per se, but as something along the lines of a (very) short-term resident.
  

A Short Digital Maps Project Exploring Homer's Iliad

Full many a host in line of battle rang'd My eyes have seen; but such a force as this, So mighty and so vast, I ne'er beheld: In number as the leaves, or as the sand, Against the city o'er the plain they come. Then, Hector, for to thee I chiefly speak, This do; thou know'st how various our allies, Of diff'rent nations and discordant tongues: Let each then those command o'er whom he reigns, And his own countrymen in arms array." She said; and Hector knew the voice divine, And all, dissolv'd the council, flew to arms, The gates were open'd wide; forth pour'd the crowd, Both foot and horse; and loud the tumult rose.

Before the city stands a lofty mound, In the mid plain, by open space enclos'd; Men call it Batiaea; but the Gods The tomb of swift Myrinna; muster'd there The Trojans and Allies their troops array'd. 

The mighty Hector of the glancing helm, The son of Priam, led the Trojan host: The largest and the bravest band were they, Bold spearmen all, who follow'd him in arms. Anchises' valiant son, AEneas, led The Dardans; him, 'mid Ida's jutting peaks, Immortal Venus to Anchises bore, A Goddess yielding to a mortal's love: With him, well skill'd in war, Archilochus And Acamas, Antenor's gallant sons.

Homer. The Iliad (Kindle Locations 548-556). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

     After reading the passage above, observe the geographical features of the ancient city of Troy itself from Google Earth.  (Today referred to as Troia, Turkey.)  The second photo is from April 2016, and I have included it because of the illumination it provides of the potential fertility of the area.  With regards to the passage, pay particularly close attention to the second paragraph.  If you look carefully at the images, you can clearly see the rise or mound upon which the city rested, more secure in this vantage point from approaching enemies.  The third image provided is a more distant view of the area from above to convey greater context.

     The following image conveys a sense of the great journey Odysseus took by ship to reach Troy from Ithaca—and, of course, the much longer journey home. 

     The image directly above, courtesy OpenCulture.com, displays the hometowns of the cast of characters from the Iliad.  It has been pointed out by others, however, that most of the women—including Helen—have not been included.  

     While it may never be known whether, or not, Odysseus was based upon a real man, myths have a way of solidifying around that kernel of truth.  Since Troy has been demonstrated as having existed, perhaps there is more truth than fantasy to Homer’s epic works.  If so, these journeys represent an astonishing accomplishment for the period.

Christianity Before Emperor Constantine

     Early Christianity under Roman rule suffered unspeakable cruelties and acts of barbarism by the Roman authorities.  In order to understand the deeper conflict, it's helpful to take a step back to understand the historical context with more clarity.
     The following passage from Robert Hughes' Rome examines the Christian understanding of what it meant to be living in what they were certain represented the end times.  (See the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.)

Christianity did not believe that such prophecies, promises, and threats were in any way metaphorical. They were truthful in essence, and soon would be in fact as well: not in the distant future, but imminently, within this generation. Rome was doomed to be destroyed in a few years, in a few decades at most. The New Testament had not been written yet, but such beliefs were preached, described, made part of the essential public lore of the new religion and its adherents. To them, it made perfect sense, because it was Revealed Truth. But it also made sense to the Roman authorities, sense of a different kind. It meant that the Galileans wanted this promised destruction...

     The last couple sentences are a little bit of an eye opener for me. It doesn't, of course, excuse any of the Roman persecution or brutality, but it demonstrates at least a pretext of rationalization--rather than simple sadism and evil. To make an aside here, I think it's worth pointing out that different emperors held different levels of tolerance for the Christians. Madness and vile hatred clearly fueled Nero's attack upon them, for instance, but others weren't quite so ferociously intent on murdering them; they didn't understand the new and mysterious sect.

     Speaking of Emperor Nero, I encourage you to read Father Bruce Vawter's short book, Revelation: A Divine Message of Hope. It does a splendid job exploring the religious and symbolic context of the book of Revelation, demonstrating it as an important offer of hope for the early persecuted Church. I also suggest that passages such as Mark 13:32 and the issue of the Second Coming potentially reveals an incredible insight into the humanity of Christ. Was there, for instance, a lack of intimate knowledge visible in chapters such as Matthew 24? Did Christ Himself believe the Second Coming was coming within a matter of years? He might have been speaking metaphorically, but, either way, it offers a fascinating insight into the mind of Christ.

     Returning to the main topic of exploration here, I think it's also helpful to read the following excerpt from a letter of reply from Emperor Trajan to Pliny the Elder. This is taken from The Great Documents of Western Civilization by Milton Viorist, a wonderful Christmas present from my late uncle Phil Rand.

You have adopted the proper course, my dear Secundus, in your examination of the cases of those who were accused to you as Christians, for indeed nothing can be laid down as a general ruling involving something like a set form of procedure. They are not to be sought out; but if they are accused and convicted, they must be punished--yet on this condition, that whoso denies himself to be a Christian, and makes the fact plain by his action, that is, by worshiping our gods, shall obtain pardon on his repentance, however suspicious his past conduct may be. Papers, however, which are presented unsigned ought not to be admitted in any charge, for they are a very bad example and unworthy of our time.

I'd like to particularly draw your attention to that last sentence, which I've highlighted here. This is yet another example of the importance of the rule of law to the Romans; even the Christians had rights--well, before some emperors, at least.

Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

The Magic of Concrete

"Italy Sulmona view of the Roman aqueduct with the Del Vecchio fountain in the foreground"

     

In the fourth chapter of Robert Hughes' Rome, A Cultural Visual, and Personal History, my attention is drawn to the historic architectural breakthrough of concrete.

With concrete, the Romans could build aqueducts, arches, domes, and roads; it opened up means of rapid transport, storage, and defense that had not existed in earlier masonry cultures. Concrete built hundreds of bridges, which gave the Roman army swift access to the most remote parts of the Empire. The stuff of power and discipline--it was ugly and always would be--the brief mid-twentieth-century vogue for beaton brut, produced some of the most hideous, grime-attracting surfaces in all architecture, as a visit to London's Festival Hall will confirm. But it could be rendered with stucco or faced with thin sheets of stone, and it was very strong and cheap, allowing the the construction of very large structures.


Hughes, Robert. Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and 
     Personal History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
     2011. Print.

(Illustrative links added for blog; they were not selected by Hughes.)


It's hard to believe that something as ugly and "ordinary" as concrete could have such an effect upon history, but it certainly made its mark. In the prior post, for instance, I endeavored to focus upon the significance of the abundant fresh water in Rome, and this would have been impossible without the concrete aqueducts. It was, in effect, the bridge between thought and idea and reality: the malleable stuff of emperor's dreams.

     As a fellow who has to work in one of those concrete government buildings, I'm a little ambivalent about my topic of choice here. Still, it seems this was one of the materials or tools that really enabled Roman culture and genius to thrive. (As John D. Spalding observes in his essay "Spreading the Word," from Heldref Publications, the Roman system of roads also greatly facilitated the spreading of the Gospel.)