Rome via Brooklyn

318 words, 2 minute read time.

Today we went to Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri and Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme. The first thing I thought of was actually this door we passed by. It really reminded me of this crypt me and Rachel went to last week called, Museo e Cripta dei Cappuccini. This museum contained skeletal remains the bodies of the Capuchin friars. The reason I was reminded of the Capuchin friars was because they would practice self-flagellation, and you can see on the door spiked rope or chain where they would hit themselves to atone for their sins. It makes me believe that this door painting is showing the Capuchin friar.

The Capuchin Friars also had a specific ranking system like in Mithraism, where it was hard to reach the top of the ranks. However, other than that they are very different. Mithraism was the mystery cult where it contained a lot of rituals and secret initiations, while the Capuchin friars did have their own rituals they were not a mystery cult and actually are a branch of the Franciscan Order, a Catholic religious order. In addition, followers of Mithraism worshipped a different god, Mithras. Mithras was actually born of a rock with a torch and a dagger. In addition, the Capuchins are actually still part of an ongoing, living religious tradition, but Mithraism is now just a historical phenomenon that no longer exists.

Another difference I saw was how the museum had preserved frescoes from dining rooms and bedrooms. In Pompeii and Herculaneum, where when I walked around all the paint has been destroyed and chipped away, the rooms seemed very barren. However, when I walked around the museum and I saw how the dining rooms and bedrooms “wallpapers” were supposed to look like it really helped me visualize more how life was like living in cities like Pompeii.