Rome via Brooklyn

358 words, 2 minutes read time.

Today we went to Museo Altemps. We saw a structure part of the bath of Agrippa that was next to the Pantheon. In the Rome Alive! Book on page 229 it talks about the baths of Agrippa and how it was a project undertaken when Augustus was reigning, including the Pantheon. The baths first started as an exercise area, but his “subsequent construction of the Aqua Virgo allowed for something much more elaborate.” Agrippa was able to channel water not only for his baths, but also throughout the city, and it is used even now for the Trevi Fountain.

In addition, talking about hierarchy. When I went inside the chapel of the museum the professor told me something interesting about the terrace that was in the chapel. I was interested to know why there was a second floor with a balcony inside the chapel, and the professor told me it was for higher official status people, like the king to come in pray. The king would only pray up in a balcony because he would not want to kneel for any person other than God. This shows how much an emperor or king would have so much power that even in religion they still have to be above every mortal, even the priest or other higher religious people. Another fun fact is that there was a sink inside the chapel too. When the wine becomes the blood of Christ, there would be an excess amount of wine left over sometimes. Either the priest downs the rest of the wine or they have to get rid of it. Since, the blood of Christ is too holy to be just thrown into the sewer system, they poured the wine into this sink where it goes straight into the Earth, or the ground. After, me, Rachel, and Moussa walked back to the direction of our houses, stopping in a cafe to take cover from the pouring rain. Hopefully, this will be the only day it rains, but the rain does give a good ambiance.