Rome via Brooklyn

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Prompt: Focus your post on just one museum object or at most two (say a compare/contrast).  What about it reminded you of things we’ve seen earlier on the trip and why? Does it speak to any of the following themes: militarism, the role of women, the role of religion, social hierarchies, other themes. Choose a different theme than yesterday’s blog post.

I must talk about the man, the myth, and the legend one more time–likely I will bring him up in my other writings. To be able to see statues of Marcus Aurelius in person has been nothing short of an amazing experience. During my project with him, I mainly went through scholarships that did not include images of Marcus. This in some way desensitized me of his image. For better or for worse, while doing work on him I had no clue how he actually looked. Being able to see him all over Rome has been great! 

It is also cool to see how the language and history of things are all connected. When doing research on the Column of M.A., I kept encountering the Via Flaminia. It was cool to see how Peter Aicher in his book Alive! references Livy, History 3.54.15: “Gaius Flamunius, when he was censor, paved the Via Flaminia and built the Circus Flaminius.” Marcus Aurelius would eventually use the Via Flaminia to lead campaigns in the north against the Germanic peoples/barbarians and eventually return from them. The column is also in relation to the Via Flaminia!

Prof. Yarrow shared a photograph with me of Marcus Aurelius in a book she recently got, that portrays him in a very different way:

Here he is nude like how Gods are depicted. This is interesting when comparing the statues of Marcus Aurelius presented here in Rome–usually fully covered. This means that some people viewed him and portrayed him as one of the Gods, or rather a God. If one reads the Meditations you don’t know what to think about Marcus Aurelius. 

I really despise it when I see these supports. I understand that we would not have this statue if it weren’t for that support, but c’mon this is just not good. They did not even try to hide it! Usually the support is incorporated within the statue itself, but here, nada!

I also really enjoyed this sculpture of Aristotle! I really enjoyed reading his Nicomachean Ethics and his argumentation on ethics as a study in general. Like before, my favorite part about this trip is being able to see these sculptures and artwork in person!

Finally, we went to see the Column of Marcus Aurelius and I was quite disappointed to see that it was covered in scaffolding. I really wanted to see the individual scenes that I wrote about in my presentation. But, we are human and we must adapt! I presented it to the Column and it went quite well.

After we finished Jessica, Rachel, and I walked around and got slightly rained on. We ducked into a cafe and got some nice munchies. We all spoke about life and it was really interesting and fun to hear both Jessica and Rachel’s perspective on life!

–Moussa Toni Cisse