Rome via Brooklyn

Getting up early, me and my roommates made our way to the capitoline museum using the public bus. As we approached the museum my group recognized the beautiful exterior of the museum, having passed it many times on our commutes. There’s a large gorgeous fountain in the front of the museum where I notice a bird drinking and bathing itself the same way the people of Rome do in the many water fountains scattered around the city. 

When I looked up at the exterior of the museum I recognized what looked like a trophy on the side of the building, based on professor Yarrow’s description she gave the previous day.

The quote stuck out to me the text says,

“If you are feeling fit and energetic the 125 steps up to the front of the church, whether or not the church is open, afford a magnificent view.” Much like described in the quote we had to climb many steps to reach the top of the hill to enter the Capitoline Museum, where the temple of Jupiter was held. the same way the ancient Romans had to climb the 125 steps to reach the temple to give their offerings to the gods. Walking up these steps the same way ancient Romans did made me feel connected to these people even though we are separated by thousands of years.

The Capitoline Museum holds many amazing works of art, poetry, and statues. This made it hard to choose one piece to talk about. That being said, the one that stood out to me the most was this beautiful statue of the goddess hermaphroditus. As a trans woman I felt a unique connection to this goddess, and it was reassuring to see representation of queer identity that I existed in ancient times. Having been intrigued by this statue i to decide to do some research on the mythical origins of this goddess. 

Hermaphroditus gets their name from combining the names of their parents Hermes and Aphrodite. The offensive and outdated term hermaphrodite gets its origin from the goddess hermaphroditus. Hermaphroditus was originally born a boy and attracted the love of the nymph Salmacis. Salmacis prayed to the gods of Olympus to untie the two forever. This caused the two to be merged into a new form that was both male and female.