Me neither.
Posted on 09/17/2007 10:31:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Visitors to the 1st-century amphitheatre are taking away "chunks of stone" as souvenirs despite the presence of guards and surveillance cameras, according to Angelo Bottini, the Superintendent of Archaeology for Rome. He said that most of the five million tourists who visited the Colosseum annually behaved responsibly. But others covered it in graffiti, left their rubbish behind and picked up bits of Ancient Roman wall or paving... He said he had started an inquiry and was asking police to reinforce patrols and closed-circuit television surveillance at the Colosseum and the adjoining Roman Forum, where tourists also pocketed souvenirs. At night, the sites are taken over by tramps sleeping rough in improvised shelters... They were also considering a clamp-down on unlicensed "fake centurions" who charge tourists for posing with them for photographs with the Colosseum as a backdrop... It derives its name from the colossal statue of Nero, which stood near by, of which only the pedestal remains.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Roman Colosseum Mystery Solved?The namesake of the Roman Colosseum, long thought lost, may have been found in the head of an huge, ancient bronze statue... the statue was originally placed outside the entrance of Nero's fabled Golden House. Later, the Emperor Hadrian had it moved near the Flavian Amplitheater -- the Colosseum's original name. The statue was presumed lost, but now archaeologist Serena Ensoli says it may actually lie camouflaged under the features of another gigantic bronze sculpture, one dedicated to Constantine the Great. The only remains of the Constantine sculpture, on display at the Capitoline museums in Rome, are three imposing fragments: the head, the left hand and a sphere... another fragment from the Constantine statue, a sphere, could be a remnant of the sun god's crown. Ensoli's hypothesis doesn't jive with some ancient sources, which say the Colossus Neronis was 30 meters high and required 24 elephants to move it near the Colosseum.
by Rossella Lorenzi
May 19 1999
Discovery Online News
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Bush's fault. /sarc |
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I wonder how long it will be before the spray paint vandals get around to those.
An Italian adage that "Rome and the world are safe, so long as the Colosseum stands" brought mass hysteria to Italy in 1954. On May 18, engineers were alarmed by huge cracks appearing in the 1,800-year-old amphitheater. Someone suggested the sign had come, and set the day of destruction at May 24. Thousands besieged the Vatican, hoping that the pope would absolve them from their sins. Despite a sharp rebuke from a Vatican prelate, who also added, "The world will see Tuesday and more Tuesdays to come," thousands appeared in St. Peter's Square on May 24. The prelate was proved right, and builders were sent to repair the Colosseum.
And this time???? ;-)
A good old-fashioned Texas butt kickin' would stop a lot of that business, I'd imagine.
Interesting.
There's a pretty solid case to be made that that's a mistranslation, and that the original form was "as long as the colossus stands." The colossus was pulled down around 1000 AD and melted down for the bronze (except maybe for the bits in the Capitoline Museum). So we're screwed.
LOL! I guess so -- talk about "borrowed time"!
i’ll never understand graffiti.
it costs to buy the paint, and takes time to do the work.
Sounds like some of SoCal's illegal aliens are vacationing in Rome.
the vatican outside walls if i remmeber correctly werent spared. the amazing amount of litter is what suprized me most and that was after living in sicily for a few years. any small hole bottles or napkins, or diapers or whatever were were filled yet the trashbins were everywhere and rarely overflowing.
didjou like living in sicily?
it was wonderful, best duty station ever
Gee, I just got my fake Centurions license and had my bags packed.
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