Posted on 05/21/2024 10:43:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explore subterranean Rome! This ancient site in Rome is a sort of time elevator! Descend with Darius underneath the medieval church of San Clemente to discover the early Christian church and below that the imperial level remains of a domus (house) with a mithraeum and a next door horreum (warehouse), and much more!
0:00 Introduction and overview
1:55 Imperial house (with Mithraeum) and warehouse
5:18 Late Antique house and early Christian church
8:21 The 12C church that stands todayExplore Rome's Best Underground Site | 10:38
Darius Arya Digs | 26.2K subscribers | 35,050 views | February 26, 2024
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Transcript · Introduction and overview 0:00 · today I'm going to take you to explore 0:02 · San Clemente this wonderful medieval 0:04 · church and we'll go down below to the 0:07 · earlier levels all the way back to the 0:10 · first century ad and this Temple of 0:13 · mithis hey today I want to take you 0:16 · inside and under San Clemente it really is 0:18 · one of my favorite places to go I've 0:20 · done shows here but it's a personal 0:23 · thing it's a clear way to understand the 0:25 · layers of history that Rome is literally 0:28 · one city on top of another we can start 0:31 · with the Imperial City we can start with 0:34 · a house that also has a metham over top 0:38 · there's going to be a house that becomes 0:40 · a house church that becomes the first 0:42 · version of San Clemente of the fifth 0:44 · century and then on top We've Got This 0:47 · Magnificent Church of the 12th century 0:50 · with Incredible mosaics incredible 0:53 · cosmes floors we see the layers of 0:56 · History of Rome from the end of the 0:59 · first century ad we go into the fourth 1:01 · and fifth centuries ad with that early 1:05 · church that lives a long life until the 1:09 · early 11th century and then we get this 1:11 · magnificent Church on top which still 1:14 · stands today the layers of History let's 1:17 · explore under San Clemente. San Clemente 1:20 · church is located in a valley in the 1:22 · kylian Hill district and its Irish 1:25 · Dominicans began to investigate and 1:27 · excavate the church toward the end of 1:30 · the 19th century and what a discovery 1:31 · they made we can descend today to the 1:34 · early church and then again down another 1:37 · staircase to the ancient layers of Rome 1:40 · 11 M beneath the modern pavement the 1:44 · lover we're going to explore includes a 1:46 · domus of the late 1st Century ad and an 1:50 · adjacent Warehouse or horum and the real 1:53 · standout feature in this house is a · Imperial house (with Mithraeum) and warehouse 1:56 · Subterranean trinium Hall whose walls 1:59 · were blocked in and benches were added 2:01 · to convert this space into a cave likee 2:04 · space into a methra for the worship of 2:07 · the god mithis in the 2 Century ad he 2:11 · was popular with the military and you 2:13 · have this altar in the center for the 2:16 · worshippers who are reclining on benches 2:18 · with shelves for food to be distributed 2:20 · by slaves and you see the main Act of 2:23 · Miis killing a bull the blood is 2:26 · splattering this on one side of an alter 2:30 · which is dedicated by gas Arius 2:32 · claudianus and on the other side of the 2:34 · altar we have Cales with the torch up 2:37 · and copas with the torch down and 2:39 · finally even a snake so there are great 2:42 · symbols that are involved with the 2:44 · worship of this deity very very popular 2:47 · in the second and 3D centuries ad there 2:49 · are other spaces in the house that are 2:51 · also going to be decorated at this time 2:54 · and we have a series of rooms then where 2:56 · benches are also added this particular 2:59 · room is known as The Scholar the school 3:02 · for the worshippers of myther we don't 3:03 · really know what's going on here but we 3:05 · do know there's a big overhaul of this 3:08 · house in the 2 Century ad I can take you 3:11 · and show you things that you didn't even 3:13 · know existed I want to take you to 3:16 · places that you know and show you things 3:18 · you never even thought of so reach out 3:20 · to me with questions in the comments you 3:23 · can write to me directly if you want to 3:25 · do something private some excursions you 3:28 · let me know and of course I offer 3:31 · through the American Institute for Roman 3:32 · culture ancient Rome live courses you 3:35 · can join me in Rome Italy and throughout 3:39 · the Empire now we're going to leave the 3:41 · domis and we're going to pass over into 3:43 · the remains of the horum not entirely 3:46 · excavated but we can see a series of 3:49 · rooms which would have originally faced 3:51 · an open courtyard which has not been 3:53 · excavated so we're passing from the 3:55 · domus here we're passing through a 3:58 · narrow alleyway and now transitioning 4:01 · through a huge wall which has been 4:03 · partially removed to allow us access now 4:06 · into this horum space what was stored 4:09 · here we don't know but this was an 4:12 · enormous Enterprise some Scholars would 4:14 · associate it with the mint which we know 4:16 · was somewhere in the neighborhood but 4:18 · the thing is the mint was going on in 4:21 · use far beyond the use of this 4:24 · particular warehouse and we know that 4:26 · Natural Springs flowed we can see them 4:28 · right here that caused quite a bit of 4:32 · difficulty for the excavators but you 4:34 · can connect to the natural features of 4:36 · Rome and the water when you explore this 4:40 · amazing warehouse and we can admire the 4:43 · building techniques we can admire the 4:45 · Herring bone brick and of course we can 4:48 · see the planks where the concrete was 4:51 · set into them to create the vating so 4:54 · this is a warehouse with a long life and 4:58 · even the floor that you walk on is 5:00 · secondary there are lots of transitions 5:02 · so we make our way through this horum 5:06 · and we're going to make our way up on 5:07 · top to the next layer of San Clemente 5:11 · this is probably the area that's the 5:12 · most difficult to understand because 5:14 · this earlier Church which dates to the 5:17 · fifth century is actually taking over a · Late Antique house and early Christian church 5:21 · house in the 4th Century which was 5:24 · occupying the domis but also now 5:27 · covering over the remains of the horum 5:28 · that was filled in in and that is then 5:31 · the location of the first church of s 5:34 · Clemente and if we look around we can 5:37 · see some of the decoration from that 5:39 · original House converted into this early 5:41 · church right here but as we walk around 5:45 · the site of San Clemente in use from the 5:48 · fifth century all the way to its 5:50 · abandonment in the 11th we see various 5:53 · uses of Fresco decoration but we also 5:57 · see Reus sarcophagi from the Pagan 6:00 · period so it's quite extraordinary look 6:02 · at this Mary of the 8th Century she 6:05 · looks like a Byzantine princess so we've 6:07 · got early decorations and then we have 6:11 · with a grand Nave and its columns a 6:14 · difficult kind of understanding what's 6:16 · going on here because over time the 6:19 · spaces between the columns are going to 6:21 · be filled in and some of them will be 6:24 · decorated then this church is abandoned 6:27 · and then you have a whole series of 6:28 · peers that are in Ed by the excavators 6:30 · of the 19th century so this layer 6:33 · doesn't collapse it makes for a very 6:36 · difficult uh understanding of the entire 6:40 · space but what we do have here is a 6:42 · series of 11th century frescos that show 6:45 · Miracles associated with 6:48 · Clemens and who was Clemens he was the 6:53 · fourth pope of Rome exiled to the Crea 6:56 · he was killed by being thrown into the 6:57 · sea with an anchor and that is the 7:00 · symbol of his martyrdom and we have a 7:03 · number of frescos that show those 7:06 · Miracles Associated directly with 7:09 · Clemens and what do they date to they 7:12 · date to the 11th 7:14 · century it's these frescos that can't be 7:17 · reused in the church up above when this 7:19 · church is abandoned so this is the true 7:22 · treasure that we get and we see right 7:24 · here a miracle Associated there's the 7:27 · anchor It's associated with the miracle 7:30 · of Clement and we have the dedicator of 7:33 · the 11th century with his children and 7:35 · one of his children's name is Clemens 7:39 · here we have the returning of The 7:41 · Remains the relics of the body of 7:44 · Clemens brought by Slavic Saints 7:47 · Methodius and cillus into this very 7:50 · Church in which we're actually standing 7:53 · now this church is abandoned but with 7:55 · the excavations you have a modern altar 7:57 · so pilgrims can still come and explore 8:00 · and even have a 8:02 · mass and at the end of this Hall you 8:04 · even have the burial site of cillus one 8:09 · of the two Slavic Saints who brought the 8:11 · remains of Clemens back to Rome in 896 8:13 · and is buried right here so now we're 8:17 · looking finally at San Clemente number 8:19 · two the church that still stands on top · The 12C church that stands today 8:22 · of the original construction and the 8:25 · reason is that church was falling apart 8:28 · and that church is attributed also to 8:31 · possibly being destroyed by the Norman 8:33 · Sac of 8:34 · 1084 this is the new version and it's 8:38 · constructed over the truncated earlier 8:41 · church we have this wonderful Portico 8:43 · with spoliated columns and we have this 8:46 · facade of the 18th century walking 8:49 · inside we're looking at a 8:52 · magnificent medieval church and what we 8:55 · see here is beautiful apps of the 12th 9:00 · century and a cosmatesque floor again 9:03 · with spoliated pieces of ancient marble 9:06 · and poery what's brought up from the 9:08 · earlier church is the skola cantorum 9:11 · this parapet wall made of marble it 9:13 · dates to the sixth 9:15 · century and it's now located in the 9:18 · second version of San Clemente always 9:22 · keeping in mind that the earlier s 9:24 · Clemente church was actually larger 9:27 · taller than this very Church 9:30 · look at those frescos look at this 9:32 · gorgeous Mosaic dating to the 12th 9:35 · century and it's telling that story of 9:39 · Jesus whose blood drips down and then 9:41 · forms this wonderful acanthus plant in 9:45 · inspired by the acanthus plants of the 9:48 · Corinthian order of pagan Rome of course 9:50 · eventually you get this Baroque ceiling 9:53 · gilded we have a fresco cycle detailing 9:57 · the martyrdom of Cl lemons so you're 10:00 · getting many many layers in this 10:02 · medieval church but it truly is a 10:06 · stunning 10:07 · experience to witness the culmination of 10:09 · the decoration of the second Church of s 10:12 · Clemente keeping in mind What Lies 10:15 · Beneath that church of the fifth century 10:18 · and that in turn on top of a house in a 10:21 · warehouse going back to the end of the 1 10:23 · Century a what an extraordinary site you 10:27 · must visit thanks for watching watching 10:30 · Please 10:31 · Subscribe ask me questions tell me what 10:33 · you want to see next let's explore Rome 10:36 · and empire together
Thanks for the ping! I subscribe to both channels of Darius Arya, and thoroughly enjoy his walks and museum visits. The guy is a walking encyclopedia on everything Roman.
My pleasure.
Good one, similar to the Scavi Tour under St. Peter’s Basilica, my favorite! Building on top of pagan ruins was common of course.
The way it looks, they never will excavate the rest of the horum for fear the Church above it would fall into it.
Thanks again for another amazing find.
Bookmark
Wow!
.
I visited the Basement at the
Indianapolis Speedway Museum once!
Brought home a Brick from the
Original 1911 Race Track.
.
History is Fun!
Mark!
History is Fun!
Tell that to the passengers on the Titanic.
I laugh When De Caprio Sinks!
Fascinating tour...I highly recommend it. I admit I got kind of lost in all the layers as we ascended back up through the centuries.
And who knows what lies even further past the Mithras altar..
Darius Arya is great. Also Dr. Garrett Ryan over at “toldinstone” is really good as well.
CC
If anyone is going to Rome, I recommend the Scavi Tour under St Peters. You should reseve immediately when your dates are set. They limit the number that can go under there each day. Features, Roman burial styles and the supposed grave of St Peter.
http://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/ufficio-scavi.html
Heh, AI generated transcript acts like a horndog.
The History Guy is another one I like.
Thanks, good tip!
Probably so; apparently these three layers were really built well, lower layers tend to be rubble layers or ash.
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