Rome II - The Way To the Forum

In Rome, history surrounds you, and being an aficionado of Ancient Roman history, this was awesome.

Leaving the Trevi fountain, we walked to the Forum.

 

 

Lots of ongoing archaeological activity was happening at the forum:

Things keep being discovered every day, as the ancient city is mainly buried under the dust and debris of history.

Many statues were on display along the Forum's edges. 

Julius Caesar:

 Augustus, as of course, there had to be a statue of Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, who found Rome made of bricks and left it made of marble. 

Not all were Emperors that would be readily recognized by many:

I mean the Nerva that guy. 

Yes, that's a statue of the Emperor Nerva Caesar Augustus, who was emperor from September 96 AD to December 98 AD. He succeeded Domitian, who was the second son of Vespasian and was emperor after Vespasian's elder son Titus died.  Nerva then adopted Trajan to succeed him as emperor, which leads us to:

Trajan's Column!  After viewing pictures of it only in books it was amazing to see it in person.

The column commemorates Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars.

The entire column is caved with images from the campaign.

The column provides exquisite detail of the Roman Army in the first century AD.

Interestingly, the very top of the column is not original.

It used to have a statue of Trajan on top, but the statue was removed in the middle ages, and then  adorned by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 with a bronze statue of Saint Peter which has been there ever since.

It was a really amazing feeling to be able to see Trajan's column in person. Truly a highlight of the visit to Rome.

Then we strolled down the Forum to our next stop.