Mangiamo a Spirito D'Vino

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and my daughter and daughter-in-law were here to celebrate with us. As per family tradition, he took the day off and we spent the whole day together going around Rome with our two girls. And for dinner, a special dinner (again another family tradition) we decided to go (our third time) to Spirito Di Vino, a restaurant in Trastevere on 31 Via Genovesi. We first heard about this restaurant from an American colleague of my husband's who in turn heard it from an Italian American collegue working in the World Bank. His words were, " If I knew that this was my final day on earth, I would request to have a meal at Spirito Di Vino". We did eat there with McD, my husband's colleague and then again with family just last week. 

This restaurant is family owned. Romeo, the father is the historian cum maitre'd, the mother is the head and pastry chef and the son is the sommelier. Romeo welcomes you personally and explains that this building where the restaurant is located has been in constant use for 1,200 years. It was also formerly the site of a Jewish synagogue, the oldest Jewish synagogue in Italy. He invites you to visit his wine cellar, keeping in mind that every step you descend takes you back 75 years!

After this introduction, he brings you the menu and explains that his menu changes with the seasons as they only use fresh, range free items. He then goes through each and every item on the menu, explaining ingredients, cooking method and at times tracing the origins of the recipe or dish.

The first time we were at this restaurant, we had taken a rather heavy lunch and decided to pass on the antipasti, which we realized, after we ate there the second time, was a big mistake! As my brother put it succintly "antipasti and desserts to die for!" So as we did the second time we ate there, we decided to go, chinese style, ordering 3 antipastis, 2 primi piattis, 2 secundi piattis and 3 dolces to share among four of us. 

For the antipastis, we had caramelized onions with walnuts on baguette served with thin slices of wild boar sausages, home made cheese with a kind of jam on the side, and a vegetable cake baked in a tureen with eggs. We then shared 2 pasta dishes, the first was sphagetti with chesse fondue and bacon and the second one was sphagetti with a tapenade of tomatoes, olives and anchovies.

For the main dish we shared a chicken with pepper sauce and the signature dish of the house, pork shoulder stewed in fruits, vegetables and fish sauce which according to our host  was a recipe originally created by Julius Caesar's chef, Gaius Matius. And by the way, the fish sauce or garum as it was called then was made from crushed, innards or entrails of fish fermented in brine. Very similar to some varieties of fish sauce you find around South East Asia today. The antipastis, the pasta and the main dishes were fantastic, the girls were already impressed! But there was more to come! 

For dessert, we ordered ricotta in an almond brittle basket, capresse almond cake with a dark chocolate sauce and black cherries in an english cream sauce with almond crumble and a home made orange sauce. These were simply delicious!

The best of the night!

The nice thing about this restaurant is that the owner is very good at making everyone relax to the extent that you may even begin to  get the feeling that you are eating at a friend's house. He comes around once in a while checking up on you, at times offering wry, humorous comments. This guy is a perfect host! People sitting at nearby tables begin speaking to each other and most have come upon the recommendation of a friend or have read about this restaurant in different guidebooks, some listing this as one of 5 best restaurants in Rome. One of the guests at an adjacent table points to her guidebook and tells our host that he is famous...and he wryly comments, "after what we pay them....I should hope so!"

As you can very well see, we loved the food, the ambiance and the whole experience. So at this stage of our stay here in Rome, we have found a restaurant to which we will be returning regularly by ourselves and with our visitors and friends.

Orvieto

When visitors from home asked my husband and I to join them on a side trip to Orvieto, only an hour by train from Rome, we accepted the invitation with alacrity. We decided to take the morning train, which would get us to Orvieto a little before lunch and just in time to check into our B&B. While my husband, (the one who had to work) would take the afternoon train. We all woke up early and headed to the bus stop. We needed to take the Metro to Termini Station, where we would be taking the regional train to Orvieto. As we stood waiting for the bus with our suitcases, a kind man approaches us and tells us that there was a bus strike, and that all buses and trains were not running on this day. We stood there stunned for a moment and then returned to the apartment. Being intrepid travellers, thoughts of not proceeding to Orvieto lasted but a minute, after which we all scrambled to look for an alternative way to get there. We were lucky enough to find a tour van with 2 women going to Florence, who were willing to drop us off in Orvieto, if we shared the cost with them and if we left right then and there. The only hitch was my husband had a meeting until 2 that afternoon, but he kindly offered to stay behind. Being a “dutiful” dependent spouse, I offered to stay with him. But the rest of the group would not hear of this, clearing a two o’clock departure from Rome with the women going to Florence.

 After a little over an hour’s drive on the highway to Florence, Orvieto suddenly comes into view lying on top of almost vertical cliffs still surrounded in some parts by defensive walls. The cliffs, I found out later were part of a tufa plateau formed by the eruption of the Volsinii Volcanoes and the walls which were built right on them made use of the same material. It is quite an impressive sight!

There are three ways to get up to Orvieto, the first is via the funicolare, the cable car which is found right beside the train station, the next is by using stairs and escalators and the third is driving up.

Our driver kindly deposited us beside the station of the funicolare at the top and from there we dragged our suitcases to Valentina’s Bed and Breakfast. Located on Via Vivaria, a charming narrow cobblestoned street, we were given 3 very comfortable apartments with a well appointed common area, a veranda that let in a nice breeze and a coffee machine that churned out cups and cups of delicious Italian coffee! Valentina herself welcomed us and brought us to our accommodations, making sure that we had everything we needed. She was gracious and very helpful even making dinner reservations for us.

Orvieto is a charming town of picturesque piazzas, small quaint streets that lead you to some rather impressive sights. The most impressive of these is the Cathedral, which many consider one of Italy’s grandest. Located in the Piazza Duomo, it’s origins are attributed to a doubting priest, a white cloth and a spot of blood. A priest, whose name may have been Peter (no not Thomas) was said to have had doubts that a piece of bread could truly become the Body of Christ during the celebration of the Holy Mass. But as the story goes, one day as he was raising the host during the consecration a spot of blood from the host dripped onto the white altar cloth. Needless to say, he became a believer and brought the cloth to Pope Urban IV who was staying at Orvieto at the time. Unlike Peter the priest, Pope Urban was a true believer, declared a miracle and promised to build a cathedral in Orvieto to house this relic. And that as they say was that. The feast of Corpus Christi was declared and is the most celebrated feast in Orvieto to this day. As for Urban’s promise, the building of this magnificent cathedral was begun.

The Cathedral is impressive, not only because of the sheer size of it but also because of the splendour of it’s facade which contrasts with the impressive yet simplicity of its sides. Looking at the facade, one can understand why it is called by some “The Golden Lily of Cathedrals”, adorned as it is with bas relief panels, mosaics, sculptures, towering Gothic spires and the rose window right at the center.

On the other hand, the sides of the cathedral are built with alternating rows of basalt and travertine blocks which give it a stripped appearance, simple and elegant.

The interior is built with the same material and design in the Gothic style with it’s pointed arches soaring upward. The main altar is dominated by a beautiful stained glass window directly behind it standing between panels of frescoes along both sides. There are two side chapels, the San Brizio Chapel is completely covered with frescoes while the Chapel of the Blessed Corporal houses the reliquary made of silver and enamel which is suppose to house the remnants of the miraculous host.

The Piazza Duomo on which the Cathedral stands is a pretty little square with small cafes and stores and the Torre de Maurizio with a bronzed automation (a turbaned man) striking a bell to mark the time, every fifteen minutes.

Around and beyond the Duomo is a warren of picturesque, narrow streets, of apartments and shops selling crafts, food stuff and Orvieto’s special white wine. There is so much to see of Orvieto that before we knew it we had to go back to our room to change for dinner.

We had an excellent dinner at the Osteria Numero Uno (which I will tell you about at another time) and then strolled down the walkway along the cliffs before calling it a night.

The next morning we woke up early to go to the Saturday market in the piazza. This market sells fresh produce like vegetables, fruits, cheese, hams etc. and also dry goods like shirts, dresses, nightgowns, handbags and many, many more. There was even a man selling different kinds of honey made during the different seasons of the year. 

We bought a lot of fruits, prosciutto and bread for breakfast and brought it back to the common area in our B&B. Everyone ate heartily, each drinking several cups of coffee of one’s preference (espresso, cappuccino, macchiato .... you get the idea). After this we all agreed to meet back at the B&B by 11:30 to check out and take the bus from the Piazza Duomo to the foniculare.

Staying overnight in Orvieto (arriving only in the afternoon) is really not enough, because the town itself is so interesting there was no time to visit the museums. What I really wanted to see was the underground city but unfortunately the tours only started at 11 am which was too late for me that Saturday morning and ended at 3 pm which was too early for me having arrived at 3:30 the afternoon before. Is Orvieto worth another visit? I think so! 

Iconic Structures of Rome: The Pantheon

I have visited the Pantheon three times since I arrived in Rome and I know I will be visiting it again and again before I leave. Some consider the Pantheon the preeminent architectural feat of ancient Rome, and I can understand why! I approached the Pantheon from the via di Minerva, seeing GianLorenzo Bernini's statue of a playful baby elephant affectionately known as "little Chick", seeing the Pantheon from it's side and then walked around to the front.

It was completed sometime in 125 AD under the Emperor Hadrian and was built atop an older structure (27BC) by Marcus Agrippa, Augustus Caesar’s son-in-law and military commander. Hadrian honoured Agrippa by placing this inscription on the frieze of the portico – M*AGRIPPA*L*F*COS*TERTIUM*FECIT.

The Pantheon was a temple honouring the 12 most important classical gods of Rome: Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Bacchus, Apollo, Diana, Mercury, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Vulcan and Ceres. In 609 AD, the Pantheon was consecrated as a catholic church, Sta. Maria ai Martiri, which may have helped preserve it. That did not prevent Pope Urban VIII, a thousand years later, from stripping the bronze roof from the ceiling of the portico and melting it down for the baldachino at St. Peter’s and the cannons of the Castel Sant’Angelo.

The Pantheon was built on the Campus Martius or the ancient Field of Mars. Today the Pantheon is on the southern edge of the Piazza della Rotonda, considered by some to be one of Rome’s more picturesque squares with the pre-requisite fountain in the middle and yet another obelisk. The Piazza is always crowded, with people sitting in the cafes, hawkers pushing their wares, street musicians performing cacophonously, faux centurions offering themselves to be photographed, boxed in by buildings, and littered with debris, giving it an air of lively decrepitude, but somehow not detracting from the magnificence of the Pantheon.

Walking into and seeing the Pantheon that first time that first week in Rome literally blew my mind! The simplicity of the structure, the wide open circular space, the dome with the oculus through which the sun’s light came through was just breath-taking, an uplifting, maybe even religious experience! The hordes of people did not detract from the experience but did fuel a resolve to come at some other time, numerous times if need be to experience this place under more peaceful circumstances.

Sitting down underneath the oculus, I remember the information: the height and diameter of the dome are an identical 43 meters, creating a perfect sphere, apparently a symbol of spiritual perfection. The dome is also thinner on the top and has an occulus to enable the base to support it's weight. The occulus is 9 meters in diameter allowing the sunlight in, through which you also see the sky. The occulus and the doors are the only sources of natural light and the  light through the occulus moves in a reverse sundial effect. Looking up at the occulus can be mesmerizing, be careful though lest you leave the Pantheon with a stiff neck!




The interior design is dominated by squares and circles. The floor has a checkerboard pattern, while the ceiling is adorned with concentric circles of squares. Directly underneath the dome are niches which at one time may have contained the statues of gods.

Then one sees the columns, the high altar and the apses. In addition there are three niches and three chapels. King Victor Emmanuel II is buried in the second chapel and Raphael, the painter is buried in the third niche near the third chapel.

Reading accounts of travellers to Rome modern and from long ago, it becomes apparent that the sight of the Pantheon has been and will continue to be an awe-inspiring sight! And as if to underline it's uniqueness, even in this city of mind-blowing sights, it can be seen easily in any panoramic view of the city, resembling an upside down chinese bowl, unique in this city of domes.

PIZZA!

I’m sure most of you have eaten an oven baked, flat, disk shaped bread topped with tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings sometime in the past month? If you’ve eaten a pizza, then yes you have! Here in Rome there may be as many pizzerias as there are churches...or maybe even more! At any time of day you can enter one of these pizzerias and get a pizza to go. These are what is known locally as the pizza al taglio, rectangular shaped pizzas, with a wide variety of toppings and sold by weight. When you enter one of these places, you see a counter with different types of pizzas. You point at what you want; the person behind the counter will get his sharp pizza cutter, place it at a certain point on the pizza and will look at you. If you shake your head, he’ll move it further down, when you nod your head, he will proceed to cut that portion for you. He weighs this on his weighing scale right there on the counter and then cuts it in half and puts it together with the filled side facing each other (sandwich style) and wraps it up. Eating pizza this way as one walks around or sits at a curb side is a common sight. This brings the pizza back to its origins as a “street food”.

Scoglio di Frisio, a restaurant on Via Merulana which first opened its doors in 1928 and still owned and ran by the same family offers pizza making courses. Family members on holiday in Rome and I decided that learning to make pizza here in the Land of The Pizza would be a fun family thing to do, so we attended the restaurant’s one day course. The present owner of the restaurant himself welcomed us and gave us a mini lecture on the origins and the principles of making pizza. As he spoke, it became obvious to us that here was a man who was not only passionate about what he did but also loved and enjoyed it!

As our host explained it there are three major ingredients in pizza, the first is the tomato. Flat breads, like naan, pita, focaccia and many others have been part of traditional diets all over the world. In Italy the focaccia became the pizza when tomatoes were added as a topping. Tomatoes came from the Americas in the 16^th century. The pomodoro or “golden bowl” was for the better part of 200 years, considered a decorative plant. Sometime in the 1830s, a poor woman in Naples decided to add the pomodoro to her bread and created the pizza. These “pizzas” were sold from open air stands and were considered “poor man’s food”.

The second major ingredient is olive oil. This “golden liquid” was used from prehistoric times in and around the Mediterranean basin as seen from the discovery of amphorae, the earliest of which was dated 3,500BC, used to contain this has been found.  Olive oil came to southern Italy around the 8^th century BC. Before olive oil, animal fat was the oil used for cooking, but with the advent of olive oil, vegetable fat came into favour and the Italians acquired the Mediterranean “mentality” in terms of their food preparation.

The third very important ingredient in any pizza is salt. Salt was a valued item as it was essential in preserving food and thus eliminating dependence on seasonal availability. Some have called salt the foundation of civilization. It was very difficult to obtain and was therefore a very valued trade item. In Italy, legend has the Via Salaria an ancient road being built by men who were paid in salt (thus the origins of the word salary) for their work. Historical accounts however, say that this road was so called because the Sabines, the original “salt merchants” used this route to fetch salt from the marches around the Tiber. No matter which account you prefer, Via Salaria was apparently already in existence in the Bronze Age.

The modern pizza made its appearance as the Pizza Napoletana, which was simply the pizza pie with tomato to which cheese was added in 1889. According to our host, King Ferdinand used to visit the poor neighbourhoods in Naples in disguise just to eat this.

When Queen Margherita of Savoy visited Naples in 1889, a Neapolitan chef, Raffaele Esposito created a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil to represent the colors of the Italian flag, in her honor. This pizza came to be known as Pizza Margherita.

According to our host, there are only two true Napoletana pizzas, they are the Marinara which contains tomato, oregano, garlic and extra virgin olive oil (no sea food) and the Margherita which contains tomato, mozzarella and basil. To be considered true Napoletana Pizzas, these rules of the True Napoletana Pizza Association must be followed:

1.      Must be baked in wood fired domed oven at 485 degreesC for no more than 60-90 seconds

2.      Base must be hand kneaded and must not be rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means

3.      Must not exceed 35 cm in diameter or more than 1/3 of a cm thick at the center

After all these interesting facts, it was down to business for us. So we donned our aprons and chef’s hats and proceeded to the workstation of the pizzaiolo (the pizza chef). The first thing he explained to us was that the flour he used was flour for pizza which he said could be wheat flour which is at least 3 months old so that it has no residual moisture left. He then measured flour, water, oil and salt and proceeded to incorporate them.

Incorporating the olive oil, yeast, water and flour is an art in itself. First make a very large well in the center of the mound of flour, basically pushing all the flour to the sides forming a circular wall of flour around where you add the liquid and slowly with your fingers bring in the flour gradually until you can gather it into a ball, then push the remaining flour to the sides and start the kneading process. This is the physical part of pizza making where you fold the dough in and then push out with the palm of your hands until the dough is pliable and no longer sticks to your fingers. When we asked him how long we had to do this, he says “no time, you need to feel when it’s right!”

When the dough “feels right” you then cover with a damp cloth and make it rise. Asked as to how long we should make it rise, he again replied “no time, you need to feel”. Basically it is done when you push a finger into the dough and it makes an indentation and doesn’t spring back.

After this, you need to transform the ball of dough into a flat circular shaped pie and again this is done with your hands. We all had a hand at this, and even if ours didn’t come out as circular as his did, they still looked pretty, to us at least.

Then tomato sauce is spread on top. The tomato sauce is simply canned tomatoes, remove the seeds, squash all of them and add some olive oil and some salt. Then the toppings are added, whatever you want and then last, the mozzarella cheese. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on the top and put it into the wood fired oven which has a temperature of 485 degrees centigrade for no more than 60 to 90 seconds. For our home ovens we would need to first put the tomato sauce on the pie, put that in the oven (at its highest setting) for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, add the toppings and the cheese and olive oil and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

The demo pizza made by our pizzaiolo was a Napoletana pizza, with a soft pliable thin crust. He told us that in Rome they preferred a thin crusty crust, using only 80 grams of dough as compared to 250 grams.

So, where our pizza’s true Napoletana pizzas? They were hand kneaded and hand rolled, they were baked for no more than 90 seconds in the restaurant pizza oven and were more or less round, so conforming to the basic requirements. However, free to add whatever toppings we wanted...we strayed from the 2 true Napoletana pizzas, adding artichokes, prosciutto, mushrooms...you get the idea. Then the final test which we were told was the most important, “rely not on the eyes but on the nose”. Smelling our pizzas after they came out of the oven.... hmmm.....yes.... they passed the test for sure!

Photographs....Who's Who

Because of the nature of my husband's work, we have had to make a couple of major moves which meant transfering our entire household from one country to another. Moving meant packing, and any of you who have had to move knows how tedious that can be. In my case, there was one thing that would invariably delay the packing. Coming across photographs, boxes and boxes of photographs, would result in a whole afternoon of packing set aside! I like taking pictures, I like looking at pictures even more. Every time, I came across those boxes, I could not resist looking through them. The boxes have grown exponentially, so the time it takes to “look through” them has also taken much longer. I don’t go through these photographs by myself; it’s become a shared “family experience”. Seeing these photographs makes us relive portions of our lives and seeing pictures of people we know or used to know reacquaints us with them.

The ancient Romans were not so very different, they also “took” photographs. The first attempts at “photographing” were wax masks taken of deceased persons. The ancient Romans kept these masks, usually of their ancestors in special niches in the walls of their homes. After this, materials like terracotta, bronze and then finally marble were used to produce these portraits or busts.

I have been taking pictures of a lot of these busts and have enjoyed putting a face to the name, names familiar to us through our history lessons. For this blog post I am going to do a who’s who, a gallery of the portraits of the more important people from the Roman Republic until the Age of the Antonines. A bit of history is unavoidable, so I hope you bear with me.

No other persons to start with but Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Legend has it that they were children of the god Mars and Rhea Silva, whose uncle ousted Rhea’s father from the throne forcing Rhea to set her twins adrift on the Tiber. They were rescued by a she wolf that suckled them until found by a farmer who raised them. Romulus founded Rome on the Palatine Hill based on an augury contest he won over Remus who wanted to build Rome on the Aventine Hill. The only photograph we have of the brothers is as infants.... ;)

Romulus ushered in the era of the Kings, seven of them in all. The republic followed the ouster of the last king. There was a period of expansion followed by a series of Punic wars until Hannibal was defeated by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, so called, not because he was from Africa (bust was carved on black marble), but because he defeated Hannibal in Africa.

After this, the Roman Republic would face a crisis, culminating in the civil war between Marius, a “new man”, and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, an aristocrat. Sulla prevailed and became dictator. Can you tell who’s who?

After Sulla’s death, the First Triumvirate came into being, composed of Crassus, Pompey and Julius Caesar. Crassus was known as the richest man in Rome and as the man who put down the revolt of slaves led by Spartacus. He backed Caesar but was killed in Syria.

Pompey or Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus led successful military campaigns and was granted the cognomen, “the great” by Sulla. He married Julia, the daughter of Julius Caesar to seal the alliance between them. But when Crassus died, he sided with the senators against Julius Caesar and a civil war ensued. Caesar defeated him at the battle of Pharsalus. Pompey sought refuge in Egypt where he was instead assassinated.

Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, crossed the Rubicon in defiance of the Roman Senate and became dictator for life. But as we all know, he was assassinated by a group of conspirators led by Brutus and Crassus on the Ides of March. But before this he and Cleopatra had a son, Caesarion. The Egyptians also had their own way of "photographing".

Julius Caesar adopted Octavian, his nephew and made him his heir. Octavian defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, and so began the Imperial Age. He was given the name Augustus and reined for over 40 years. He was married to Livia, but they had no children.

The death of Augustus ushered in the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which was marked by a series of palace conspiracies, intrigues, poisonings and assassinations. Tiberius, the son of Livia with her first husband became emperor after the death of Augustus. His reign started well enough but towards the end, he spent more time in his palace in Capri reputedly indulging the more prurient aspects of his sexual appetites.

Caligula, Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was a nephew of Tiberius. As a child Caligula was affectionately called “Little Boots” by the troops of his father, Germanicus. Designated Tiberius’ heir, he stayed with Tiberius in Capri from a young age. His reign was remembered for its extravagance and Caligula for his cruelty and sexual perversities. He was assassinated by his own praetorian guards who proclaimed his uncle, Claudius, emperor.

Claudius was the brother of Germanicus and was afflicted with a limp and slight deafness and as such he was never expected to succeed to the throne. This defect may have also kept him safe from the intrigues that were rife in the family of Augustus. He adopted Nero, the son of Agrippina the younger sister of Caligula.

Nero succeeded Claudius. He built the Domus Aurea on the site of the Palatine that had been destroyed by the Great Fire. There are many stories relating to Nero the more notorious was he had had his mother killed and that he had a hand in starting the Great Fire, because he wanted to rebuild Rome in his image. And legend has him playing the fiddle as Rome burnt.

After Nero’s death there was a period of instability where four emperors followed one after the other until Vespasian, with the support of his legions in Judea became emperor, beginning the Flavian Dynasty. He started the construction of the Coliseum.

Titus, Vespasian’s son succeeded him and completed the building of the Coliseum. He was an able administrator but he had a short reign, dying suddenly after only two years.

Domitian, Titus’ brother succeeded him. Domitian continued the buildings started by his brother and father in the Field of Mars. However, he was despotic and hated by the senators who assassinated him. (These Flavians sure looked alike!)

The senators named Nerva, another senator to replace Domitian. Nerva began the principle of adoptive succession to the post of emperor, where the successor was chosen from outside one’s family and based on political and military talents. He was the first of the five "good emperors".





Nerva appointed Trajan, a Spaniard to be his successor. Trajan was given the title of optimus princeps, most excellent prince and his reign came to be known in history as a golden age. Trajan’s military victory over the Dacians is immortalized in Trajan’s column which is still visible today. He was married to Plotina.

Hadrian, another Spaniard succeeded Trajan. He did not seek to expand the empire, satisfied to consolidate the empire’s existing territories. He has left us, among other monuments, his mausoleum, the Castel Sant’Angelo, to marvel at today.

Antoninus Pius succeeded Hadrian, who adopted Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus and designated both to succeed him. Like Hadrian he pursued a policy of peace.

Marcus Aurelius succeeded Antoninus and shared power with his brother Lucius Verus, until the latter's death. At this time, the empire was rocked by revolts from some of the vassal states and Marcus Aurelius proved this military prowess by putting down these revolts. Today, he is remembered as one of the more important Stoic philosophers (Meditations of Marcus Aurelius). He was the last of the five "good emperors". He abandoned the principle of adoptive succession and returned to dynastic succession.

Commodus (the emperor in the movie Gladiator, who did fight gladiators in the arena, but always ensured, undoubtedly by foul means, that  he would be victorious), Marcus Aurelius son succeeded him. He restored the autocratic system of government and distinguished himself for his ambition and cruelty. He assumed the title “Roman Hercules”

These portraits, and many more like them, give history a face. Seeing them “in the flesh” so to speak brings home the fact that these bigger than life people really lived. Legends may have grown around them but in the end they were men and women, products of their time, and just like us coping with life’s challenges and rewards in their own inimitable ways.

And by the way, bringing my boxes of photographs around is nothing compared to what the Romans had to do to bring their photographs around! As for me, no more boxes .... technology to the rescue....this is how I bring my photographs around these days.