As it turns out, my hotel was actually supposed to be 10min away from the Colosseum. I woke up extra early on Sunday, to be absolutely sure I wouldn’t miss my morning tour. My Eyewitness guide was not needed at all. It’s an EXCELLENT book that gives good historical background AND serves as a great guidebook. I also read “Rome from the ground up” by James McGregor. To make sure I wasn’t going to be a complete idiot about all the different Roman emperors, and could at least tell the difference between Marcus Aggripa and Marcus Aurelius, I re-watched Gladiator (haha, I know), that Peter o’Toole film about Augustus, and the BBC documentary on the epic bromance between gladiators Verus and Priscus (I kid, the film is called “Colosseum, a gladiator’s story). Long before I even booked my tickets, I was already much excited by my trip to the ancient Roman ruins. To me, a Chinese descendant of another proud ancient civilization, the glory and fall of Rome has been a fascinating and tragic story, and one to which I have always been able to relate. Weakened by corruption and fear, the city was sacked by the “Barbarians” numerous times –its marbles and treasures looted, its monuments destroyed, its mausoleums violated, and its people humiliated. Once proud and almighty, the city crumbled into a ruinous chaos after power – the foundation upon which the glory of the city was built – was pulled from under her feet by the emperor Constantine. As it happens, Rome was not at all unconquerable.
These were the words on the coins in the ancient Imperial Rome. That quote in the title is, of course, quite ironic.
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