Our good friend Terence (Roman playwright) tells us to have, "Moderation in all things." My syllabi forced me to stray from this valuable rule on Friday, leaving me at the Vatican Museums for six hours. Both Archaeology of Rome and Archaeology of Egypt planned a trip for the same day. Don't misunderstand me, everything that I saw was incredible, the sheer antiquity of it all was enough to humble a skeptical visitor, it was just a long, long day.
It took me over an hour of following a priest on the bus route to get to the general area of the Vatican. It's not that it is difficult to get to, just a bit of a process when you add rush hour traffic and a 9:00 am arrival time. When we finally approached the walls, I think my collar-wearing friend was getting nervous that the somewhat frantic looking girl behind him was going to ask for a baptism or other such procedure right there on the bus. While it turned out that no blessing was needed, he did finally understand that I was trying to get to the museums and pointed me in the right direction, not that the massive line that wrapped around the building hadn't already given it away. There had to have been at least 200 people in line already.
Thankfully, we only needed to see the Necropoli (tombs, "city of the dead") underneath the museum, an exhibit for which there is no line, mostly because a lot of people have no idea they are there.
After being led over, under, through, and around the Museum campus, we were led to a metal door next to a parking garage. As fate would have it, the Necropoli that we would see were only found because of the construction of this garage.
We began with the Necropolis of the Autoparco, an area that was excavated in the late fifties with tombs that date back to the time of Augustus and stop right before the time of Constantine. Although it is a Pagan cemetery, it is kept at the Vatican for its importance as a step in the process of developing Rome's Christian identity.
The Necropolis was made of monument-like structures, as the Romans didn't have a solid idea of the afterlife. They believed that you become a shadow in the underworld and join the family Manes (deceased that greet the future dead). Because they believed that the only way to live on after death is in the memory of the people still on earth, a great deal of money was devoted to a good funeral; many even reflected money that a family didn't have. People spent their life savings in order to be remembered. The brick structures were originally open, a tradition that allowed family members to visit their dead relatives and bring them wine, food, and other goods as part of any number of yearly festivals. There were also columbaria or "dove holes" in which pots of ashes were placed, and mosaic floors depicting various gods and heroes.
Romans who could not afford luxurious monuments paid an agency yearly to be guaranteed a good place for later on. We even saw community tombs in which several, poorer people were placed together, and amphorae that were used for ashes. Those who could not afford to be cremated were put in baskets and, thus, lost to us as they have since decomposed.
The walls of the exhibit were lined with tomb markers, many of which had large holes at the bottom through which they would put a tree trunk or other such long structure to hold the tomb in place. This particular area had been on a slope and showed evidence of mudslides. Those Romans didn't miss a beat; their headstones were secure and ready for the ages.
We then moved on to the Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis (or Santa Rosa), a much more recent site. Excavations began in 2003 and the exhibit opened three years later. Just west of Via Triumphalis, Santa Rosa is split into two phases. Phase 1 of the area dates back to Augustus and shows evidence of incineration, lower social classes, and damage caused by mudslides of the mid 2nd century AD. The second phase dates to the 3rd century and shows inhumation and wealthier tombs. Thanks to the mudslides, it is a "Pompeii situation" in which skeletons were better preserved.
We could see amphorae and clay tubes or pipes sticking out of the ground. These were openings that let people give the deceased food and wine. It was even customary to bring a party to the cemetery so that the deceased were included. The pipes were also used as tear deposits. Relatives would collect their tears in vials and pour them into the pipes.
We were fortunate enough to run into Giandomenico Spinola, the archaeologist who ran the excavation. He mentioned in passing that the sarcophagi that were included in the display had been the ticket to completing the excavation. Although truly pagan, their symbols were interpreted as showing signs of early Christianity so that the Vatican would devote more money to the dig. Sneaky, but wise, as it turned out that among those buried in the graveyard were employees of Nero and a designer of Pompey's theater. One of the biggest achievements of the site was its aide in the development of the middle class. Until this time, most of the bodies found were either clearly affluent, or poor. All of these discoveries would not have been made, had there not been a small white lie involved.
Thanks to the intrigue of whatever the guard was reading, we were allowed to stay for almost an hour, a record, as apparently tours are usually kicked out when the guard tires of babysitting. This concluded part one of my day.
After taking a breather in St.Peter's square, I met with my Archaeology of Egypt class to begin part two of my tour.
Despite the Vatican's wealth, it still costs between 8-12 euro to enter the museums. Multiply that by the hundreds of people I mentioned that were standing in line (which we somewhat cut for the sake of time. Shame on us.), and there is a good deal of cash flowing through the museums. Funny then, that they were not able to pay someone to properly date the Egyptian exhibit. Yes, that is correct, the dates are wrong, and the millions of people that tour the museum each year are misinformed. Only now are they in the process of revisiting the vast exhibit to try to straighten out the debacle. Perhaps a few less waves and a little more attention to detail would do the pope some good.
We began with Roman copies of the lions at Karnak and Luxor; the originals of which were five times bigger than their Vatican comrades. The hieroglyphs carved into them are sloppy replicas of the original inscriptions. Lions were thought to be protectors of a Necropolis and were often found at the entrances. In keeping with this theme of protection, the headdresses of Pharaohs were imitations of the lion. We noticed however, that one of the lions was missing its noses. This was a method of ruining the image of the pharaoh or statue.
We then moved on to the collection of funerary styli, big plaques of stone (limestone or marble) that were used to commemorate the accomplishments of the pharaoh. On them we find the military successes, symbols of soul protection, monument erections, and praise to the pharaoh’s favored god. They also allow us to examine the development of the images of the various gods throughout the transitions from the Old, to Middle, to New Kingdoms.
Also on display are several mummies. Thanks to dehydration, their skin is stuck to their bones and has preserved their shape; we can still see nails, hair, and teeth. As the ritual of mummification is too long to fully describe here, essentially it consisted of the reading of the Book of the Dead while the organs were removed, examined, and placed in canopic jars. The body was wrapped in linen, nets were placed over the body with small beetles to protect the soul, and the body was then placed in a series of three or four boxes and finally a Sarcophagus, in which several images of protector gods and symbols were painted.
We then turned our attention to sacred animals such as the baboon (associated with Thoth, god of scribes who records where your soul goes after death), lion (protector of the necropolis), cobra (protector of the pharaoh), bull (associated with Apris and Hathor), and cat (sacred cats of Bastet), as well as various gods and goddesses. I apologize for the lack of detail in this section. This is the point at which I was close to a meltdown. Did I mention that there is no air conditioning, it was 80 + degrees outside, and we were attempting to squeeze 35 people into the space of a sidewalk square?
And so, overloaded with antiquities, and still in awe of the treasure trove that is the Vatican Museum, I headed back to campus for Caesar, Cicero, and the Collapse of the Roman Empire, and Mythology.
Museum tips to follow.
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