Bryce & Damon in Europe
by Pertinax Carrus
Chapter 20: Rome, Part III
The Gay Village
After completing their dinner, Bryce and Damon walked back to the hotel to pick up the car. Then Bryce drove out to an area in the same general part of town as St. Paul’s outside the Walls, along the Via Christofero Colombo, in an area called the Gardens of Cascate. There they found what is called the Gay Village, an event put on from June to September each year with restaurants, bars, dance floors, DJs, and a variety of shows in something like a carnival atmosphere. As the guys had eaten, they were there for the dancing and the general atmosphere. There were hundreds of people all over the place, which Bryce later found out covers 6,000 square meters.
They enjoyed dancing in several locations, with several different styles of music. It was always a pleasure to dance with each other without feeling like the odd couple. Even in some places which were ‘gay friendly’ they still got stares, but here it could be assumed that almost everyone there was gay or lesbian, or at least truly gay friendly. Consequently, Bryce and Damon danced for a couple of hours before feeling the desire to sit for a while.
There were plenty of outdoor venues, so they grabbed a table for two and ordered red wine. After looking over the menu, they broke down and indulged in a pizza as well. It wasn’t as bad as eating at a McDonald’s, but Bryce still felt he was betraying the European ambiance by having pizza, but, what the heck, it was only a minor lapse, and plenty of native Italians seemed to be doing the same.
As they sat, a couple passed by who were truly outrageous, acting out in a very campy manner. One partner had bright pink hair, no shirt, several tattoos, what looked like farmer’s overalls, and bright pink shoes. He talked loudly and in a falsetto voice, and giggled a great deal. He was speaking Italian, so the guys could not understand most of what he said. His partner was quieter, but equally ostentatious in appearance. He wore a wig – at least, they assumed it was a wig – which looked like he was trying to emulate Madame de Pompadour. He was heavily made up, but something about the way he moved led Bryce to think he was considerably older than the first man. Despite the July heat, he wore a jacket which was a bright green color and was covered with spangles. His trousers were black and shiny, while he wore white shoes with about a four inch heel. As they passed, Bryce wrinkled his nose at the display.
“I don’t know why some people feel the need to attract attention all the time. Those guys look like circus clowns. It must be something psychological,” he groused.
“Now, now,” Damon admonished him. “Remember what you were saying earlier about what’s essential and what’s debatable and all covered by charity. I think that applies here. I don’t think I would ever feel comfortable acting out like that, or even being with someone like that. In fact, I know I wouldn’t. But if it’s something they need, then that’s okay by me.”
Bryce opened his mouth to reply, but stopped before saying anything. He just froze for a couple of minutes. Then he laughed. “You’re absolutely right. And the parallel is pretty exact. I was being a narrow-minded grump. Thanks for setting me straight.”
“Hey, you’re my boyfriend, and I don’t want a straight boyfriend,” Damon responded.
Bryce reacted by hailing the waiter and ordering another carafe of wine.
They stayed on at the Gay Village until midnight, then returned to their hotel.
The Catacombs of St. Calixtus and St. Sebastian
On Monday, after Bryce indulged himself with an hour’s workout in the hotel fitness center, the guys talked about what to take in that day. They had agreed to have dinner with Father Long that evening, but they had the rest of the day to explore.
“Let’s take in another of the seven pilgrim churches before you get sated with churches,” Bryce suggested over breakfast. “This is another one for which we will use the car, as, like St. Paul’s it’s fuori le mura - outside the third century Aurelian Walls.”
“What’s special about this one?” Damon asked.
“Well, St. Sebastian was an early Roman martyr. He was in the service of the Emperor Diocletian, and was martyred by being tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows,” Bryce said.
“I remember seeing a painting of him in Florence by a guy with the interesting name Il Sodoma,” Damon noted.
“Yeah. Interesting painting, interesting painter,” Bryce replied.
“Anything else special about this church?’ Damon asked.
“There are some catacombs associated with it,” Bryce said.
“Catacombs? You mean like tunnels under the ground?” Damon queried.
“Yeah. What else does catacomb mean?” Bryce asked.
“It’s just that I never really thought catacombs were real. I thought they were just the stuff for Hallowe’en stories,” Damon admitted.
“Oh, no. Catacombs were real. Christians not only buried their dead in them in troubled times to prevent the graves being desecrated, but they met there for Masses and ceremonial meals. Tell you what, we’ll do the whole Via Appia bit, including some ancient Roman ruins as well, and get a good dose of catacombs,” Bryce decided. “Oh, and it wasn’t just Christians. There are Jewish catacombs in Rome as well.”
And so it was, they exited the core city through the Porta San Sebastiano, a gate in the Aurelian Walls, and found themselves on the Via Appia Antiqua, a very well preserved section of the ancient highway stretching from Rome to Capua. About 800 meters outside the Gate of St. Sebastian is the Church of Quo Vadis Domine, on the site of the reputed appearance of Christ to St. Peter, but the guys did not stop there. “We’ll handle this when we stop at St. Sebastian,” Bryce explained. Long before they got to the first major site, the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, San Callisto in Italian, they saw row after row of monuments along the road. Bryce explained that in ancient Rome it was illegal to bury someone inside the city, so the roads leading out were lined with these funerary monuments in all directions. The Appian Way was one of the oldest Roman roads, laid out under the direction of Appius Claudius beginning in 312 B.C. It was, like all the major Roman roads, intended for military purposes, to get the troops from one place to another as quickly as possible. Hence, Roman roads tend to follow the most direct route, spanning rivers and ravines and cutting through hills and swamps. Of course, once the road was there, it was used by merchants and other travelers as well. Roman highways required three inches more base support than American Interstate Highways, and, with reasonable upkeep, this one has been in regular operation for over 2,300 years. Tell that to the highway department at home.
Arriving at the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, they parked and entered. Picking up an informative brochure, Damon found that this particular catacomb had once been a favored burial place for early popes. From the second to the fourth century, sixteen popes and fifty other martyrs were interred here. Looking over Damon’s shoulder, Bryce pointed out the name of Pope Cornelius.
“When the priest uses what is called the Roman canon, which is the longest version of the central parts of the Mass, he recites a list of Roman saints after listing all the apostles. If I remember them all, it goes ‘Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence,’ and some others. The only one I see in this brochure is Cornelius, but we’ll visit the Church of St. Lawrence outside the Walls before long. Cyprian was Bishop of Carthage in North Africa, so someone you might be interested in. I think he lived about the middle of the third century, and I think Cornelius was about the same time.”
“Yep,” Damon said. “It says here he was pope from 251 to 253 A.D., and was opposed by some dude called Novatian.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember now. There was a persecution a year or two before Cornelius was chosen, under Emperor Decius, who ordered that all Roman citizens perform some ritual which involved sacrifice to the gods of Rome. Some Christians lapsed and performed the ritual to save their lives, while others refused and were martyred, including the Pope Fabian listed here,” Bryce said, pointing to the list in the brochure. “There arose a disagreement about how to treat those who had given in and offered pagan sacrifice. Novatian said this apostasy essentially wiped out their previous Christian experience, so anyone who wanted to come back had to start over and be baptized again. There was a similar problem in North Africa, where a guy called Donatus agreed with Novatian, though I think he was later. Anyway Cornelius in Rome, and Cyprian in Carthage, taught that baptism was a one-time experience which could not be repeated, so those who had apostasized could be welcomed back in the same way as other public sinners, with a profession of faith and repentance. This was an important step in the Church’s understanding of the sacraments.”
“I guess that’s why Cyprian is mentioned right after Cornelius in that prayer you cited a minute ago,” Damon opined.
“Probably,” Bryce agreed. “I seem to recall that he was a strong supporter of the Roman primacy as well.”
“Roman primacy?’ Damon queried.
“The leading role of the bishops of Rome, or popes, in the Church,” Bryce expanded on his earlier usage.
“One more question,” Damon asked. “What’s this apostasy you mentioned. From the context, I gather it means renouncing Christianity.”
“Correct. If I remember correctly, the early Church considered only four sins as truly mortal, that is, spiritually killing the soul. They are murder, adultery, abortion, and apostasy. But I can’t remember where I read or heard that,” Bryce admitted.
“Abortion?” Damon asked. “I thought all the controversy over abortion was a recent thing.”
“It is, in the sense that until relatively recently abortion was considered sinful and was a crime just about everywhere in the Western world. There was no controversy about that. If you had an abortion, you did it in secret, and did not tell anyone. I remember being shocked one day in the cafeteria at school when I heard some girl casually begin a sentence with ‘when I had my second abortion.’ I don’t know what she said next, as I was too shocked to pay attention. That’s like saying ‘when I knocked over my second convenience mart’ or ‘when I rubbed out my second obnoxious neighbor,’” Bryce informed his partner.
“Hmmm. Something more for me to think about,” Damon commented.
Accompanied by a Franciscan friar as guide, Bryce and Damon visited the Crypt of the Popes, but found that the remains had long since been removed to other places once the danger of persecution and desecration disappeared. They also found that Pope Calixtus, for whom the catacombs were named, was never buried there. He was just the guy who made the arrangements sometime in the early third century for establishing the catacombs on an earlier Christian burial site before he ever became pope. Some of the remains of earlier popes and martyrs were then moved to this safer place outside the city. The absence of papal remains was more than compensated by the interesting paintings and other art work in the catacombs, including one of the earliest known depictions of Christ as the Good Shepherd, probably dating to the mid third century, about the time of Cornelius and Cyprian. In the (still ubiquitous) gift shop, both guys bought small replicas of the painting, which shows a young man with a sheep over his shoulders, dressed in a classical, not Jewish, manner, carrying a pot which presumably was his lunch pail, and with sheep around his feet.
Leaving the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, they drove a short distance farther to the Church of St. Sebastian. During the middle ages, the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian were the only ones still open to pilgrims, which is probably why this church is on that medieval list of the seven pilgrim churches of Rome. As they entered, Damon picked up another small brochure in English near the door, after dropping a few Euros in the collection box nearby. “Ah ha!” he exclaimed. “You don’t know as much as you think. It says here that Sebastian recovered from being shot with arrows, and was later clubbed to death at the command of the emperor.”
“Let me see that,” Bryce demanded. He took the brochure from Damon and glanced down the account. “Well, I guess you’re right. Even I make a mistake once every ten years or so,” he joked.
Damon socked him on the arm. Then they had to behave themselves, as they were met by an official guide, who led them to the entrance to the catacombs. With the brochure Damon had, they decided they did not need a guide, and wanted to descend on their own. That, however, is not permitted. There are four levels and many side tunnels, where one could easily get lost, so they had to be accompanied by the guide. There were niches in the walls where burials had taken place, but in a short time they arrived at a wider place, which contained the relics of St. Sebastian and an altar, along with a statue of the saint by Bernini. After that, there were other burial sites and remains, generally dating from the second to the fourth centuries. Along with them were more marvelous wall paintings. At one point, Bryce pointed out an inscription which was the initial Greek letters for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,” which make up the Greek word “ichthys,” or fish. Hence the fish was an early Christian symbol when it was dangerous to display anything more clearly Christian. In another place there were inscriptions, early graffiti, commemorating Ss. Peter and Paul in both Greek and Latin. Bryce translated the Latin inscription, which said, ‘Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.’ The story is that during a time of persecution under Valerian (253-260) the relics of the Apostles were brought here for safe keeping, and only later returned to their original resting places on the Vatican and the Ostian Way. Before it was called the Church of St. Sebastian, the structure over the catacombs was called the Church of the Apostles for this reason.
“It must have been a real chore to dig out these tunnels,” Damon commented.
“Yeah, but not as much as you might think. The ground here is composed of tufa, which is compressed volcanic ash. It sounds like “tough” but it’s really relatively easy to dig through, not like harder rock,” Bryce informed his boyfriend. Their ‘guide’ seemed to speak minimal English, and contented himself with pointing and smiling a lot.
The present Church of St. Sebastian, while retaining remnants of earlier structures, is largely a seventeenth century edifice. In the St. Sebastian Chapel is what is supposed to be one of the arrows which struck him, and part of the tree or post to which he was tied. Directly across from the Chapel of St. Sebastian in the church is the Quo Vadis Chapel, which contains a rock which supposedly has the footprint of Christ. According to the second century devotional work called The Acts of Peter, at the time when the first persecution of Christians began under Nero, St. Peter decided to flee the city. As he was leaving, he had a vision of Jesus carrying his cross back into the city. Peter asked Jesus, “Quo vadis,Domine?” “Where are you going, Lord?” Jesus replied that, since Peter was deserting his post, he was going to take his place. Peter turned around and returned to the city, where he was martyred by being crucified upside down.
Damon looked askance at Bryce, who shrugged his shoulders. “Doubtful, not essential?” Damon asked.
“You got it,” Bryce agreed. “A Polish author wrote a novel based on this legend in the late nineteenth century, and there have been several movie versions. I remember seeing a version from some time in the 1950s on late night TV once, but all I remember is that Peter Ustinov played Nero.”
“I remember Ustinov, but not in that movie,” Damon commented. “He only died a few years ago.”
“In 2004, I think it was,” Bryce replied, “but this movie was a lot earlier. It must have been one of his early roles.” He pulled out his iPhone and checked. “Good Lord, it was 1951, and he had already been making movies for ten years by then, and he made then up until the year before he died, sometimes three or four in a year. And he won awards for some of them. He makes these modern actors who put on such a show of their creative talents look like goof-offs.”
“Don’t get sidetracked,” the ever practical Damon admonished his partner. “Where next?”
“Well, as long as we’re doing the Appian Way, I thought we’d take in the tomb of Caecilia Metella, a bit farther out,” Bryce said, putting away his toy. “Not a Christian, but an ancient Roman site.”
“Then let’s go,” Damon agreed.
It was not a great deal farther along the Appian Way to the tomb of Caecelia Metella, an imposing cylindrical structure dominating a small hill along the road. Caecilia Metella was not personally particularly well known, although she was part of some of the most significant families of Rome as the Republic gave way to the Empire. Daughter of Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus, who was consul in 69 B.C., she was married to M. Licinius Crassus the Younger, son of the triumvir and an officer under Julius Caesar. Her son, also named Marcus, was consul in 30 B.C., the year Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra. Evidently, Caecilia died about the same time her father was consul at a relatively early age, in her thirties. Either her husband truly loved her, or he was trying to show off, with her huge mausoleum. The two travelers stopped there to take pictures.
After photographing the tomb of Caecilia Metella, Bryce and Damon decided they had enough of the Appian Way for the day, so they would look for someplace to have lunch, then find something else to do.
The Roman Colosseum
After only a brief discussion, the guys decided to drive back to town, park the car, and spend the afternoon investigating the Roman Colosseum and surrounding attractions. They took off on foot following a by now familiar route down the Via del Corso to the area of the ancient Roman forum. Along the way, they stopped at a sidewalk café and had lunch. Sipping wine, Damon remarked, “This is something I definitely appreciate about Europe. The drinking age is 18, except in France where it’s 16.”
“Something I appreciate too. And this is my first time to be able to take advantage of it. The last time I was here I was fifteen,” Bryce agreed.
“So much begins here, too,” Damon continued. “For one thing, your Church.”
“No, actually the Church began in Asia, specifically in Palestine, or modern Israel and the Arab portions of Palestine if you prefer,” Bryce insisted. “But the Church arrived here in the first generation, with Peter and Paul and others. If Christ died about the year 30, which seems most likely, then there was a Christian presence in Rome within a generation. One version of the story says that St. Peter, after the persecution in the Holy Land under Herod Agrippa, made his first trip to Rome about the year 44 or 45, returned to Jerusalem for that extremely important council about the year 50, when it was decided that the requirements of the Mosaic law did not apply to Christians, and then returned to Rome to be martyred under Nero about the year 67 A.D. St. Paul is supposed to have visited Rome twice. Some people think that, between the first visit recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and the final one when he was martyred he went to Spain. In any case, he was martyred under Nero as well, but as a Roman citizen he was beheaded rather than crucified. Remember the sword in his hand on that statue we saw. There are a lot of details that can’t be pinned down. As an historian, I really resent it that the Romans burned Christian writings as well as killing Christians. But there is nothing in the known record which conflicts with the Catholic teachings.”
“Anyway, you people have a very long history here,” Damon summed up.
Leaving their café, they continued down the Corso to the Via dei Fori Imperiali, past the forum, to the Colosseum. As they approached, they were amused to see Romans dressed like ancient Roman soldiers (not gladiators) posing for pictures. Tourists would pay to have their picture taken with a Roman trooper. Bryce and Damon looked at each other, then simultaneously said, “Naaaah.” From a distance, however, they took pictures of the costumed Romans.
Before tackling the Colosseum itself, they returned to the spot where they ended their visit to the forum the previous day, namely the Arch of Titus. There, Bryce again pointed out the depictions of the spoils from the capture of Jerusalem, most obviously the menorah, being carried in the triumphal procession of Titus. They reviewed the history of the conflict. As a result of some insensitive actions on the part of Roman soldiers offensive to Jewish religion, the tensions between Romans and Jews broke out into open conflict in 66 A.D. The Jewish rebels were at first successful, but had no long range chance against the might of the Roman Empire. In 67 a new Roman commander was appointed in the person of Vespasian, who captured most of the Palestinian region, more or less restricting the rebellion to the area around Jerusalem. But in 68 the Emperor Nero was overthrown and committed suicide, which ushered in a period of instability lasting until the following year, when Vespasian himself became emperor, leaving the command in Palestine to his son, Titus. Under Titus, Jerusalem was besieged. As so often happens under stress, leadership among the rebels passed gradually to the most radical elements, including the Zealots, who had been advocating revolt for many years, and a fringe group called the sicarii, or dagger men, who were basically terrorists who assassinated anyone they thought insufficiently anti-Roman. Many refugees had fled to Jerusalem, but the sicarii destroyed the grain supply in an effort to force everyone to fight to the last, resulting in widespread starvation and death even before the Roman army broke in. In the summer of 70 A.D., the Roman army took Jerusalem, and completely destroyed it. The last Jewish temple was razed to the ground, bringing to an end the rituals prescribed in the Mosaic law. The sect called Sadducees, who had been among the rulers and the temple priests, essentially was wiped out. The destruction of Jerusalem marked the final and clear separation between Judaism and Christianity. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus estimated that about 96,000 Jews were taken prisoner and sold into slavery. There were some mopping up operations for the next few years, but essentially the Jewish state ceased to exist at this point, not to be recreated until 1948. A very large portion of those Jewish slaves were used as labor in the construction of the Roman Colosseum.
In 64 A.D. Rome suffered the Great Fire, which wiped out a significant portion of the inner city, including the area where the Colosseum now stands. Nero seized upon the opportunity to confiscate the property, and began to build there his elaborate palace called the Domus Aurea, or Golden House. Incidentally, he also used the fire as an excuse to accuse the Christian community of Rome of starting it, leading to the executions of Ss. Peter and Paul and many others. For the next two and a half centuries, it was illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire, even if there was not constant persecution. Nero’s Golden House was an extreme example of self-indulgence by a spoiled brat on the throne, but only one of many factors leading to his overthrow a few years later.
When Vespasian came to power in 69, he in a sense returned the area to the citizens of Rome by building on a part of the grounds of the Golden House the great amphitheater which we call the Roman Colosseum. The official name, and the only specific name for the next several hundred years, was the Flavian Amphitheater, for the Flavian dynasty represented by Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian. Vespasian began the construction in about 72, and it was completed under Titus in 80. It is the largest amphitheater in the Roman world, seating about 50,000 spectators, used in extravagant entertainments for the Roman population, including gladiatorial combats, animal fights, and even according to some accounts naval battles. Contrary to all the movies and legends, there is no evidence of Christians being martyred in the Colosseum. The first mention of such a thing comes from the sixteenth century, and was purely speculative. According to the historian Dio Cassius, over 9,000 animals were slaughtered in the ceremonies marking the inauguration of the Flavian Amphitheater. The Romans had a tendency to overdo everything, which is why the Greek heritage with its emphasis on balance and proportion is important in the composition of Western civilization.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Damon said. “Florence, Pazzi Chapel, Michelangelo’s David. Hey, you said we’d get more Michelangelo here in Rome. When is that?”
“Patience, Boyfriend,” Bryce admonished. “Our tour of the Vatican Museum is scheduled for the day after we get back from Naples, and the tour ends in the Sistine Chapel. We’ll see Michelangelo the painter, there. But we’ll get more of Michelangelo the sculptor at the two Peters.”
Damon raised an eyebrow and leered at his friend.
“Get your mind above your belt,” Bryce grinned. “These two Peters are the churches of St. Peter on the Vatican and St. Peter in Chains.”
“Too bad,” Damon commented.
After revisiting the Arch of Titus, and snapping a few pictures, Bryce and Damon got in the long line, even on a Monday afternoon, to purchase tickets. This was one site where Bryce failed to get tickets in advance, for which he apologized several times as they stood in line until Damon told him to shut up. The tickets cost about 25 Euros each. They got inside and admired the Roman engineering, which withstood earthquakes, barbarian invasions, and purposeful destruction for the use of the building materials over many centuries. The arena is in the shape of an oval, and originally had a wooden floor covered with sand. Now the floor has disappeared, except for a small reconstructed section. Beneath are the cells and cages where gladiators, prisoners, and wild animals were held before being released into the areas above. There were two levels of such underground cubicles. There were also tunnels connecting these areas to the gladiatorial barracks and training facility to the east, and for the delivery of animals and prisoners. There was also a private tunnel so the emperors did not have to pass through the crowds to get to their special section. In a way, the Colosseum represents both the glory and the shame of ancient Rome. It is a major engineering feat and a monument to military victory and to organization. But it is also a monument to the blood lust which was the entertainment of Romans of all classes, from emperors to paupers. The ancient world both inspires us with its achievements and disgusts us with its cruelty.
Following their tour of the Flavian Amphitheater, Bryce and Damon spent some time in the immediate vicinity, including a visit to what remains of Nero’s Golden House, and to the museum of the Roman forum in the former monastery of St. Frances of Rome, which in turn was on the site of the ancient temple of Venus and Roma, Roma being a personification of the city. From there, they went to the Casa Santa Maria to meet Father Long for dinner.