TRAVEL
TO ROME AND BEYOND
Latin Comes to Life
mous cross commemorating the many deaths that oc-
curred in the ancient structure.
This summer I had the opportunity to travel to
The Roman forum was also incredible. We were able to
Italy where I was dazzled by the history I could see all
see the ruins of many ancient Roman temples straight
around me . History that ranged from the Vatican
(where Pope Francis makes history every day and Latin is out of my Latin textbook. In addition, the Pantheon,
which became a Christian Church, is still in
the official language) to
relatively decent shape. It was massive and
the ruins of ancient
extremely moving to see.
Rome (that I’ve learned
about since I began tak-
We also visited the ancient cities of Pompeii
ing Latin in 7th grade.)
and Minturno. Pompeii was extremely
The Colosseum was
crowded and had rather forward vendors.
breathtaking, although
Minturno, which had been located along
the lines for the bath-
the Via Appia boasted an impressive thea-
room were extremely
ter. It also had enormous baths and we
long! I learned more
were able to recognize the heating struc-
about the Christians
tures for the Caldarium.
The ruins of the Roman Forum
who were persecuted there
Another Latin student who happened to be on the trip
and I attempted to decipher the ancient Latin inscrip-
tions through out Rome and the Vatican. We even took a
picture in a ditch along the Via Appia similar to the one
on which Ecce Romani spends several chapters.
-Eliot Schiaparelli
An aerial view of the Pantheon
The area under the caldarium used to heat the
bath
and even corrected my tour guide when she attempted
to explain to us that a downturned thumb meant death
for a gladiator when in fact we don’t know what the ges-
ture was. Another fact I learned was there is an enor-
Vox Latina
2015-2016 Volume 2
Page 9