San Clemente

The latest Art & Arch trip was to the church of San Clemente, located by the Colosseum in Rome. It's actually four sites in one:

1. Before 64 AD, there was something built in this location, but we can't tell what it was. It burned in the great fire of Rome in 64 AD, and the ashes provided the foundation for what was to follow.
2. Sometime in the 1st century, a house was built on the ashes. St. Clement, the fourth pope, lived in this house for a time, possibly as a slave. There is also a shrine to the pagan god Mithras and a warehouse on this level.
3. In the 4th century, the house was filled in and used as the foundation for a church to St. Clement. (Side note: this church contains the first known instance of Italian, as opposed to Latin. It's Clement calling the people who tried to arrest him SOBs. 'Twas amusing.)
4. The first church was filled in when it started to fall apart, and a new church was built on top of it in the 11th century. This church is still standing today.

As you can see, time here is vertical -- as you go down, you go back in time, and many structures are preserved that would otherwise have been lost. Like Pompeii, it's a surreal feeling. How often do we get to walk on streets that were in use two millennia before we were born? Even pieces of the walls and ceiling are intact, giving us an accurate picture of what the average house might have looked like. There really is no substitute for being three stories under ground level, and seeing a shrine to a pagan god that had been forgotten for so long. Rome, ancient Rome, is real. And it's here.