In Rome, where time is measured in thousands of years, rather than hundreds as in the U.S., there’s a broader understanding of the flow and ebb of civilizations — what they exacted and also what they contributed. There is less illusion, less denial … or at least, they harbor different illusions.
NICOLA SMITH, “Art Notes: Painter Takes a Long View of the U.S.”, Valley News, October 5, 2017
Layers of history abound in Rome as one explores the Eternal City. Ancient civilizations were buried under the trash heaps of the next or carted off to make new buildings. Even the relics you see today are but shells of their former glory as the city was built, abandoned, destroyed, rebuilt, salvaged, raided, and rebuilt again over the centuries.
Fragments of pillars, monuments great military strength, hauled away or buried in the backyard as the latest wave of conqueror fancied a trophy from the past. A triumph of the once great Romans or even further back, the Greeks. Relics to be collected, copied, re-purposed or simply toss away and forgotten until the foundation for the next latest and greatest building would be dug.
