The Ego Battle of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian

One of the most fascinating things about Rome to me is the architecture. I cannot wait to see the great buildings all around me. I enjoy sight seeing especially when the sight is old buildings that have survived many wars and years of life. I was even more intrigued when I discovered the history of these fascinating buildings was over an ego battle. There were 3 emperors involved in the major construction of Rome: Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. There goals as emperors were to out do each other and be bigger and badder than whoever previous.

Being in an ego battle is so much more interesting to me and it explains why all the architecture is so drawn out and over the top. It all started with the Roman Coliseum that took from 72 AD to o80 AD to build. This creation was so big that it held up to 500, 000 Romans. This place was where many gladiators fought and events were held to entertain the people. This was really built to make the people of Rome become happy because everyone was so poor at the time. The people gathered in the Coliseum to engage with each other and celebrate.

The Pantheon was another huge creation that was built in 118-126 AD. This piece was built to honor the gods. This building shows what religious status the majority of Rome as under. Being as though this was built to honor gods it lets us know that it was built b polytheistic believers. This dome was very important because it was the first successful dome built. Many domes were attempted but later fell apart and killed a lot of people. The Pantheon was the first successful dome built, standing very tall and 20feet thick.

Lastly was the Arch of Constantine, built in 315 AD and it took countless numbers of years to create. This building is directly next to the Coliseum. I can picture myself viewing both of them now. This was built to celebrate Constantine's power and to show out Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. There are three main arches built in it and are duplicated all over. The arches from it have been seen in other great buildings. This was one of the first successfully built arches as well.

Learning the history of how all these important monuments were built really inspired me to see them someday soon. I really enjoyed this seminar and it has gotten me more juiced to learn more about the history of Rome.

Thank you for reading,

Akeallah Blair