Rome's successes were military; its problems were economic. That theme is well illustrated in the scenes shown here, the Plutei of Trajan, found in the forum and today located close by in the Curia Julia. The upper scene shows the emperor Trajan to the right and attendants destroying tablets on which were recorded the debts of citizens to the state. Trajan had had a very lucrative campaign in Dacia (modern Romania), and used the proceeds to pay off these debts. The lower scene shows Trajan seated on a throne instituting the alimenta, economic aid for food for Roman children of needy families. The alimenta was doubtless also paid for by the Dacians.
The consturctions of ancient Rome, from sewers to temples, are no doubt imposing. We must, however, go deeper than just admiration and ask: Why were they built and how were they paid for? Over many years, Rome fielded an enormous army. How was it financed? Debts, we will find, were a major problem. How were they incurred? What were there consequences? What was the role of slavery and how did Romans feel towards slavery relative to wage labor?
Left: The Temple of Saturn in the Forum is one of the oldest in Rome and is of particular interest to us because it housed the arenarium or state treasury. Why did the Romans pick a divinity that was said to have lost his sway in the upper world and to be confined to the nether regions as the particular god of the treasury? In Imperial times, the arenarium was distinguihed from the fiscus, which was the treasury of the emperor's own household. In Republican times fiscus was also used to describe the state treasury, and from that use comes our word fiscal.
Besides the ruins of ancient Rome, the city abounds in early Christrian structures, such as the church of San Clemente (left), which we see right after our walk through the forum. Below the beautiful 12th century upper structure are two churches and a Mithraeum going back to about the third century or earlier.
Trajan cancels debts of Romans to the state.
Trajan establishes the alimenta to provide food for children of needy families.
The Maryland girls, Lisa, Sarah, Ceala, Deborah, Kristen, Xiaolin, Katie, and Mia, with a old friend in 2002.
Left, Tree of Jesse design in the Apse of San Clemente, in the valley of the Forum in Rome.
Most tourists see Rome in the blazing heat of summer, the season when the ancient Romans got out of town to their country villas if they could. They loved the Rome of the winter months, the Rome that we see, the misty Rome of the picture above. It is not an impressionist painting but a snapshot made by one of our students as we walked along the Tiber on our way to St. Peter's, seen here in the distance.
