Appian Way

Today we traveled along the Appian Way.  Our first stop was the Villa of the Quintilii.  It was built by the Quinitlius brothers (Sextus Q. Maximus and Sextus Q. Condianus in the 2nd Century AD.  It's a pretty sumptuous place, with its own aqueduct and its own chariot racing track.

Some of the original mosaic and marble floors are still in place.

As well as some of the wall frescoes.

More mosaics floors

Out towards the "playing fields" where the race track was. 

 Marble flooring

The commode 

 Marble wainscoting.  Note the inlaid maroon stripe.

 Part of the upper level.

 Their own home theater.

 After visiting the Quintilii, we drove down the road to the Villa of Maxentius.  Not much remains, but it was big enough to have its own stadium as well.  This is one of the towers at the corner.

 Here's another

 The stadium--hard to see in this shot, I know.

 Adjacent, Maxentius built a mausoleum for his son Romulus and his family.  It is circular, supported by a central column.

Surrounding the mausoleum was a portico.  The outside wall remains. 

 The exterior of the mausoleum.  Hard to see that it's circular.  Take my word for it

 Just down the street is another circular tomb, the tomb of Caecelia Metella.  

 The inside.

 We continued our stroll down the Appian Way and came to Aurelian's Wall.  Aurelian was a terrific emperor, reuniting the empire (it had split into three parts) and winning important victories over the Goths and the Parthians.  Sadly, he was assassinated.  While emperor, he decreed that this defensive wall be constructed.

 Just inside the wall was one of the aqueducts.  This arch carried the water over the Appian Way.

 A little bit further on, we visited the Tomb of the Scipios.  The Cornelius Scipio family was one of the most powerful and influential in ancient Rome.  Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general who invaded Italy by crossing the Alps.  These are wall frescoes.

 We ended our journey at the Baths of Caracalla.  Caracalla was the son of Septimius Severus.  Septimius hoped his two sons could share the throne.  Immediately after Septimius died, Caracalla killed his brother Gaeta.  Caracalla was not a popular emperor, for he extended Roman citizenship to all the provinces.  In order to curry favor, he built this enormous public bath complex.  Many of the most beautiful statues (Farnese Bull, Farnese Hercules) were decorations in this bath complex.

 It's hard to tell from the photos, but this place is enormous.  The walls tower above the landscape.

 Some mosaic floors survive.

 One of the pools.

 Lots of domed spaces.

 The mosaics were even on the ceiling.  These chunks fell down in an earthquake.

With the Baths, that ended our trip down the Appian Way.