Saturday, March 28, 2009

Happy Birthday, Vespasian!

Hail, Caesar: Rome marks birth of emperor who built the Colosseum -
Europe, World - The Independent
: "His name is immortalised in modern Italian as the word for a public urinal, but tomorrow that humiliation will be forgotten as Rome sets about throwing a massive party for the Emperor Vespasian's 2,000th birthday. Naturally enough, the celebratory bash – which takes the form of a 10-month exhibition – is focused on the building for which he is most famous, the Colosseum."

2 comments:

Gerard Saylor said...

I'll take this opportunity to praise Roma by Steven Saylor (no relation). I'm halfway through the audio version and that dude does good work.

Lawrence said...

A question that comes to mind when visiting the exhibition is…

Does Rome need Vespasian today?

One can draw some parallels (very dustance, of course) between the situation in Italy now and at the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty - ie. very bad in both cases.

Interestingly, the current Italian leader and Vespasiano shared a similar trait: media saviness. But can Berlusconi be compared to him?

http://www.rome-rentals-co.com/articles/culture-leisure/does-rome-need-vespasian-today