Rome
is the capital city of Italy. Called the
“Eternal City”, it is one
of the world's richest cities in history
and art, and one of the world’s
great cultural, religious, and intellectual
centres. Today Rome is a bustling metropolis
with hundreds of thousands of people;
upon arriving there you can easily tell
that there is thousands of years of history
just waiting to be experienced. From its
fantastic museums, unique sculpture galleries,
and flowering fountains, to being the
home of the Vatican City (seat of power
for the entire Catholic faith) Rome is
not a city to miss.
Rome rose from being an insignificant
pastoral settlement to perhaps the world's
most successful empire (supreme as a lawgiver
and organizer), holding sway over virtually
all the then-known world. It holds many
of the wonders of the world and for thousands
of years its great Caesars ruled with
an iron fist and sent great armies out
to subjugate and colonize the entire European
continent. At that time the Christian
Faith had yet to be born, and a vast pantheon
of gods and goddesses who demanded daily
sacrifices ruled the city.
Rome
is home to some of the world’s best
architectural monuments, including the
Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the Circus
Maximus. It was also the centre of a legendary
system of roads (many of which are still
used today), which spawned the common
saying “all roads lead to Rome”.
At the beginning of the Byzantine Empire
the city began to decline and as the Romans
tuned into the Holy Roman Empire the capital
of the Christian world was moved to Constantinople.
While no longer considered the total political
centre it still had many, many (did I
say many) turbulent periods to go through
from the Renaissance (who’s centre
was in Florence) all the way to the bombings
and invasions done by the allies in World
War II. Whatever its fortunes throughout
history, Rome has remained the symbol
of European civilization.
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