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do NOT speak to me about the eclipse. been all excited about it for weeks thinking of what an amazing post i would make with an ugly picture of it and a caption like "gaugamela reference omgggg" . it's raining. can't have shit in the north of spain 💔💔💔

also got jumpscared in my singing monsters LMAOOOO WHAT

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painted rubens' portrait of hermes to let the haters (myself) know that i can do digital oil paintings

this was a surprise LMAO i've observed that my oil paintings only look good when i copy a reference and that's. good to know. kinda

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posting my best and worst works back to back in very me fashion...... yet we won't learn unless we look at our mistakes in the eyes and go like Fuck you im gonna do better next time (im coping))))

"study" is a big and professional word and we are all but professionals here but i really wanted to draw alexander as it is customary in this household and also do something fun with references. this happened

left one is fucking around and right one finding out. find out i didn't find out anything other than that using references only makes everything worse LMAO but we ball. this was just an excuse to look at pictures of him

the reference is a bust from the palazzo massimo museum at rome. 1st cent bc found at a temple dedicated to ""hercules""

fun life update: the uni group chat has been on fire these days and it's so so fun and refreshing to finally be able to speak with people that understand me and that i have things in common with. so far im lowkey terrified since the old and wise students told us the ancient greece subject holds the humble record of having the biggest number of fails 😀🔫 but that wont be me tho. the hellenistic world got me

completely given up with colored portraits btw it's crazy how much better everything looks in just black and white

nothing will ever top the fake vase dude i should just quit posting

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it's been a month since i saw alexander at the capitoline museums so i thought i'd do a little him using that sculpture as reference........ author's note: i literally NEVERRR use references and the improvement when i do is so insane you'd think i'd want to do it more often 😭😭

the odd texture is trying to mimic a real canvas because portraits look so empty without some sort of texture over them (the thing here is that idfk how to paint skin accurately so it just looks like plastic and adding a texture fixes it kinda) but it lowkey fucked up the colors

LIFE UPDATE! so how are we feeling a month after the trip to rome happened...? still kinda empty. i cant look at my issus mosaic prints without my heart aching. could be exaggerating but not being able to see the mosaic was quite possibly one of the worst moments of my life,, i close my eyes and i still see myself shambling around the museum sobbing like crazy. i'll never forget the red tiles of the floor. dude i had no say in the trip dates, it was a pure coincidence that i was there on his birthday and it got RUINED!!! FUCK!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO WELL PLANNED. looking back and ignoring that wretched 21st of july, i had fun :)

real ones will remember when i spoke about art class. yeahhhhh next week is my last day and i haven't learned half of what i was expecting to learn LMAO but at least i got some basic tips and better materials so now it's all a matter of painting the same things over and over until they eventually look decent in my eyes. that's how it be sometimes

i know tomorrow im gonna see this one and i will want to pull my hair out while noticing (it's 3:56 am rn omgg his birth year) lots of mistakes but for now i think it is very cute. there it goes either way

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⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT ON THE VASE DRAWING AAAAHHHHHHHHH so i've been irrationally TERRIFIED of posting stuff publicly online for like 4 years so all this love is helping (forcing)) me feel more comfortable!!!! add to that fear how embarrassing it is to let others know of my love for certain dead people but im slowly getting over it all ( òuó)7 im more motivated to draw my silly stuff knowing im not getting odd looks!!

i've always thought that silly history art is "dehumanizing" and strange because. these are real ass people. but now i've finally realized none of that shit matters and nobody really gaf. if this makes me happy i can keep doing it :] after seeing the notifs i laughed so hard to get the nervousness off that my hands are tingly is that normal

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archaeologists have unearthed this piece of a vase dating from the second half of the 4th century BC, specifically the years 340-320!! as the inscriptions suggest, it represents the macedonian king alexander and his best friend hephaestion, enjoying some leisure time in a room decorated with floral frescoes and a corinthian column; meanwhile, the family dog peritas rests next to a shield, with a funny little expression. it is believed this is supposed to be a reference to a scene of the iliad where phoenix, ajax and odysseus find achilles playing the lyre alone with patroclus, two characters that the couple identified themselves with.

on a technical aspect, it features a wide range of colors used to decorate every bit of the scene, reminiscent of the techniques and shapes that appear in both the "darius vase" and the "patroclus vase", from the same era; as a curious fact, the shield seems to be the same one that appears next to patroclus' pyre on his vase (all pictured below). this tells us that the author belonged to the same artistic circle as the vases' painters or was, at least, heavily inspired by them. the painter has signed their work with a "efu/hfu painted" written below the scene. whoever this artist was, they surely were a big admirer of the macedonian nobility and quite the spy of their personal life!

easily the most fun thing i've ever painted <33

another vase i was inspired by!! had to draw clothes on the boys..... i know tumblr's on my ass ever since the rome blogs lmao

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unfortunately searching up alexander (2004) because i wanna rewatch it and do a serious complaint about everything wrong with it and found this review LMFAOOOOO I LOVE MY CRYING HOMOSEXUAL WIMP <33333

seriously though it's so sad how all people care about are the big badass battles :( the contrast between the glorious victories and the amount of times he cried like a baby is what makes him funnier. he was human just like any other historical figure ever and it's good they represent him as such (even if it's the bare minimum)))). the rest of the movie is not good however,

he killed one of his mentors with his own hands while drunk. is that not a fuckin valid reason to cry

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happy battle of chaeronea anniversary!!!! i cannot think about this one too hard because it makes me want to cry LMAOOOO he was so young and talented........ </333 first and last time yall are gonna catch me drawing philip tho

i can't count the amount of times i've told myself "alexander could go to war at 18 you can do a presentation" and that actually took away all fear 😔

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the archeological museum of madrid is deadass one of my favorite places ever because if you look at the catalogue with all the pieces you start with normal stuff like roman statues and clay pots and then it suddenly escalates to real theban mummies, coins from literally every ptolemaic monarch, AN INSCRIPTION FROM THE ROYAL PALACE OF SUSA?????? FROM ARTAXERXES II'S ERA?????

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my new years resolution for this year was to finally read the damn Iliad and im a few pages away from patroclus' death i fear im never touching this book again

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alexander at the granicus based on lysippos' lost statue, as promised!!!! went overboard with the dirt stains lowkey HAHQHABDBC

i am still not over the mosaic of issus incident but i try not to think about it))

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hfu in rome DAY 5 - this is not how i wanted it to end

hi happy birthday alexander so guess who didn't fucking see the mosaic of issus after like two years of daydreaming about the day i got to stand in front of it. i had planned this so so well. how didn't i know about this I SWEAR i checked over and over in every single museum to see if they had something odd going on...... we woke up earlier today to catch a 9 am train to naples. the train station wasn't confusing and we went straight in. the route was smooth, swift and we didn't have any problems, the sun was shining and everything seemed fine

we leave the naples station and i begin questioning at what lengths i could go to for this man; walking through streets full of rubbish that smell like fresh piss is one of them. after half an hour we reach the museum and sit in front of it to wait for our scheduled time. we just so happened to be sitting in front of the panel with the close-up of mosaic alexander's face. seeing him was like a warm hug in times of misery. i felt like a soldier stuck in the trenches looking at a picture of a loved one to remind himself why he's fighting. it comforted me to know soon enough that awful walk would've been worth it

we enter the museum and see lots of fun stuff. i found old lysimachus (who i had completely forgotten was there)!!! and the doryphoros who i was really excited to see :) he's so big! about an hour in i begin to notice crowds and getting nervous: "they're gonna fill up the mosaic room. if i don't have space to make decent photos they're going to say my name in the news tomorrow", i thought, jokingly. i resist until the entire ground floor was seen and begin making my way up the stairs skipping and hopping. finally!!! i read the sign above the door "house of the faun" THIS WAS IT!!!!!! i saw people taking photos to my left.. it HAD to be there!!! i look to my right and find a white screen with some panels. what the fuck was going on. confused i walk a few rooms forward. it isn't there either. ????? i approach the screen and the panels. "restoration and repositioning of the mosaic of alexander and darius" funny joke. i had a SLIVER of hope it was just in a different place. not at all! they had an "open" construction site where you could see those lucky bastards work on it. who knows when it'll be exhibited again

a while back i had read about this restoration indeed but i thought it was done already or whatever. i cried for the rest of the visit

mosaic looking gooddddd ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

doggy inspired by a model by lysippo. it's peritas :)

seleucus (you had to see me SOBBING in front of him) and lysimachus

shambled to the magna graecia exhibit and it felt like a decent consolation gift. saw a bunch of jewelry items from the 4th-3rd cent bc and quite interesting finds.... vases with drawings depicting battles between macedonians and persians!!!! LIKE OH MY GODS⁉️⁉️⁉️ still didn't make me feel any better but it was a bit comforting at least. i don't remember what i saw next. after a bit i appeared in a room with a collection of bronzes and, almost like a miracle, found a little alexander. a replica of the group lysippo did after his victory at the granicus. fell to my knees once i saw him

from darius' vase <33

i can't believe they had the nerve to give me discount mosaic of issus

this one killed me. are those the vergina stars??????? archeological museum of naples are we deadass??????????

getting back home tomorrow im gonna immediately redraw him if the plane doesn't crash

at the beginning of this trip i had deposited all my merch hopes into the MANN's shop expecting the mosaic to be everywhere. i bought everything with it, you wanna guess how many items i got? TWO. a bookmark and a card. was seriously expecting more 💔💔 is it not one of the main pieces of the museum??????

they also had some funny tshirts and bags with antinous' face on them so i KNEW i had to buy them for retail therapy. walked out still feeling terrible

we had no more plans for the day and naples is inhospitable so, devastated, i make my way back to the train station. we still had a couple of hours to wait until the train arrived. EXCEPT IT WAS DELAYED A WHOLE HOURRRRRR THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER

we returned to rome at like 10 pm which means i have successfully survived the most painful disappointment of my life and 6 hours of doing NOTHING with a diabolical headache from having cried for two hours straight

i did my best. this was not how i was expecting this trip to end but..... what can i do?? i can go a few more years without seeing the mosaic as i've been doing, but it's so frustrating to know i was so so close to seeing it and on his birthday at that. this could've been the best day ever. really wanted to photograph details for a more accurate redraw,,,, we'll have to wait ig 💔💔💔 an excuse to return

-QUEUE RANKING-

10/10 too: we just entered immediately. who cares

this post doesn't reflect how this absolutely destroyed me

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how didn't i know they had hidden the mosaic of issus to restore it ifeel like the wjole sky has crashed down on me

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all the posts with content warnings just have pictures of statues lmaoooo 😭😭😭 it's nothing i promise

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hfu in rome DAY 4 - 2381 summers

IT'S ALEXANDER'S BIRTHDAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! THE EVENT OF THE SUMMER!!!! when i got told about this trip's dates i just KNEW i had to save special locations for today and tomorrow!! i wake up jumping out the bed with a little tingling in my stomach.... hadn’t seen a statue of him since i went to paris in december 2022. that visit is like,, 60% the reason im here today!! it made me so so happy to see him i thought "damn maybe i should look more into this ancient greece stuff" i have an "at least one alexander per year" policy and the last two have been baroque paintings.. so today's visit to the capitoline was REAL important!! they have a him with crazy hair (supposedly cosplaying helio) from hadrian's era who i was obviously really looking forward to seeing. the him from the louvre was real fucked up so knowing this one wasn't missing the nose and half of his head made him so much more special..... but returning to today at 9 am, we reach the campidoglio earlier than expected and sit under the shade to wait until our scheduled time. at that moment i was FEARING for my life whenever i saw anyone walking up the stairs, still with the vatican museums scare in me. fortunately most only went to take a picture of marcus aurelius then left. the facade of the palaces is being fixed so most probably don't even know there's a museum in there. let it stay that way 🙏🙏

we were let inside before the time and good gods....... it was empty. i promise i spent around 20 minutes taking pictures of alexander by myself and like only two families of three appeared (happy i was allowed a moment of peace <3)

both museums were also tinier than i thought they'd be!! like every single documentary about the romans has a shot of a hallway of the capitolines and they make it seem like there's a lot going on.. it was a great experience :] capitoline museums SWEEP

:]

also had a 17th cent painting by pietro da cortona. i love how the composition mimics the mosaic of issus <33

after this i very happily go have lunch for the FIRST TIME in the entire week!! this was all it took for me to feel awesome despite the horrible heat (there's a noticeable lack of alexanders in roman museums)))) slushie in hand i take off to the last of the national roman museums: the palazzo massimo!! when i first looked into it i found out they had a "portrait gallery" and thought "will they have......" and the info on the web immediately dropped this

so i decided we had to go. this one was very complete!!! had lovely frescoes and mosaics and lots of busts but yall know what i was there for. one of the most important statues of the museum is this giant bronze hellenistic prince (read somewhere that he was a seleucid. crazy) with a sassy ass pose leaning against his spear.. THE FUCK YOU MEAN THAT WAS HOW ALEXANDER WAS USUALLY PORTRAYED??!!?!?@?(#(@!(!(

the diva

really fucked up copy of a lysippo from the 1st cent bc

cute little him from the 2nd cent ad <3

extra pic of these three roman freaks pretending to be him smh

IT'S BEEN AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY!!! last year all i did was watch his awful 2004 movie which felt more insulting than anything

-QUEUE RANKING-

honestly both are a SOLID 10/10: absolutely no waiting time at all. went straight in. the capitoline entrance is comfortable even if the whole hall is covered in construction shit. and the story of the roman museums you already know

tune in tomorrow for the LAST day and also the craziest. we will be in naples to see my favorite ancient piece EVERRRRRR!!!!!!!

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hfu in rome DAY 3 - the one where she goes to see the lysippos

holy shit yall im gonna cut to the chase: the vatican museums are, ironically enough, the worst experience for someone genuinely interested in what they have to offer. most stressful museum visit of my life and when i went to the louvre some smoker accidentally made the terrorist alarm go off and everyone in the trip group chat was like WE'VE BEEN TOLD TO EVACUATE THERE’S A TERRORIST ATTACK and i couldn't decide between running tf out or staying since i hadn't heard anything and all the other visitors were acting normal

yea we arrived at the vatican far too early so we took a little detour and quickly visited st peter's basilica. nothing too crazy, it was exactly what i had studied in art history this year.... yep.... saw a bunch of swiss guards around and i was so so looking forward to seeing the goofy ass renaissance helmets but they didn't have them on 💔💔💔 guessing it's just for ceremonies. i watched francis' funeral and the conclave fully only because massive events like that give me the worst case of fomo ever so i gotta sit through all of them. loved seeing the settings of all those ordeals in person

afraid of being late, at around 10:45 we began our walk towards the vatican museums, expecting to be let in earlier (scheduled time was 11:30) as we had done in the coliseum. girl hell nahhhh........ i already knew how the vati museums are like the most visited museums in all of rome but i didn't know it'd be THAT bad. we waited outside in the assigned lane until it was our time to come in. the downsides will be explained in the queue ranking :) after getting through all that i was free to explore the like 16 museums as much as i wanted!!! right!? look my only experiences with big big museums are the louvre and the prado (madrid) wherein you can go up any staircase, visit any room you want whenever you want, go back and forth... the vatican doesn't do that shit APPARENTLY and most of the stairs and hallways were blocked off so you'd follow a specific route that ends in the sistine chapel!! our first stop was the egyptian collection. the rooms there were far too tiny for all the people inside. it was impossible to move around without feeling some rando's body heat right next to you. despite all i fought my way through and saw the really ugly egyptian antinous (in his defense it's impossible to look good with the silly ass pharaoh headpiece on 😭😭), my man philadelphus (ptolemy II!!) and a little ammon-ra. at the end there were a bunch of assyrian reliefs and cuneiform tablets that i wish i could've seen closer but if you stop for one millisecond there's the possibility of getting trampled by like four different guided tour groups

the marked route led me to the most special place: the grecorroman collection. i walk down the hallway AND I SEE THE APOXYOMENOS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MEEEE!!!!!!! it's one of my favorite statues EVER and i love lysippo's work sm sm sm (not biased) so i was devastated once i found out i couldn't walk around him. he was literally made not to be seen from the front. another wave of people came and i was forced to leave him quickly. a shame </3 next to his room was a little cloister with laocoon (who's smaller than i thought!) and apollo n hermes belvedere (best boys). really wanted to see them too! i studied them all in class so it was very special! was forced to evacuate because three other groups were entering the scene. at that point i began getting pissed off about the overcrowding but even more determined to see all that i wanted to see. going into the next hallway was genuinely scary but at some point all the groups popped out of existence?? and the gallery was completely empty so you bet i took that opportunity to relax a little. highlights: lots of ganymedes, a possible philip II....... (one thing i really like about him is his very famous son), demosthenes ❌️❌️❌️👎👎👎, a fuck ton of hadrians, augustus, the personification of the nile from the hellenistic school of alexandria :]... problems began appearing when we left the museum pio clementino and the visit turned into a race for the sistine chapel. for everyone else because i still wanted to see stuff!! from this point onward the crowds got even WORSE and all of my pictures had to be taken in a rush. against all odds found meleager with the boar in a room full of animal statues i didnt get to enjoy, pericles, homer, more hadrians and dionysuses.,.,..,., and the rest is a blur. all i remember is a confused mass of people rushing down rooms, ignoring all the pieces on the sides and clogging up the hallways whenever they stopped to take pictures of THEMSELVES. this made me the angriest. the vatican museums have so so many awesome pieces aside from the popular ones and all people do is take pictures of themselves posing in front of a crowded hallways or photograph CEILINGS??? i understand the frescoes are cool or whatever but holy fuck if they're going to make my experience so stressful at least they should be genuinely interested in what they're seeing. as i was hopelessly strolling down one of those halls i overheard a lady going like "it's a satyr!! look at his funny ears!!!" and it moved me. someone there actually knew what they were looking at. loved seeing raphael's rooms. the school of athens is one of my favorite pieces of the renaissance and im so happy it was included in the visit <3 at first i was scared i'd need to pay extra to see them but here we are!!!!! i bought a little copy of the fresco as first souvenir :] saw it without problems. managed to overtake a bunch of groups while they were too busy looking at the tapestries. it was quite exciting despite everything

finally came the damned sistine chapel. overrated af. no more words for it we all know what it has going on

the vatican museums have a MASSIVE cafeteria with lots of meal options. it was filled to the brim with people too. i was hungry and tired but my body didn't accept any decent food. had a macedonia. in this heat i can't fuckin eat i can only have fruit, it's insane

overall an overwhelming and frustrating experience but im so lucky i got to see everyone i wanted to see <333 still wishing i could've gotten to take my time with the apoxyomenos

every shop in the vatican sells plushies of luce. i was so so tempted to buy one because she's so cute and it's funny af that the catholic church has an anime mascot but she was 45€...... 😭😭🥀🥀🥀🥀

philip 👎👎👎👎👎

demosthenes 👎👎👎👎👎

he's right next to the window too it's so hard to make the photos look good 😭😭

really pretty antinous 💞💞💞💞😳😳 i couldn't fuckin admire because the room was so small and the people couldn't stop moving

persian warrior defending himself :]

domitian!!!

philadelphus :>

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putting that behind us, our next plan was to head to the other national roman museum site..... the palazzo altemps!! as last time it was EMPTYYYYYY!!!! this was so so so refreshing after the vatican trauma..... i could breathe. a short and very sweet experience <33 they had another antinous, an aristotle, the gaul killing himself, a really cute apis bull...... and the crown jewel: ARESSSSSS BY MY MAN LYSIPPO YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH who i am very normal about 🤭🤭🤭💞💞 and extra shoutout to this random broken male bust i saw. the info card about it said "HE HAS A HEADBAND OFTEN SEEN IN PORTRAITS OF THE DIADOCHI" and i was like OH YEAH SICK!!!!! WHICH ONE IS HE???!?!?!?! and the info card replied "fuck you it's probably heracles" okay 💔💔💔💔💔💔

loving ludovisi ares a normal amount

the supposed diadochi

after leaving this one with the dumbest smile on my face we went on a little walk to see the pantheon, the trevi fountain (+ the entire population of the world visiting it) and *checks notes* san carlo alle quattro fontane. really cute little church, very boring to study however. we also spent a little while at piazza navona which i KNEW just from the layout that it had been a circus at some point. a stadium built by domitian. my boy domi was building shit all day and we love him for that

-QUEUE RANKING-

st peter's square, 9/10: super fast line, helps that almost nobody was there (it was like 9:30-10 am. take notes if u wanna go). once we were out the line had extended comically. free entrances to places are always appreciated!!

vatican museums, 3/10: GOOD GODS WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN??? the entrance is small small and right next to the exit, which meant that whenever people left they had to walk through the entrance lane which got tiring real fast. there isn't a single tree or a parasol for shade and it gets real hot in here. the vatican museums ain't for the faint of heart. like two groups scurried to the front of the line as we were getting closer to it after waiting for half an hour in the sun. the entrance looks like a damn airport. as everything else in the vati museums, a space too small for too many people

palazzo altemps, 10/10: we love you national roman museum 💖💖💖

another shout out to the vatican souvenir shop called "vatican emporium" or whatever which had a replica of the alexander from the issus mosaic hanged on a wall and gave me a good scare. will be relevant in the next few days <3333

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hfu in rome DAY 2 - almost starving to death in front of my favorite emperor's house

HELLOOOOO so today we began seeing stuff and i love how relaxing this was. a little taste before the REAL shit comes in the next few days and blasts me out of existence. as always stay tuned ><

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our first stop was the first of the 3 places included in the national roman museum (one ticket lets you visit all 3 in case anyone wants to go there and is absolutely pulling their hair not knowing wtf is going on): the baths of diocletian!! saved this for the first day since i knew it was gonna be chill

for me broken roman structures are so so sad. they are so big and seem so modern?? the bricks and the concrete make them look like abandoned factories esp the baths given how ginormous they are. but that makes them more awesome

i was told that the museums in the national roman. museum. would let people in at any hour until they filled up which made me terrified of what i was going to find. IT WAS EMPTYYYYYY!!!!! OH MY GODS. i hope we keep this up for the other two because i wanna be left in peace with certain someones im gonna see 👀

didn't have any famous pieces but i loved it anyway!! kinda concerned about how literally all the statues were headless however

-QUEUE RANKING-

10/10: literally nobody was there. walked in, gave my ticket and was free to do whatever instantly. building is very fresh, simple but effective and practical as every roman construction should be. they have little stones at the main counter where you can vote for your favorite room which was really fun!! i chose the one with the alexanderish offering. (pictured below) not biased

WHO IS THIS!!!!!! (offering from the 4th/3rd cent. bc. WHATTTTTTTT 😭😭😭))))

possible antinous located next to an inscription from the religious group that worshipped him and diana 💔💔 why did they straighten his hair

inscription mentioning the dioscuri in 6th cent bc latin <3

curse against the funniest guy in the block THAT’S SO SILLYYYYYY

detail of a headless ganymedes. it's so tender

the next stop was the coliseum. we all know and love him there's nothing much to say about it...... other than how overrated it is. yeah im gonna say it: you can barely walk along the seats and the "arena" is just one corner (I THOUGHT IT'D BE THE FULL CIRCLE????). you can be there for two minutes and you've seen the entire damn thing. still a wonderful structure and im so happy it has resisted like this for so long. we love the flavius fam in this house ❤️❤️ what would be of the historical cinema industry without you (it would be better)

but things were going far too well for far too long. as we were chilling in the second floor i thought of a wonderful plan for the day: finishing that up, going to eat then spending the rest of the day at the forum n palatine. i check the forum timetables out of curiosity and IT WAS (PRESUMABLY) CLOSING IN HALF AN HOUR. we ran outta the coliseum in record time and got inside the forum FLYING. then we returned to being chill. the forum was so SO fun but so odd..... im used to seeing it in pictures and documentaries but the layout was so strange?? like i wasn't expecting it to be so cramped but still it was AWESOMEEEE

saw caesar's pyre site too fuck you caesar

titus on his chariot crowned by a winged victory w personifications of the senate and the people. from his arch!!

then came the palatine. by the time i had reached it (5 pm) i had gone since breakfast (8:30 am) without eating a single thing but i was doing great. didn't feel exhausted at all until my mother went like "you wanna eat something??" and i began feeling LIGHTHEADED. this happened right in front of the imperial palace. what a pathetic ass sight im sure domitian was laughing at my sorry self from the depths of the hades. sat down to snack on something and it felt like the gods had breathed life into my soul

took a stroll around there yada yada saw the circus which i was really looking forward to. the palace is BEAUTIFUL and im so sad it's destroyed like that because im sure it was fuckin insane when it was up and running. the palatine museum was also included in my ticket but it was closed 💔💔💔 steps total: 30k . i don't feel my legs

olive trees planted next to the domus flavia to represent domitian's devotion towards athena. he was so so real. love him

-QUEUE RANKING-

Coliseum, 8/10: super super quick and had fans with water to refresh us. they let us inside before the scheduled time but asked to scan the ticket on 3 different occasions which was annoying af. it was very sweet to have us strolling around the lower floor to enter. extra points for historical accuracy

Forum, 9/10: fast as hell too but the closing time scare wasn't funny so i take away a point. we entered the roma pass (which we don't have) lane but they let us inside anyway. had fans as well :)

all the locations were CROWWWDED but somehow it didn't feel like that at all??? there's enough space for everyone and i appreciate it a lot!!! it wasn’t stressful as i thought it was gonna be!!!!! today was better than yesterday def. at least i didn't almost get ran over like four times. why are there no traffic lights in most pedestrian crossings

i have more pictures to share but this app only allows 10 at a time :[ (might do a picture dump once im back)

MORE TOMORROWWWWWW!!!!!!!! YAAYYYY