Overlake Latin Ancient Field Studies: The Roman Forum by David

Text by David / Photos by KP

The visit to the forum, though brief, moved me like nothing else. This uniqueness, of course, was on account of the inclement weather.

It may seem simple, unpleasant, even, but this sole factor shifted my view of all previous sites monumentally. Never before, in any movie, book, or artwork I have seen, have I ever been brought to consider the feeling of the Forum in the rain. These grand, once-bustling monuments are always depicted in golden sunlight, pure myth to a Seattlite like myself. We can learn from a textbook about the great basilicas, the immaculate marble temples and arches gleaming silvery white in bright, golden sunlight, and when the structures truly are bathed in warm light they still feel larger every time. But when the sky darkens with rain cascading down upon you, the mythical place becomes eternal and timeless. The mind wanders in all directions, finding bursts of understanding in the midst of the inclement weather. One suddenly realizes the reasons for the simple details they have spent years taking at face value: the reason for the wool tunica and togas, the design of the streets’ drainage, the true size of the simple rostra; these bring more understanding than half a decade of learning ever can.