We continue to share photos taken during the Chronoton expedition to Rome. In front of you is the pyramid of Cestius, located in the center of Rome, near the gate of San Paolo. The official history says that it was built between 18 and 12 BC for the magistrate Caius Cestius Epulon. The height of the pyramid is about 36 meters, the length of the base is about 30 meters. There is a crypt inside it, and according to legends, Rem, one of the founders of Rome, was buried in it. It is curious that according to the same legends, his brother Romulus was buried in another similar pyramid, which was located in the Vatican and was destroyed in the 16th century.
Already in these legends, everything is very confusing, for Rem and Romulus lived much earlier, and, in addition, Plutarch claimed that Rem ascended to heaven. Interestingly, it is believed that Rem and Romulus were the sons of the god Mars himself. These are all legends, but we can actually see and touch the real pyramid, which for some reason was built in Rome. In fact, we cannot know who, when and why created it, but we see that it was made very high quality, the blocks are processed without flaws.
In the photo, the editor of Chronoton Natalia Trubinovskaya
Interestingly, the pyramid of Cestius in the 3rd century was built into the wall of Aurelian, which was made to protect Rome. By the way, in the photographs you can see how much the masonry of this wall differs from the masonry of a much more ancient pyramid, which again raises the question - who built it and with the help of what technologies?
Promotional video:
But this is far from the only curious fact about the Cestius pyramid. We have already written about the Italian archaeologist and artist Piranesi, who captured the mysterious ruined Rome in his many drawings. This pyramid was also sketched by Piranesi. And nearby we can see the remains of ancient temples and columns.
The pyramid looks even more interesting in the paintings of Robert Hubert, who left absolutely stunning drawings of the ruins of Rome. Look, in his drawings, the pyramid of Cestius is surrounded by the remains of magnificent structures.
And this drawing of Hubert is very curious - columns, sculptures and a mysterious hole under the ground.
We add that there are still columns next to the Cestius pyramid, and nearby you can see the same ancient ruins, which once again confirms the reliability of the paintings of Hubert and Piranesi. And, by the way, there are still mysterious blocks very close, which we wrote about in the previous report on our expedition.
Interestingly, Piranesi sketched some mysterious huge pyramid in Rome, traces of which have not survived.
N. Trubinovskaya