Most people see ruins. This wasn’t always ruins.
They didn’t just admire ancient Rome.
They took it.
Melted it down. Carried it off.
Even the color on Roman walls had to be forged through heat and force. I wrote about that here.
Marble pulled from the Forum.
Bronze stripped from temples.
Roman Forum columns cut down and carried off.
Under heat. Dust in the air.
Iron biting into stone.
The new Rome wasn’t built from nothing.
It was built from what they took.
