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Tourism in Ancient Greece and Rome: Historic Evolution of Tourism
These movements are differentiated by their purpose of other types of travel originated by wars, migratory movements or conquest. But tourism has many historical antecedents.
Ancient Age Tourism: Greece
In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held, which consisted of athletic competitions in honor of the Gods of Olympus. Artistic and athletic offerings were offered as a gift. Many times sacrifices and prayers were also performed in honor of some god in particular.
Although lesser known, the Pitios, Ismios and Nemeos festivals were also celebrated. These celebrations mobilized a large number of people, who of course, needed transportation and roads to travel. The roads system was very similar to that of the Persians and they usually traveled on foot or by donkey.
Greece had a network of inns that only offered a bed for the night. They did not have dining rooms or bathrooms
It is also known that in each city public baths were built, open to everyone, where tourists of that time had to bring their own towels. They took off their clothes and kept them in special lockers, and then a slave took care of the hygiene with jars of hot and cold water.
Acropolis & Pyramids
Pilgrimages to the different temples of Greece and to the oracles were very common. the most important one was that of Apollo in Delphi and among the most visited sanctuaries is the one of Esculapio, god of medicine.
Tourism in the Roman Empire
A Bit of Roman History
All Roads Lead to Rome
Only for Military Use
In the beginning the Roman roads were designed for military use. Legions and military equipment could be moved much faster than if they were transferred to cross country. The time of transfer between cities was shortened not only for military use but for trade and tourism.
Patrician families used to send their children to Greece to receive rhetoric and philosophy classes. In this case, the route by sea was the most chosen, for the comforts and speed compared to the terrestrial displacement. Accommodation facilities on routes far from the Roman metropolis were very scarce.
Julio César, who was traveling at an extraordinary speed, traveled from the Rhone ( germany) to Rome in about eight days. However, the fastest journey of antiquity was, the one that made Tiberius to Drusus from Tichinum in Germany, a distance of 200 miles, made in 20 hours even though he had only one guide and had to make several changes of mount.
ORBIS - University of Stanford Raod & Network Calculator on Line
The Roman Empire Roads
Stones on The Roads
The mausoleum of Glanum is a Roman funerary monument located in the ancient city of Glanum, near the city of Saint-Rémy de Provence (France). Built between the years 30 and 20 BC (August Emperor) It is a tribute to a family of Gallic origin that obtained Roman citizenship fighting in the Roman army. There is an inscription in the mummies
SEX.M.L.IVLEI.C.F.PARENTIVUS.SVEIS
--SEX (your) M (arcus) L (ucius) IVLIEI C (aii) • F (ilii) PARENTIBVS SVEIS--
SEXTUS, LUCIUS (and) MARCUS IULII (Julia) SONS of CAIUS (dedicate this) to their parents
Gaius Julius Caesar - Academic Trip and Kidnapping
Julius Caesar, in 75 B.C. He had had to flee from Rome since he was at odds with the Roman dictator Sila. Banished to the Aegean Islands to avoid the assassins of Sila, he devoted himself to study and prepare for when he returned to Rome. It was just on a trip to study at the Oratory and Eloquence Academy of Molon of Rodas was tackled by sackcloth pirates - (Cilicia, on the south coast of present-day Turkey)
The pirates valued the rescue to be requested by the crew in a total of 20 talents. Julius Caesar to the astonishment of the pirates, he told them to ask for nothing more and nothing less than 50 talents for his life. Obviously the pirates had nothing to object to.
A talent corresponded to the weight of a cubic foot of water, which in ancient Rome amounted to 75 Pounds / 1200 oz. If we say that gold, today, is U$S 1400 per Oz, Total are U$S 1,680,000 per tatent
Gaius Julius Caesar was transferred to the island of Farmacusa (off the coast of Halicarnassus), where he stayed, together with a friend and two servants held by the pirates. The rest of the crew was sent to seek rescue. It was 38 days before the envoys came with the money, in which the chroniclers (Plutarch, especially) tells that Julius Caesar, rather than being imprisoned, lived like a king
He dedicated himself to sports, writing poetry, studying and writing speeches - which forced his kidnappers to listen - and even silenced the pirates when they wouldn't let him sleep.
During his captivity, Julius Caesar threated that when he was released, he would capture them, recover the money and crucify them. Obviously, the pirates didn't take it too seriously. Once the rescue was obtained Julio César was released
Once released he went to Pergamum, where he got 500 soldiers and 4 ships, returning to Farmacusa and catching the pirates in full celebration for their loot, capturing them without too much trouble. The 350 pirates were taken to Pergamos again. There, Julius Caesar sent everyone to 30, who were crucified as he had promised. Of course, as a humanitarian detail made them slaughter before crucifying them.
In this way, Julius Caesar apart from creating a reputation that did not leave him until Bruto murdered him many years later, he managed to keep the 50 rescue talents.
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Tourism: Only the Upper Class
Non-Religious Tourism
They also hired local guides and consulted papyri that explained a certain area and their entertainment possibilities. They were the tour guides of that time. Of course they bought something smaller as souvenirs and had a tendency to engrave the traveler's name on the stones of the monuments they visited. This was at the request of the inhabitants, since the prestige of a noble visitor attracted more tourists.
The trips were made for pleasure, business or health or religious issues. Religious tourism and pilgrimages to both Greek and Roman temples became part of almost every tourist itinerary. But it was not about devotion but about entertainment. These temples were visited by tourists who in some cases were no longer sacred places, but monuments to visit. (almost equal to what happens today in the Catholic churches of Europe)
Weekend Roman Villas: Capri & Pompeii
The Romans also liked to spend a leisure time away from the city and used to move to the Campania (Naples). From the time of the empire of Octavius Augustus, the Senate was no longer an institution of power. The emperor reigned and were not consulted.
The senators retired to live in the countryside, near Rome but away from it. The area chosen was Campania, Cities such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Tivoli, Beneventum and Islands such as Capri, where luxury villas were built. Infrastructure was also built as additional roads, ports, passenger ships, inns and markets.
The houses in the city of Rome became the second residence and the country villa the habitual residence. You find the infrastructure was also built in those compestres places. Amphitheatres (Pompeii), circus maxima, thermal baths and medicinal baths. all this thanks to the pax romana that lasted approximately 250 years from the reign of Octavius Augustus.
Emperor Caracalla built in Rome the baths that bear his name. They were public baths that had steam rooms, pools of hot water (caldarium) and cold (frigidarium), gymnastics, rest and massage rooms. There were also writing rooms, libraries and gardens.
On the island of Capri, the Tiberian emperor built a luxurious villa with a swimming pool. You can still visit today's day
Amphitheaters for all
The construction of the Maximum Circus and the Colosseum in Rome, led to tourism also going in the other direction. Inhabitants of the entire empire wished to know Rome. The network of roads, security and the pax romana contributed to a flow of tourists to the Rome.
They also built amphitheatres like the Colosseum in Rome and theaters in other cities, which also enjoyed a fair share of tourists. We can name the theater of Orange (France) and the amphitheaters of Nimes and Arles (France). That amphitheaters can be visited nowadays and in a very good state of conservation.
My Darling, and if We Visit Esparta?
During the Roman domination in Greece, the city of Sparta, powerful and famous in other times became a focus of tourism on the part of the Roman upper class. Sparta no longer had possibilities of any kind, military or economic or political. But focused on their ancestral military education to young people. The education of the It was so hard that it became a tourist attraction in itself
The Ritual
The ritual combats that had traditionally been fought in the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, under Roman domination, became the dimastígosis (they existed for a long time) , where the children were scourged and sometimes even death. Also the Romans had a deep curiosity to discover how a city so feared in its time, I am reduced to a town of goat herders and a circus military education.
Cicero tells in the Tusculanas (II 34) how Spartan education and its excesses had become a spectacle that attracted tourists. The crowd that comes to the show is so numerous that it was necessary to build an amphitheater in front of the temple to welcome it. This show attracted tourists until the fourth century of our era. Documented by Libanio in his Discourses, (I, 23).
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End of the first part : Tourism in Ancient Greece and Rome
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Great information to know! So much history there . One day I plan on visiting. Where is the best spas and massages at ? Thankyou! ?