Underground Rome at San Clemente Church

We saw a lot of underground Rome today, what it was really like 2000 years ago.  At San Clemente there are three layers of churches.  San Clemente is the best place in Rome to understand the city's archaeological evolution. You descend  60 feet through medieval and paleo-christian layers to the lowest level where followers of the ancient cult of Mithras met and performed rituals. The top level is of the pictures I took above, this church was built in the 12 century, the second level was built in the fourth century, and bottom level was a 1st century chruch.  The early christians were persecuted in Rome because the dominating religion was Paganism.  So the early christians had to meet in church houses(which is the bottom level) to hide from their persecutors. Then when Christianity overcame paganism thanks to the emperor who converted Rome to christianity the churches slowly evolved into what it was today.   You can see the picture of the Christ and the lambs in the apse,  I studied this picture in class, the 12 lambs represent the 12 apostles, and at the top is a hand representing the hand of God.  Early christian churches had flat ceilings because they didn't have the archaeogical advancements back then to make domed ceilings.  It's too bad we can't take any pictures down there, there is still artwork of frescoes, and the old chapel where the first christians met.

You can see us eating pizza outside the Colosseum, classic.