Roman Ghetto

                                                                     Porticus Octaviae 

我们过了台伯河，就看到了Porticus Octaviae废墟。有个小老头在废墟门口坐在地上，自得其乐地拉手风琴。Porticus Octaviae是Augustus在公元前20几年的时候为他姐姐修建的。公元后80年就被烧掉了，后来就成了一个鱼市，现在就是这个样子。2千多年大概一直是这个样子吧？我在罗马时时感叹，石头比我们活得长久多了。

这里就是罗马的犹太人隔离区了。

The Roman Ghetto was established as a result of Papal bull Cum nimis absurdum, promulgated by Pope Paul IV on 14 July 1555. The bull also required the Jews of Rome, which had existed as a community since before Christian times and which numbered about 2,000 at the time, to live in the ghetto. The ghetto was a walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night. The wall was built under the direction of the architect Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi. The money for its construction – 300 scudi – had to be paid by the Jewish community. The area of Rome chosen for the ghetto was the most undesirable quarter of the city, subject to constant flooding by the Tiber River. At the time of its founding, the four-block area was expected to contain roughly 1,000 inhabitants.

在教皇统治的罗马， 犹太人是最下等的公民，只能在隔离区内从事最下贱的工作，不能拥有任何财产，不算合法公民。这是Roesler Franz时代的隔离区内。

一直到1882年，罗马犹太隔离区才从法律上被废除了，犹太人被授予公民权。 现在这一带仍然是犹太人聚集的地区，有最大的犹太会堂和博物馆，很多餐馆，礼品店。 我们来到小广场上，虽说正是中午，可仍然聚集了很多当地人，各式犹太清真餐馆，小酒吧生意兴隆，仍然反射着当年Franz画里的场面。