PATTERNS AND TONES

I have often thought of the beautiful statues and the intricate mosaics I found strewn throughout  Ostia Antica , an ancient harbor city which used to lay at the mouth of the Tibor River, 30 km west of Rome. I can still feel the heat of the sun and distinctly remember the sound of complete silence while I wandered the abandoned streets of this city. It had been erected as the principle port during the later Roman Empire and it was truly the global crossroad of culture and commerce. At its height of prosperity in the 2nd century BC, Ostia Antica had a population of 60,000 inhabitants! The international population made Ostia Antica a very cosmopolitan city for the time. Knowing that men and woman from around the globe had walked these same streets in the 2nd century BC was intriguing for a gal who grew up where tumble weeds still rolled down the dusty small town streets of long forgotten California towns. It was humbling to be surrounded by such antiquity, much which h...