This is Liz Lev in front of the Roman attempt to copy the Greek statue of 'Apollo' which was brought to Rome by Nero, which (15 centuries later) Michelagnelo used as the basis for his 'David'.
Apollos is perfectly proportioned, so exactly that no actual human can compare. He is aloof, poised effortlessly and his gaze is of unearthly interests. He doesn't care about you. He is saying, 'I am a Greek god, you are beneath me and can never be me.'
Michelangelo captures David in the moment before he runs to meet the challenges of Goliath, with the stone and slingshot in hand. His body is purposefully disproportionate; his determined gaze and furrowed brow speaks of physical and moral courage for the honour of God. You can be David.
The epitome of Greek sculpture, the Laocoon, was known, but considered lost forever... but was found in a farmer's field outside of Rome buried in rubble and covered in filth, but identified as this Greek masterpiece by Michelangelo. 
And who could forget Hercules, the hero of my boyhood cartoons, but more importantly, the bronze sculpture in the center. Also, that porphyry dish in the center of the room belongs to Nero. He had it carved out of one piece of stone.
What is interesting about this poor sculpture which is missing all its extremities is that this torso was used by Michelangelo for the torso of Christ in the famous full wall painting of the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.
Of particular interest to me and to the priests on tour was the earliest Christian sarcophagi which, somewhat surprisingly, never depict Christ on the cross (that only happened for the first time in the 5th century in the Church of Saint Sabina - you remember? I posted a pic of that in one of my earliest posts.) Below are two examples of many in the museum of the burial or funerary depictions of Christians on their tombs:
What do you see? That is the fun part... trying to decipher and then interpret the carvings. Christ himself said in the Gospel that no other sign would be given to that generation except the sign of the prophet Jonah who was in the belly of the whale/sea serpent three days and three nights. Do you see it? Thrown overboard (on the bottom left), vomited up on shore (on the bottom right). That's also Jonah shading himself under the gourd (top right) while he waits for the destruction of Ninevah, which, meanwhile, is repenting (top center) and delivering itself from the coming wrath of God.
More fun... figure this one out:
As the Latin inscription says at the top, this is the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus a Roman prefect in 359 AD. He holds the same position as Pontius Pilate did. This is a series of panels telling different stories... how many can you get? The easiest is Adam and Eve covering themselves and being expelled from the Garden of Eden (lower left inside). How about Daniel in the lion's den (lower right inside)? The arrest of St. Peter (top left inside), the arrest of St. Paul (lower right outside). Pontius Pilate washing his hands before the Crucifixion (top right) It is no surprise that as a Roman prefect he included this. Look at the top left - that is the sacrifice of Isaac, prefiguring Christ's own sacrifice.
Okay, without looking here, go up and tell me what the one in the lower center is...
Did you guess the story of Nicodemus up in the sycamore tree? Yep. Did you notice that Christ does not have a beard in any of these panels? It is because they wanted to depict him as eternally youthful.
Look at the top center, where you would (rightfully) expect to find Christ. What do you see? Sorry the pic is so bad... It is the eternally youthful Christ, seated like a teacher and holding a scroll in his left hand - probably Scripture, on the side where St. Paul stands. He is turned slightly toward St. Peter on his right who is the first among the Apostles, and he is seated over an ancient Roman river god (they are everywhere here in Rome, there is even one on this College's property) showing the triumph of Christianity over pagan philosophy and religion.
I have a ton of pictures, of course, but I feel like I should spare you most of them. No pictures were allowed in the Sistine Chapel. I am including a series of pics from the rooms leading into the Sistine Chapel which cover the entire wall. They are done by Raphael who was working on some of them at the exact same moment that Michelangelo was in the next room working on the Sistine Chapel.
A quick and inadequate explanation: This is across the room from the picture below so you have to see them as kind of in motion from the one to the other. Notice, that this fresco of the wisdom of this world, with all of the great Philosophers represented (Plato and Aristotle in the center) has all of the lines descending. They are walking toward something, except there is a figure running in from the left and one exiting from the right... the passing nature of human wisdom.
The truths that Socrates, Euclid and Pythagoras discovered and proclaimed all lead to the one Truth which, if you follow the steps down and across the room, start at the bottom of the fresco and move up you will see that the movement continues up, up, up.
It starts in this world and leads to the sublime mysteries of the next, centering on the dispute concerning the truth of the Blessed Sacrament... which is the one mystery of Christ's presence in this world that has a direct bearing and connection to the world of the divine, through the Holy Spirit (dove). You caan see the mystery of the Trinity in the ascending line to the Father... with Christ flanked by St. John the Baptist on his left and the Blessed Virgin Mary on his right.
I already had the Disputation on the Blessed Sacrament in my study on one wall, so I bought a poster of the Philosophers to put on the other wall. That way I can continue to meditate on what I saw in the room leading to the Sistine Chapel. My only challenge will be getting it home without creasing it.
The end wall was the miraculous release of St. Peter from prison. Raphael had just seen the Sistine Chapel for the first time and was inspired by what he saw... and wanted to out-do Michelangelo in this fresco:
Like I said... I have lots of pictures, but I spare you the whole and thank you for your patience while I recorded a few thoughts from Liz Lev so that I can come back to this blog in days to come as a reminder.
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