June 1, 2025

Termini Station (Stazione Termini)

Termini Station is the largest train station in Rome and serves as the city’s transportation hub, with frequent arrivals and departures of both international and domestic trains.

It is a massive modern structure made of glass and marble.

Railways were introduced relatively late in Rome, and Termini Station was built in 1870 at the suggestion of Pope Pius IX.

After Rome became the capital of unified Italy, the railway network rapidly expanded, leading Mussolini to order the construction of a new station “suited to the 20th century.”

Due to interruptions caused by World War II, it took 13 years to complete.

Initially, I thought the word "Termini" was related to the English words terminal or terminus, meaning “final station,” but that wasn’t the case.

Instead, the name originates from the site where the station was built—the remains of Emperor Diocletian’s public baths, known as terme (Thermae).

These public baths were far larger than traditional Japanese bathhouses.

Covering an area of 370m × 380m (approximately 140,000 square meters), they were about 3.5 times the size of Koshien Stadium.

The term terme derives from the Greek therme (heat), thermos (hot), and thermai (hot springs).

These words evolved into thermae in English (meaning hot springs or public baths) and terme in Italian (meaning hot springs or public baths).

Even in the medical field, we use words derived from this root in daily life, such as:

thermometer (temperature gauge)

thermostat (temperature controller)

thermography (thermal imaging)

hyperthermia (high fever or elevated body temperature)

Additionally, there is a well-known medical device manufacturer named TERUMO.

This company, founded about 100 years ago, originally specialized in making thermometers.

My clinic also uses TERUMO digital thermometers.

The manga "Thermae Romae" by Mari Yamazaki derives its title from the Latin words meaning "Roman public baths."

It was adapted into a film in 2012, starring Hiroshi Abe.

This comedy-drama follows an ancient Roman bathhouse architect who time-travels to modern Japan and learns about Japanese bathing culture.

By the way, Emperor Diocletian ascended the throne in the late 3rd century, exactly 100 years after Emperor Caracalla, who built the famous Baths of Caracalla.

One of the most significant events associated with Diocletian is his edict banning Christianity in the early 4th century.

He likened himself to the god Jupiter and demanded that Christians worship him as a deity.

He also forced them to worship Rome’s traditional gods and participate in ancient Roman religious rites.

As part of the persecution, Christians were burned at the stake or thrown into arenas to be devoured by lions for public entertainment.

Christian texts were burned, and church property was confiscated, aiming to strip believers of their spiritual foundation.

This event is known as "Diocletian’s Great Persecution." 

This persecution lasted for about 10 years, until Christianity was officially recognized under Emperor Constantine the Great through the Edict of Milan in 313 AD.

May 1, 2025

The Cathedral (Duomo) and Galileo

The cathedral is the greatest masterpiece of Pisa Romanesque architecture.

In the 11th century, Pisa, having participated in the Crusades, engaged in a naval battle against an Islamic fleet off the coast of Palermo, Sicily, and emerged victorious.

To commemorate this victory, the cathedral was built over 50 years using the gold and silver treasures seized from the Muslims.

The columns used in the construction were brought back as war trophies from Greek temples in Palermo.

Inside the cathedral, there are numerous works of high historical and artistic value.

Among them, the most notable is the pulpit of early 14th century, which is considered one of the finest examples of Italian Gothic sculpture.

However, for us, an even more important item is the lamp hanging in front of this pulpit.

It was in 1583, before Galileo’s discovery of the "law of falling bodies," that he, then a medical student at the University of Pisa, observed this lamp.

Having received a rigorous education from his enthusiastic father, Galileo entered medical school at the age of 17.

He stood in front of the pulpit of the Duomo, watching a bronze chandelier (lamp) swaying in the wind.

He noticed that, even as the amplitude of the pendulum’s swing gradually decreased, the time for one complete oscillation remained constant.

He was a medical student, so he confirmed this observation by timing it with his own pulse.

This was the discovery of the "isochronism of the pendulum."

Since then, the chandelier in Pisa’s cathedral has been called the “Lamp of Galileo.”

Today, it is believed that Galileo had actually discovered the pendulum’s principle six years before observing this lamp.

Later, disillusioned by his medical lectures, Galileo dropped out of medical school and pursued mathematics, physics, and astronomy.

He went on to teach these disciplines for many years at the universities of Pisa and Padua.

One of his most historically significant contributions was in the field of astronomy.

①    The existence of moons orbiting Jupiter.

②    The phases of Venus.

③    The presence of sunspots on the Sun.

These three discoveries led Galileo to firmly believe that they were evidence supporting the heliocentric theory (that the Earth orbits the Sun).

It is well known that Galileo was convicted by the Catholic Church for advocating heliocentrism, which contradicted the geocentric theory (that the Sun orbits the Earth).

He was disliked because he understood the essence of Christianity better than the church priests and explained it using scientific terms.

As a result, he was sentenced in a sham trial.

Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment, but his sentence was immediately commuted to house arrest.

However, he was not allowed to return to his home in Florence and was forced to live under surveillance in a designated residence, forbidden from going outside, until his death.

Naturally, he was stripped of all his titles.

Even after his death, his honor was not restored, and he was not permitted a Christian burial.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Galileo’s patron, could not bear to see him buried as a heretic and postponed his funeral until permission from the Pope was granted.

More than 100 years later, in the 18th century, Galileo was finally given a proper burial in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence with the Pope’s approval.

Eventually, in 1965, Pope Paul VI mentioned the Galileo trial, which initiated a reevaluation of the case.

Finally, in 1992, Pope John Paul II officially admitted that the trial had been a mistake and issued an apology to Galileo.

This is an event that remains fresh in our memories.

This happened 350 years after Galileo’s death—how moving!