In the shadow of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius

Di Francesco Roesler Franz

Bob is a very reserved and taciturn man. Very few, however, know his secret. Bob is a CIA agent. A holiday in Rome leads him to meet a charming Jewish girl with a doctorate in art and an elderly professor of British origin, an expert in esotericism. Bob and Sarah's quests intertwine in a thrilling thriller full of Roman and European history with the life of Ettore Roesler Franz, the nineteenth-century Roman painter famous for painting the collection of one hundred and twenty watercolours known as "Roma Sparita", whose greatness lies in its esoteric meanings discovered only in recent years by Francesco Roesler Franz, the author of this book.

• Lingua: Italiano
• Editore: Youcanprint
• Data di uscita: 25 gen 2022
• ISBN: 9791220387859

Anteprima del libro

Introduction

In the shadow of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius is a crime novel of international espionage, which can be considered as the sequel to Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. The plot consists of two intertwined stories. The first features a CIA agent on holiday in Rome who falls in love with a charming Jewish girl with a doctorate in art. Together with an elderly professor of British origin, an expert in esotericism, they go in search of the international connections that existed in the nineteenth century between Italy and the rest of Europe. The second focuses on the Roesler Franz family and more specifically on the life of Ettore, the Roman painter famous for the collection of one hundred and twenty watercolours owned by the City of Rome and known as Roma Sparita.

This novel is a special work because, in addition to its purely entertaining purpose, it uncovers a part of history, of which the reader may not be aware, revolving around the figure of Ettore Roesler Franz.

By reading this book one is transported to the cultural circles and courts of Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The author brings to life the historical context of the alchemical circles at the Prague court of Rudolf II, where the most interesting minds of Renaissance Europe met. As family events unfold, interconnected with the historical events of the time, the links between the Roesler Franz family and members of Rosicrucian circles, the Arcadian Academy, Freemasonry, the Carbonari, the Dante Society, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Jewish Kabbalah are explored. The fundamental stages and symbolic instruments of all these initiatory societies are retraced, with art as the main channel of transmission. The book outlines a true initiatory pathway that starts with the young Ettore’s cultural formation and continues through his friendships, encounters, numerous trips abroad and, above all, the role that membership of Freemasonry played in his life.

Reading this book, one also learns that the greatness of the paintings in Roma Sparita is inherent in their symbolism, which conceals profound esoteric meanings discovered only in recent years by Francesco Roesler Franz.

Esoteric introduction

Writing an introduction is a very arduous task; it amounts to a statement of intent for the text that follows it, to present the reader with the origins of literary creation, the methods and aims that the author sets out to achieve, all in a few clear, light and unbiased lines. This introduction is not written by the author, but is written by a third person, who was asked for an esoteric introduction, given the nature and content of the pages that follow. Out of my love for esotericism, therefore, I will briefly explain the meaning of this term: it derives from the Greek language, from ἐσώτερος (esóteros, inner), and represents the ability to go beyond external appearances, to access the core of inner truth. The main task of the esotericist is to ask the why of things and not to stop at the who, how, when and where. Esoteric disciplines include spiritual disciplines, kabbalah, alchemy, hermeticism, magic and astrolog y, and these disciplines are examined in this book by my good friend Francesco Roesler Franz. Writing an esoteric introduction is indeed a difficult task, but to be able to introduce readers to the characteristics of this work through this succinct ‘inner premise’ is also a great honour.

This novel, in the form of a spy story, has a plot consisting of two intertwined stories. The first features a CIA agent on holiday in Rome, who falls in love with a charming Jewish girl with a doctorate in art. Together with an elderly professor of British origin, an expert in esotericism, they go in search of the international connections that existed in the nineteenth century between Italy and the rest of Europe. The second story focuses on the Roesler Franz family and, more specifically, on the life of Ettore, the Roman painter famous for having painted one hundred and twenty watercolours, which form the collection known as Roma Sparita. The aim of this account is to foster greater knowledge of Ettore Roesler Franz, a great artist who, in the light of new information, emerges with a new, more interesting and fascinating image.

Through reading this book, one not only learns about the history of the Roesler Franz family, from its Bohemian origins, but is also transported to the cultural circles and courts of Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The author brings to life the historical context of the alchemical circles at the Prague court of Rudolph II, where the most interesting minds of Renaissance Europe met: the great English magician and alchemist John Dee, the famous German medical alchemist Michael Maier, the Kabbalah rabbi Judah Löw and the planetary astronomers and astrologers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Giordano Bruno also stayed at the Prague court for six months.

As family events unfolded, interconnected with the historical events of the time, the links of the Roesler Franz family with members of Rosicrucian circles, Freemasonry, the Carbonari, the Dante Society, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Jewish Kabbalah deepened. The fundamental stages and symbolic instruments of all these initiatory societies are retraced, with art as the main channel of transmission. A true initiatory path is outlined, starting with the young Ettore’s cultural formation and continuing through his friendships, encounters, numerous trips abroad and, above all, the role that membership of Freemasonry played in his life.

The life of the protagonist, Ettore Roesler Franz, and his family is examined as if it were an initiatory journey in the continuous search for truth, in the Greek sense of the term. Truth, in Italian, derives from the Latin veritas; this Latin word comes from the Balkan and Slavic area and means faith, trust. It therefore refers to a concept to be accepted passively, by faith, relying on an institution or religious dogma. It is not veritas that an initiate seeks but aletheia (ἀλήθεια), the Greek term for truth, which has a different structure from the Latin veritas. Etymologically, the prefix alpha (α), which has a privative function, precedes the root leth (λήθ), which means forgetting ; from the same etymological root comes the name of the river Lethe, which in Greek mytholog y is the river of oblivion. Aletheia therefore indicates something that is no longer hidden, that has not been forgotten; it is truth understood in the sense of revelation and unveiling , it is the process of knowledge that takes place through the removal of the veils of Maya of Vedic memory.

In ancient Roman society Janus (Ianus) was the god of initiations, the guardian of all rites of passage and forms of change, the protector of all that has an end and a new beginning. The symbolism of Janus is represented by the door (ianua) and the keys. Janus was considered the inventor of keys, and for this reason he was the patron god of the craftsmen’s guilds, the Collegia Fabrorum, which in medieval times would evolve into the craftsmen’s guilds or guilds of freemasons, until the birth of speculative freemasonry in the 18th century. With a patient gaze, we can observe a golden thread that weaves together many pearls of knowledge to be passed on, like a necklace that starts from an archaic era and arrives at the present day. The same path of knowledge is revealed by highlighting the Radix Davidis, the lineage of David, the brotherhood so extolled by Abbot Joachim da Fiore, born from the lineage of Judah, son of Jacob, who later moved to Europe. This brotherhood, which later became known as Fidelis in Amore (Faithful in Love), of which Dante Alighieri is said to be a follower, later merged into the brotherhood called the Jordanites, led by the great philosopher Giordano Bruno, from Nola. According to Frances Yates, an expert on Renaissance hermeticism, after Bruno’s death, the ideas of the Jordanites may have given the impetus for the formation of the Rosicrucian movement, which is still shrouded in mystery and interesting theories.

Through reading this book one also learns that the series of one hundred and twenty watercolours of Roma Sparita painted by Ettore Roesler Franz, owned by the City of Rome, conceal a profound esoteric meaning. There are so many threads that weave together to form the fabric of this book. I do not pretend to summarise all the plots in this introduction, nor do I wish to deprive the reader of the pleasure of reading , a pleasure that will be expressed to the utmost when we reach the conclusions, the harbour where we land after sailing various seas and subtle currents.

Luca Rocconi

Preface

We will come to understand, in the course of reading this preface, why there is so much in common between Francesco Roesler Franz and his ancestor Ettore, in the spirit and the desire to disseminate information, news and facts.

Roma Sparita is a generic term; the Italian capital, in fact, remained untouched until the end of the nineteenth century, while in London the first underground railway was already inaugurated in 1863 (and was used in literary fiction by the detective Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John H. Watson, the protagonists of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels). In the same years, European aristocrats, particularly the English, were arriving in Rome for the Grand Tour, to perfect their knowledge of art, politics and culture, spending their time on sightseeing tours, shopping and studying , finding a Renaissance, archaic Rome by which they were fascinated.

When they arrived in Rome, the French began excavations to bring the ancient sunken city to the surface, to give it a new perspective and a better reading , and to bring antiquity back within reach of all. Pius VII ordered the earth to be brought back in wheelbarrows to cover all the archaeological excavations made by the French, because Rome is ‘Eterna Urbe’; it has no time and must remain surrounded by an intriguing aura of mystery.

Rome remained more or less intact; there was the portico of Octavia, the port of Ripetta, which was the great novelty of the eighteenth century, where boats passing on the Tiber docked. Everything changed when the unification of Italy brought the Turinese, with their modernising and partly sacrilegious approach, to build the river walls, because Rome was invaded by the waters during the floods, as were Benares and the cities along the Ganges during the monsoon season. For the construction of the embankments, all the parts of Rome that had remained intact were gutted, such as the ghetto, an unhealthy district where Jews had been confined for centuries, and the districts of Ripa and Trastevere, with their large houses along the Tiber. The port of Ripetta, which was the landing place that Agostino Chigi had had built and modified, was destroyed. Ponte Sant’Angelo was not as we see it today, with the beautiful statues of Bernini’s school, but had two obliques mounted on its sides. During the twenty years of Fascism the Colosseum was also isolated and the surrounding area destroyed.

Earlier, in the time of Umberto II, for the construction of the Vittoriano, a temple and a secular shrine of flags, which was used to celebrate King Victor Emanuel, an entire neighbourhood was gutted. The Altar of the Fatherland, contrary to the thinking of many, has very little esoteric about it, while indirectly this monument is rich in symbolism. Italian Freemasonry at the end of the 19th century followed in the footsteps of French Freemasonry, which, of revolutionary origin, had created a kind of religion of the State with Marianne, Robespierre’s cult of the goddess Reason and the flag. Napoleon worked on this track, since he was not noble by birth and had to create an ex novo empire of the French (not of France), founded on his person. This civil, atheistic religiosity, based on the cult of the fatherland, remained and grew stronger and stronger; God was no longer the subject, but the fatherland.

The regimes that followed until the fall of Napoleon III and the advent of the First Republic worked for the civil cult of the secular state through its symbols, the revolutionary principles based on liberty, equality, fraternity, its martyrs and heroes, who replaced the saints, and the French tricolour. Think of flag-raising , a religious rite to all intents and purposes: standing at attention while singing the national anthem with the flag , which rises and soars towards the sky to represent the State and acquiring glory, as well as those who sacrificed themselves by fighting and dying for their homeland.

Italian Freemasonry followed this path. Among the Masonic authors who wrote about this was Edmondo De Amicis, a journalist who wrote The Military Life, celebrating the military service that served to bring together Italians from different regions, with different dialects and languages, to educate them in the cult of the homeland. Think of the book Cuore, aimed at children, which talks about little heroes and martyrs to be taken as an example by future generations.

Freemasonry becomes a sponsor of all this and contributes to creating celebrations of this kind. Think of the 20th of September, the date of the Porta Pia breach, which becomes a sacred occasion, remembered every year. The first modern Italian epic was La Presa di Roma (The taking of Rome), the first film screened in public, a bestseller by Filoteo Alberini in 1905; then there are the monuments celebrating the homeland, such as the Vittoriano, which fall within this civil religion. However, unlike both the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the Capitol in the US capital, where at the moment when he laid the foundation stone, President George Washington was dressed in Masonic attire and holding a trowel, in Rome there was no explicit Masonic reference, unless one considers the valour, courage and brotherhood of the various Italian ethnic groups, but absolutely nothing direct.

Rome remained, from an urban point of view, intact until almost the dawn of the Unification of Italy, with Europeans adoring the city as the main destination of the Grand Tour.

An important part of the trip for foreign tourists was to commission a portrait from a well-known Italian painter of the day, to commemorate their stay in Rome, or to buy views of the Italian landscape. Among the painters who had this type of clientele in the 18th century were Pompeo Batoni, Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. The many foreign painters, engravers and sculptors living in Rome, including students of the French Academy, benefited economically from this routine, either by selling their works or by offering their services as guides.

Another reason for foreigners to stay, beyond the purely literary and pictorial, was the picturesque, precisely because Rome had remained intact in its habits: half-naked boys chased each other in the alleys with stones and played the flute in the streets, the flower girls who came from Subiaco, from Anticoli Corrado, brought fresh roses to the squares and everything took place on the street, even when it rained.

Piazza di Spagna, with its imposing staircase, was always full of flowers, Piazza del Popolo was famous for the popular belief that people there were chased by brigands, as had been described by Alexandre Dumas, who had set two chapters of the Count of Montecristo in Rome, and said that the brigands chased the protagonist as far as Porta del Popolo.

Leopardi said that Rome was made up of immense spaces thrown together more to divide than to unite, and we have some disconcerting and indicative photos of St Peter’s Square in the middle of a papal audience with ‘four cats’. The square, created by Bernini in the seventeenth century, was already disproportionate for the population of that time, but also for those who came after. The census of 1871 showed that there were little more than two hundred thousand inhabitants. So the papal audiences took place in carriages in a square that was only a third full.

We know what Rome looked like thanks to the great vedutista Giovanni Paolo Pannini (Canaletto’s master), who painted scenes of the Popes’ palace, and the Quirinale, which later became the seat of temporal power. His paintings depict carriages and poor people going around barefoot, because at the time shoes were only used for going to church and funerals. And we know what Roman alleys and gorges looked like thanks to the watercolours of Ettore Roesler Franz, which show a Rome that has disappeared, a Rome that looks completely different from other cities. Paris was growing exponentially, London already had an underground, but the Roman streets were muddy and full of children who helped the gentlemen out of the carriages with wooden poles so their shoes wouldn’t get dirty.

Of all the European cities, Rome was and is the one that was still literally sprinkled with gigantic ruins, the memory of ancient civilisations buried for centuries, brought to light through excavations begun by the French and continued over the years to this day. One of them is the fantastic Roman Forum, which has made the city of Rome one of the favourite destinations of world tourism. The Eternal City, as Rome has come to be known, is for European intellectuals the capital of an ideal republic where art and science meet, as has been claimed