ABSTRACT
Rome was more real – that is, closer and more often visited, than Jerusalem for western pilgrims and other visitors as it was the site of the tombs of ancient martyrs and saints of the early church. Rome was an actual physical source for these imagined things, as the relics of the martyrs allowed the sacred to migrate beyond the Mediterranean, and northern kings and would-be emperors both protected and utilized the papacy as a source of political and religious authority. Visitors to Rome sought physical and spiritual access to the divine through the holy places and entering the city was often portrayed as an act that brought the traveler into contact with the power and holiness. Pilgrims and visitors to Rome marveled at the antiquities there, from imperial monuments to Christian basilicas, understanding them in ways that were particular to their time and place.
